Sport: Where are they now? - Alan Jones

FROM his home base in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, the ample and outspoken Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula One world champion, is experiencing a rejuvenation of his motor-racing career on his forays around the country in the Australian Touring Car Championship. He is winning races for the first time in more than 10 years.

In the years since his retirement from Formula One in 1986, the 48- year-old Jones had driven touring cars with only moderate success. But this year, with the season around half-way through, he is at the head of the standings with his team-mate Glenn Seton, driving Ford Falcon V8s for the Peter Jackson team.

Jones, who started 116 grands prix and won his title for the Williams team, included the British Grand Prix, then at Brands Hatch, among his laurels in 1980, his championship-winning year.

He is a businessman at his Gold Coast home, where he is involved in boats and hotels. His only child Christian, just a teenager, is competing in go-karts, which has given the former champion a new outlet for his boundless energy.

Jones drove his fourth and final season for Williams in 1981, took a year off, drove one year for Arrows, took another year off, then finished with two seasons, 1985 and 86, driving for Carl Haas, Nigel Mansell's present IndyCar team leader, in his Lola-Haas F1 team. Jones's touring- car career overlapped and he continues to drive with the same aggression that brought him 12 Formula One victories.

(Photograph omitted)