David Hobbs (racing driver)

David Wishart Hobbs<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (born 9 June 1939)<ref>H. H. Pitt and M. N. Wicks, The Pitt Family of Payneham (Adelaide, 1977)</ref> 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.<ref>F.I.A. Year Book of Automobile Sport, P.S.L. Publications Limited., London, 1969.</ref> Hobbs was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.<ref name=MSHoF>David Hobbs at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Trenton Evening Times, 7 September 1971, Page 37.</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and drove a race in the 1979 International Race of Champions.

Television commentator

Hobbs provided commentary for Formula One and GP2 races (alongside Bob Varsha 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.<ref name=r&t201209>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also worked for ESPN, serving as an analyst for their Formula 1 coverage from 1988 until 1992 working with Chris Economaki, John Bisignano and Bob Varsha.

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.

Personal life

Template:BLP unreferenced section Hobbs's father, Howard Frederick Hobbs (21/9/1902 – 15/12/1982), was an Australian engineer born and raised in Adelaide. He was an inventor who developed an early version of the automatic transmission, known as the Mecha-Matic. Colin Chapman had this transmission fitted to his Lotus Elite racecars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 in Coventry, settling in Royal Lemington Spa where they would remain for approximately the next 35 years.<ref>Howard Frederick Hobbs (1902–1982)</ref><ref>Hobbs Gearless Drive</ref>

David 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 was sold to the Van Horn Automotive Group in March 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.

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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1967	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM P60 2.1 V8	RSA	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR Template:Small		CAN Template:Small	ITA	USA	MEX					NC	0
	Lola Cars	Lola T100	BMW M10 2.0 L4							GER Template:Small
1968	Honda Racing F1	Honda RA301	Honda RA301E 3.0 V12	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA Template:Small	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 Template:Small					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 Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN	USA	NC	0
Template:Center

Notes

• Template:Note – 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 Template:Small	INT	SOL	MED	RAN
1966	Reg Parnell Racing	Lotus 33	BRM P60 2.0 V8	RSA	SYR Template:Small	INT	OUL
1968	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM P101 3.0 V12	ROC Template:Small	INT Template:Small	OUL Template:Small
1970	Team Surtees	Surtees TS5 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ROC	INT Template:Small	OUL
1971	Hogan Racing	McLaren M10B (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ARG	ROC	QUE Template:Small	SPR	INT	RIN	OUL	VIC
1973	Hogan Racing	Lola T330 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ROC Template:Small	INT Template:Small
1974	Hogan Racing	Lola T332 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	PRE	ROC	INT Template:Small
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Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Class
1962	Peter Berry Racing Ltd	Jaguar Mk II 3.8	Template:Tooltip	SNE ovr:? cls:6	GOO ovr:4 cls:4	AIN ovr:3 cls:3	SIL ovr:4 cls:4	CRY	AIN	BRH ovr:5 cls:5	OUL					18th	8	6th
1968	Malcolm Gartlan Racing	Ford Falcon Sprint	Template:Tooltip	BRH ovr:4 cls:2	THR ovr:2 cls:2	SIL Ret	CRY Ret†	MAL	BRH	SIL ovr:1 cls:1	CRO ovr:2 cls:2	OUL ovr:3 cls:3	BRH	BRH ovr:2 cls:1		9th	32	3rd
1970	Pierre de Plessis	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	Template:Tooltip	BRH	SNE	THR	SIL Ret	CRY	SIL	SIL	CRO	BRH	OUL	BRH	BRH	NC	0	NC
Template:Center

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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

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	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
1976	DeWitt Racing	73	Chevy	RSD	DAY Template:Small	CAR	RCH	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL												NA	0	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Donlavey Racing	9	Ford																				MCH Template:Small	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	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1981	Template:Flagicon JPS Team BMW	Template:Flagicon Allan Grice	BMW 635 CSi	6 Cylinder & Rotary	113	7th	2nd
1982	Template:Flagicon JPS Team BMW	Template:Flagicon Jim Richards	BMW 635 CSi	A	157	5th	5th

External links

• SpeedTV bio
• David Hobbs Honda
• Template:Racing-Reference driver
• David Hobbs – Test Driver Jaguar XJ13 – Building the Legend