David Hobbs (racing driver)

David Hobbs

Hobbs in the pitlane of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the 2005 United States Grand Prix
Born	David Wishart Hobbs 9 June 1939 Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1967–1968, 1971, 1974
Teams	BRM, Honda, McLaren
Entries	6
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1967 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1974 Italian Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1962–72, 1979, 1981–85, 1987–89 Teams Team Lotus Engineering Lola Cars Ltd Standard Triumph Maranello Concessionaires John Wyer Automotive Roger Penske/Kirk F. White Equipe Matra-Simca Grand Touring Cars/Ford France EMKA Racing John Fitzpatrick Racing Joest Racing Richard Lloyd Racing Best finish 3rd (1969, 1984) Class wins 1 (1982)

David Wishart Hobbs^[1] (born 9 June 1939 in Royal Leamington Spa, England)^[2] is a British former racing driver. Originally employed as a commentator for the Speed Channel, he currently works as a commentator for NBC and NBC Sports Network. In 1969 Hobbs was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, an élite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.^[3]

Hobbs currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his wife, Margaret, with whom he has two sons, Gregory and Guy. In 1986, Hobbs opened a car dealership, David Hobbs Honda, in Glendale, Wisconsin, which continues to exist today, and for which he personally voices advertisements. His youngest son, Guy, worked for Speed as a pit reporter on their sports car coverage. Hobbs was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.^[4]

He is the grandfather of current racing driver Andrew Hobbs.

Driving career

Hobbs was born just months before the outbreak of World War II, and has a vast, 30-year history of international driving experience at all levels of motor sports, including sports cars, touring cars, Indy cars, IMSA, Can-Am and Formula One. He has participated in the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Daytona. He made twenty starts in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, finishing in 8th place at the first attempt in 1962, following with a pole position and a best finish of third (in 1969 and 1984) to his credit.

Hobbs was due to make his F1 Grand Prix debut for Tim Parnell Racing at the 1965 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, but a serious road accident put him in hospital for three weeks.^[5]

In 1971 Hobbs won the L&M 5000 Continental Championship driving for Carl Hogan out of St. Louis, Missouri, in a McLaren M10B-Chevrolet. He won five of the eight rounds that year at Laguna Seca, Seattle, Road America (Elkhart Lake), Edmonton and Lime Rock.^[6] Twelve years later, he would claim the 1983 Trans-Am Series championship as well. He also made two NASCAR Winston Cup starts in 1976, including leading two laps at the 1976 Daytona 500^[7] and drove a race in the 1979 International Race of Champions.

Television commentator

Hobbs provides commentary for Formula One and GP2 races (alongside Leigh Diffey and former Benetton mechanic Steve Matchett), the SCCA Valvoline runoffs, and parts of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has also worked for CBS on its Daytona 500 coverage, working as both a colour commentator and a feature/pit reporter from 1979 until 1996, and then moved to Speed in 1996 working as a colour commentator and then moved to NBC Sports Network in 2013.^[8]

Other appearances

David Hobbs appeared in the 1983 comedy film Stroker Ace, playing a TV race announcer. Hobbs appeared in the Cars 2 movie, which premiered in June 2011, as announcer "David Hobbscap", a 1963 Jaguar from Hobbs' real life hometown in England.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	WDC	Pts.
1967	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM P60 2.1 V8	RSA	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR 8		CAN 9	ITA	USA	MEX					—	0
	Lola Cars	Lola T100	BMW M10 2.0 L4							GER 10^‡
1968	Honda Racing F1	Honda RA301	Honda RA301E 3.0 V12	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA Ret	CAN	USA	MEX				—	0
1971	Penske-White Racing	McLaren M19A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA	ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA 10					—	0
1974	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M23	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT 7	ITA 9	CAN	USA	—	0

^‡ indicates an entry with an F2 car.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1962	Team Lotus Engineering	Frank Gardner	Lotus Elite Mk14	GT 1.3	286	8th	1st
1963	Lola Cars Ltd.	Richard Attwood	Lola Mk6 GT	P +3.0	151	DNF	DNF
1964	Standard Triumph	Rob Slotemaker	Triumph Spitfire	P +3.0	272	21st	3rd
1965	Standard Triumph Ltd.	Rob Slotemaker	Triumph Spitfire	GT 1.3	71	DNF	DNF
1966	Maranello Concessionaires	Mike Salmon	Ferrari Dino 206S	P 2.0	14	DNF	DNF
1967	Lola Cars Ltd. Team Surtees	John Surtees	Lola T70 Mk.III	P +5.0	3	DNF	DNF
1968	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Paul Hawkins	Ford GT40 Mk. I	S 5.0	107	DNF	DNF
1969	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Mike Hailwood	Ford GT40 Mk. I	S 5.0	368	3rd	2nd
1970	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Mike Hailwood	Porsche 917K	S 5.0	49	DNF	DNF
1971	Roger Penske Kirk F. White	Mark Donohue	Ferrari 512M/P	S 5.0		DNF	DNF
1972	Equipe Matra-Simca Shell	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Matra-Simca MS660C	S 3.0	278	DNF	DNF
1979	Grand Touring Cars Ltd. Ford Concessionaires France	Vern Schuppan Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Mirage M10	S +2.0	121	NC	NC
1981	EMKA Productions Limited	Eddie Jordan Steve O'Rourke	BMW M1 Gr.5	Gr.5	236	DNF	DNF
1982	John Fitzpatrick Racing	John Fitzpatrick	Porsche 935/78 Moby Dick	IMSA GTX	329	4th	1st
1983	John Fitzpatrick Racing	John Fitzpatrick Dieter Quester	Porsche 956	C	135	DNF	DNF
1984	Skoal Bandit Porsche Team	Philippe Streiff Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 956B	C1	351	3rd	3rd
1985	John Fitzpatrick Racing	Jo Gartner Guy Edwards	Porsche 956B	C1	366	4th	4th
1987	Joest Racing	Sarel van der Merwe Chip Robinson	Porsche 962C	C1	4	DNF	DNF
1988	Blaupunkt Joest Racing	Didier Theys Franz Konrad	Porsche 962C	C1	380	5th	5th
1989	Richard Lloyd Racing	Steven Andskär Damon Hill	Porsche 962C GTi	C1	228	DNF	DNF

Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1971 68 16 169.571 30 20 107 0 Crash FS 1973 73 22 189.454 30 11 107 0 Flagged 1974 73 9 184.833 10 5 196 0 Flagged 1976 33 31 183.580 14 29 10 0 Water Leak Totals 420 0

Starts 4 Poles 0 Front Row 0 Wins 0 Top 5 1 Top 10 1 Retired 2

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	JPS Team BMW	Allan Grice	BMW 635 CSi	6 Cylinder & Rotary	113	7th	2nd
1982	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW 635 CSi	A	157	5th	5th

NASCAR

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	NWCC	Pts
1976	DeWitt Racing	73	Chevy	RSD	DAY 34	CAR	RCH	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL												NA	0
	Elliott Racing	9	Ford																				MCH 17	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	ONT

References

1. FIA Year Book of Automobile Sport 1975. Patrick Stephens Ltd. white p. 37. ISBN 0-85059-195-3.
2. H. H. Pitt and M. N. Wicks, The Pitt Family of Payneham (Adelaide, 1977)
3. F.I.A. Year Book of Automobile Sport, P.S.L. Publications Limited., London, 1969.
4. "The Class of 2009". AutoWeek. Detroit, Michigan: Crain Communications. 59 (17): 62. 24 August 2009. ISSN 0192-9674.
5. http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/hobbs-the-north-american-swing/
6. Trenton Evening Times, 7 September 1971, Page 37.
7. David Hobbs 1976 Winston Cup Results – Racing-Reference.info
8. Hobbs, David (September 2012). "In Racing, Broadcasting: Timing is Everything". Road & Track. 64 (1): 94.

External links

• SpeedTV bio
• David Hobbs Honda
• Stats from David Hobbs' IROC and NASCAR careers on racing-reference.info
• David Hobbs – Test Driver Jaguar XJ13 – Building the Legend