David Hobbs (racing driver)
![]() 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 | 7 | ||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||||||
2 races run over 1 year | |||||||||||
First race | 1976 Daytona 500 (Daytona) | ||||||||||
Last race | 1976 Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan) | ||||||||||
|
David Wishart Hobbs[1] (born 9 June 1939)[2] is a British former racing driver. He worked as a commentator from the mid 1970s for CBS until 1996, Speed from 1996 to 2012 and NBC from 2013 to 2017. In 1969 Hobbs was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, a group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.[3]
Hobbs lives in Vero Beach, Florida. 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, in Royal Leamington Spa, England, just months before the outbreak of World War II. His career as an international racing driver spanned 30 years at all levels including in 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, 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 provided commentary for Formula One and GP2 races (alongside Leigh Diffey and former Benetton mechanic Steve Matchett) until 2013, 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 NBCSN in 2013.[8] He also worked for ESPN, serving as an analyst for their Formula 1 coverage from 1988 until 1992.
Other appearances[]
Hobbs appeared in the 1983 comedy film Stroker Ace, playing a TV race announcer. He also 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 | NC | 0 | |||||
Lola Cars | Lola T100 | BMW M10 2.0 L4 | GER 101 |
|||||||||||||||||
1968 | Honda Racing F1 | Honda RA301 | Honda RA301E 3.0 V12 | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA Ret |
CAN | USA | MEX | NC | 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 |
NC | 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 | NC | 0 |
Source:[9]
|
- Notes
- ^1 – Formula 2 entry.
Non-Championship Formula One results[]
(key)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Merlyn Racing | Merlyn Mk7 (F2) | Ford Cosworth SCA 1.0 L4 | DMT | NWT | SYR | AIN Ret |
INT | SOL | MED | RAN |
1966 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 33 | BRM P60 2.0 V8 | RSA | SYR 3 |
INT | OUL | ||||
1968 | Bernard White Racing | BRM P261 | BRM P101 3.0 V12 | ROC 9 |
INT 6 |
OUL 6 |
|||||
1970 | Team Surtees | Surtees TS5 (F5000) | Chevrolet 5.0 V8 | ROC | INT Ret |
OUL | |||||
1971 | Hogan Racing | McLaren M10B (F5000) | Chevrolet 5.0 V8 | ARG | ROC | QUE DNQ |
SPR | INT | RIN | OUL | VIC |
1973 | Hogan Racing | Lola T330 (F5000) | Chevrolet 5.0 V8 | ROC Ret |
INT Ret |
||||||
1974 | Hogan Racing | Lola T332 (F5000) | Chevrolet 5.0 V8 | PRE | ROC | INT DNS |
|||||
Source:[9]
|
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results[]
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | ![]() |
![]() |
Lotus Elite Mk14-Climax | GT 1.3 |
286 | 8th | 1st |
1963 | ![]() |
![]() |
Lola Mk6 GT-Ford | P +3.0 |
151 | DNF | DNF |
1964 | ![]() |
![]() |
Triumph Spitfire | P +3.0 |
272 | 21st | 3rd |
1965 | ![]() |
![]() |
Triumph Spitfire | GT 1.3 |
71 | DNF | DNF |
1966 | ![]() |
![]() |
Ferrari Dino 206S | P 2.0 |
14 | DNF | DNF |
1967 | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Lola T70 Mk.III-Aston Martin | P +5.0 |
3 | DNF | DNF |
1968 | ![]() |
![]() |
Ford GT40 Mk. I | S 5.0 |
107 | DNF | DNF |
1969 | ![]() |
![]() |
Ford GT40 Mk. I | S 5.0 |
368 | 3rd | 2nd |
1970 | ![]() |
![]() |
Porsche 917K | S 5.0 |
49 | DNF | DNF |
1971 | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Ferrari 512M/P | S 5.0 |
DNF | DNF | |
1972 | ![]() |
![]() |
Matra-Simca MS660C | S 3.0 |
278 | DNF | DNF |
1979 | ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Mirage M10-Ford Cosworth | S +2.0 |
121 | NC | NC |
1981 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
BMW M1 Gr.5 | Gr.5 | 236 | DNF | DNF |
1982 | ![]() |
![]() |
Porsche 935/78 Moby Dick | IMSA GTX |
329 | 4th | 1st |
1983 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 956 | C | 135 | DNF | DNF |
1984 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 956B | C1 | 351 | 3rd | 3rd |
1985 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 956B | C1 | 366 | 4th | 4th |
1987 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 962C | C1 | 4 | DNF | DNF |
1988 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 962C | C1 | 380 | 5th | 5th |
1989 | ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Porsche 962C GTi | C1 | 228 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[10]
|
Indy 500 results[]
|
|
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 | Ref | ||||||||
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 | [11] | |||||||||||||||||||
Donlavey Racing | 9 | Ford | MCH 17 |
BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | NWS | CLT | CAR | ATL | ONT |
Daytona 500[]
Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | DeWitt Racing | Chevrolet | 16 | 34 |
Complete Bathurst 1000 results[]
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | ![]() |
![]() |
BMW 635 CSi | 6 Cylinder & Rotary | 113 | 7th | 2nd |
1982 | ![]() |
![]() |
BMW 635 CSi | A | 157 | 5th | 5th |
References[]
- ^ FIA Year Book of Automobile Sport 1975. Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1975. white p. 37. ISBN 0-85059-195-3.
- ^ H. H. Pitt and M. N. Wicks, The Pitt Family of Payneham (Adelaide, 1977)
- ^ F.I.A. Year Book of Automobile Sport, P.S.L. Publications Limited., London, 1969.
- ^ David Hobbs at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Trenton Evening Times, 7 September 1971, Page 37.
- ^ David Hobbs 1976 Winston Cup Results – Racing-Reference.info
- ^ Hobbs, David (September 2012). "In Racing, Broadcasting: Timing is Everything". Road & Track. 64 (1): 94.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "David Hobbs – Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ "All Results of David Hobbs". RacingSportCars. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ "David Hobbs − 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
External links[]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Hobbs. |
- 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
- English racing drivers
- English Formula One drivers
- European Formula Two Championship drivers
- Indianapolis 500 drivers
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- 12 Hours of Reims drivers
- World Sportscar Championship drivers
- Lola Cars Formula One drivers
- Honda Formula One drivers
- Penske Formula One drivers
- McLaren Formula One drivers
- Bernard White Racing Formula One drivers
- Tasman Series drivers
- Trans-Am Series drivers
- International Race of Champions drivers
- NASCAR drivers
- Formula One journalists and reporters
- British sports broadcasters
- Motorsport announcers
- Sportspeople from Leamington Spa
- 1939 births
- Living people
- People from Vero Beach, Florida
- British Touring Car Championship drivers