Photo: Nic Redhead / Wikimedia Commons, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>
Goodwood unveiled Jenson Button on Wednesday as the fifth Patron of the Goodwood Road Racing Club of America, and the headline part writes itself: a world champion, a famous name, another signature on the founding roster. The line worth your attention sits lower down. Button says he hopes to “have some influence on the racing classes” when the first flagship event runs at Willow Springs in 2028.
That is a different kind of endorsement from the ones that came before it, and it points at the question that will decide whether Goodwood’s American adventure feels like Goodwood or like a themed festival: who gets to race, in what, and against whom. Button’s value to the club isn’t the trophy cabinet. It’s the garage, Jaguar C-Type included.
A roster built for recognition, a patron built for the grid
Goodwood presents the first four Patrons, Sir Jackie Stewart, Richard Petty, Mario Andretti and Jimmie Johnson, as heroes with followings on both sides of the Atlantic. Add Button and, by Goodwood’s own count, the five hold five Formula 1 world championships, 14 NASCAR titles and four IndyCar crowns between them. That is a lineup that sells memberships to people who grew up watching them. We covered Johnson’s appointment in September, including his existing business ties to Petty.
Button’s pitch is the other half of a Goodwood meeting. He retired from professional racing in 2025, having said that the 8 Hours of Bahrain would be his last race, and has since thrown himself into historic motorsport. Goodwood says he now owns several classic racing cars and has won at both the Members’ Meeting and the Revival, the latter in his Jaguar C-Type. He also says he hopes to get a few of his own cars out on track at Willow Springs.
Why the classes are the whole game
A historic race meeting is defined by eligibility. Which eras are in, which are out, how cars are grouped so a pre-war special isn’t chasing a 1960s sports car, and whether the grid is full of machinery that is properly raced rather than properly displayed. Those decisions look like paperwork and decide whether the weekend works. A patron with cars to enter and opinions on how they should be classed is a practical asset for a club that has not yet staged a headline event in the United States.
There is a flip side. Button’s cars are the cars he knows, and a patron with a stake in the entry list is a patron whose preferences will be read closely once a class structure appears. Goodwood has not said what Patrons formally do, so “influence” is Button’s hope rather than an announced role. That is not a criticism. Every good grid is shaped by the people who own the cars. It is simply the detail to watch.
The timing leaves a lot of room
Goodwood calls Button a Brit living in the US, and he says California is home now, which makes him a natural fit for a venue in the Mojave. Founding Membership is due to open in January 2027, while Willow Springs is not until 2028, so the classes, entry rules and dates all have to be announced in between. Goodwood says it will reveal more about the form the new venture takes in the coming months. For a sense of what that desert circuit rewards, see our look at the Tesla Plaid that topped a Willow Springs field.
Three things will tell us whether Button’s influence is real: the published class list, how much room it leaves for American-built machinery, and whether the next Patron looks more like Button than Petty. Button’s name sold the press release. Whether anyone buys a membership depends on a class list nobody has seen.
Willow Springs, 2028: what’s the one car that has to be on the grid for you to buy a Founding Membership?
Facts in this story come from Goodwood’s announcements of the fifth Patron and the GRRC of America launch. The reading of what they mean is ours.
Lead image: Ferrari 156 “Sharknose” at Goodwood, 2014. Image credit: Nic Redhead/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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