John Batchelor (racing)

William John Batchelor (4 January 1959 – 11 April 2010), known as John Batchelor, was an English racing driver, businessman, political activist, and football investor. He was chairman of York City F.C. from 2002 to 2003, during which time he was also the owner of York City Racing, a motor racing team competing in the British Touring Car Championship.

Batchelor was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where he lived for a short period before moving to Surrey, Kent and Portugal due to his father's work. He received four O-Levels at school and had an exchange year in Oregon, United States, after which he sold insurance door-to-door in East Lancashire. He worked in this for nine months before selling cleaning products for five years, when he started "System Hygiene", a janitorial supplies company based in Accrington. He married Gillian in 1981 and the couple have had four children. He stood as a Common Sense Sick of Politicians candidate for Blackburn in the 1997 general election, coming in last place after winning 0.8% of the share with 362 votes. Following the election, through an open letter, he said "I extend my gratitude to the 362 voters in Blackburn who backed my campaign to take politics out of government. I would also like to point out that an additional 30,000 voters also offered me their support by being so sick of politicians that they abstained from voting at all. If we now add this figure to my votes and then subtract the votes of the 'winning' candidate it shows a 5,000-vote majority for those who are sick of politicians." "System Hygiene" was sold by Batchelor to business partner Robin Huddleston in 1990.

He became a racing driver in 1999 after being backed by Blackburn Rovers and their sponsors, which helped him gain enough money to build a 220bhp Ford Fiesta and entered the Super Road Saloons Championship. He won the title in his first season and moved into the Ford Fiesta Zetec Championship the year after and secured a sponsorship deal with BBC programme Top Gear, which saw him change his name to John Top-Gear through deed poll. He entered the British Touring Car Championship in 2001 and after asking over 800 companies for financial support he persuaded B&Q, the DIY megastore, to join him before the start of the season and also changed his name to John B&Q to help him gain funding. He stood as an independent candidate for Tatton in the 2001 general election, which saw him win 0.8% of the vote with 322 votes. He injured his third, fourth, and fifth vertical vertebrae [sic] in a race at Oulton Park in Cheshire, which almost forced him to retire. Batchelor secured a £1 million deal for his racing team to be sponsored by battery company VARTA in 2003.

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