David Hobbs

Hobbs in the pitlane of theIndianapolis Motor Speedway at the2005 United States Grand Prix
Born	David Wishart Hobbs (1939-06-09)9 June 1939 (age 86) 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
Careerpoints	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 Years 1962–72, 1979, 1981–85, 1987–89 Teams Team Lotus Engineering Lola Cars Ltd StandardTriumph Maranello Concessionaires John Wyer Automotive Roger Penske/Kirk F. White EquipeMatra-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)
NASCAR driver
NASCARCup Series career
2 races run over 1 year
First race	1976Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last race	1976Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

David Wishart Hobbs^[1] (born 9 June 1939)^[2] is a British formerracing driver. He worked as a commentator from the mid 1970s forCBS until 1996,Speed from 1996 to 2012 andNBC from 2013 to 2017. In 1969 Hobbs was included in theFIA list of graded drivers, a group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.^[3] Hobbs was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.^[4]

Hobbs was born inRoyal Leamington Spa, England, just months before the outbreak ofWorld War II. His career as an international racing driver spanned 30 years at all levels including insports cars,touring cars,Indy cars,IMSA,Can-Am andFormula One. He has participated in theIndianapolis 500 and the24 Hours of Daytona. He made twenty starts in the24 Hours of Le Mans race, finishing in 8th place at the first attempt in 1962, following with apole position and a best finish of third (in1969 and1984) to his credit.

Hobbs was due to make his F1 Grand Prix debut for Tim Parnell Racing at the1965 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, but a serious road accident put him in hospital for three weeks.^[5]

In 1971 Hobbs won theL&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 atLaguna Seca,Seattle,Road America, Edmonton and Lime Rock.^[6] Twelve years later, he would claim the 1983Trans-Am Series championship as well. He also made twoNASCARWinston Cup starts in 1976, including leading two laps at the1976 Daytona 500^[7] and drove a race in the 1979International Race of Champions.

Hobbs provided commentary for Formula One andGP2 races (alongsideBob Varsha and formerBenetton mechanicSteve Matchett) until 2013, theSCCA Valvoline runoffs, and parts of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has also worked forCBS on itsDaytona 500 coverage, working as both a colour commentator and a feature/pit reporter from 1979 until 1996, and then moved toSpeed in 1996 working as a colour commentator and then moved toNBCSN in 2013.^[8] He also worked for ESPN, serving as an analyst for their Formula 1 coverage from 1988 until 1992 working withChris Economaki, John Bisignano and Bob Varsha.

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

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Hobbs's father,Howard Frederick Hobbs (21/9/1902 – 15/12/1982), was an Australian engineer born and raised inAdelaide. He was an inventor who developed an early version of theautomatic transmission, known as the Mecha-Matic.Colin Chapman had this transmission fitted to hisLotus Elite racecars.^[9]

Howard Hobbs married Phyllis Dorothy Reid (25/3/1904 – 1989) on 12 May 1925 and the couple had 3 children. Barbara, born in Adelaide on 5 May, 1927, and sons John (b. 1 July 1933) and David (b. 9 June 1939), both boys being born in Lemington Spa after the young Hobbs family had sailed for England in 1931 with the intent on Howard showing his transmission to automotive engineers inCoventry, settling in Royal Lemington Spa where they would remain for approximately the next 35 years.^[10][11]

David Hobbs lives inVero Beach, Florida with his wife, Margaret, with whom he has two sons, Gregory and Guy. In 1986, Hobbs opened acar dealership, David Hobbs Honda, inGlendale, Wisconsin, which was sold to the Van Horn Automotive Group in March 2023.^[12] His youngest son, Guy, worked for Speed as a pit reporter on their sports car coverage. He is the grandfather of current racing driver Andrew Hobbs.

(key)

Notes

• ^1 –Formula 2 entry.

(key)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1962	Team Lotus Engineering	Frank Gardner	Lotus Elite Mk14-Climax	GT 1.3	286	8th	1st
1963	Lola Cars Ltd.	Richard Attwood	Lola Mk6 GT-Ford	P +3.0	151	DNF	DNF
1964	StandardTriumph	Rob Slotemaker	Triumph Spitfire	P +3.0	272	21st	3rd
1965	StandardTriumph 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-Aston Martin	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	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Mike Hailwood	Ford GT40 Mk. I	S 5.0	368	3rd	2nd
1970	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	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-SimcaShell	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-FordCosworth	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 BanditPorsche 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	BlaupunktJoest 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
Source:[15]

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

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDavid Hobbs.

• SpeedTV bio
• David Hobbs Honda
• David Hobbs driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• 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
• Sportspeople from Vero Beach, Florida
• British Touring Car Championship drivers
• Australian Endurance Championship drivers
• Team Joest drivers
• Daytona 500 drivers

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