2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button Talks Triple Crown, and His Worst Cars

Retirement must seem boring after a career of driving Formula 1 cars all over the world at 200 mph. Jenson Button has found some new projects to fill his days, though. From joining his friends Ant Anstead and Roger Behle to revive the Radford Motors name as a modern boutique coachbuilder to getting back behind the wheel in a stock car, Button has stayed busy.

On track, he partnered with Mobil 1 and Rick Ware Racing to pilot the #15 Ford at Circuit of the Americas earlier this year, before hopping into the Garage 56 cup car for a stellar showing at Le Mans. We caught up with Jenson just before the inaugural NASCAR Chicago street race for a conversation ranging from his return to racing to his best and worst car purchases.

C/D: You've won Monaco, and you've had a decent run of success at Le Mans in the past, do you have any desire to go after the triple crown? (The triple crown of motorsport includes winning the Monaco Grand Prix, Le Mans, and the Indianapolis 500).

JB: No.

C/D: None?

JB: I have no interest in racing IndyCar. I have a lot of respect for the guys that race in IndyCar. I know a lot of the drivers, I've raced against them, they're good friends. But racing at Indy? No. No interest. Road courses I would be interested in driving an IndyCar but not ovals. I don't know ovals at all, and at this point in my life, I've achieved what I've set out to achieve. Now I'm having fun. I don't feel an Indy 500 would be fun for me. It's a little bit too scary.

C/D: Speaking of you having fun, what's on the calendar?

JB: Endurance racing is where my head's at for next year. There are things that I love: I love the teamwork, I love working with teammates to develop a car. Whereas in F1 the most important person to beat is your teammate because you're in the same equipment. In endurance racing, I don't care if I'm the quickest guy in our car. If I'm the slowest guy, that's great, because I know I'm quick. If I can help the other guys be quicker than me and develop the car, that's awesome because it means we have a great team of drivers.

C/D: Are you looking at IMSA to stay Stateside?

JB: IMSA would be nice, but then WEC also races some great tracks. You know, first, we'd race at Le Mans, which is awesome. Spa is pretty special. They're racing at Interlagos [in Brazil] next year, Qatar is new next year. I've driven Qatar in a road car and it's insane—very high speed, very fast and flowing. So I've raced on every single one of the tracks, whereas IMSA I don't really know many of the tracks. I've heard that IMSA is a lot of fun, it's very relaxed, quite grassroots racing. But there are less-competitive options in IMSA. Road Atlanta is the big race at the end of the year. I might be doing that one. Might be.

C/D: Transitioning a little bit outside of racing, what drew you to Radford? What was the appeal of that project?