David Wishart Hobbs (born 9 June 1939) is a British former

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. He worked as a commentator from the mid 1970s for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

until 1996,

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

from 1996 to 2012 and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

from 2013 to 2017. In 1969 Hobbs was included in the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

list of graded drivers, a group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world. Hobbs was inducted into the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...

in 2009.David Hobbs
at the

Driving career

Hobbs was born, in

Royal Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

, 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 car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

, Indy cars, IMSA,

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (''Can'') and four races in the United ...

and

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. He has participated in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianap ...

and the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

. He made twenty starts in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

race, finishing in 8th place at the first attempt in 1962, following with a

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

and a best finish of third (in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

) 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. 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 Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Ranch ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Ch ...

, Edmonton and Lime Rock. Twelve years later, he would claim the 1983

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includi ...

championship as well. He also made two

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

starts in 1976, including leading two laps at the 1976 Daytona 500 and drove a race in the 1979

International Race of Champions International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an equivalent of an American motorsports All-Star Game. Despite its name, the IROC was prima ...

Television commentator

Hobbs provided commentary for Formula One and GP2 races (alongside

Leigh Diffey Leigh Diffey (born 3 March 1971) is an Australian American auto racing commentator. His career began calling motorcycle races in his home country before moving to the United Kingdom to cover other forms of motorsport. Diffey then moved to the ...

and former Benetton mechanic

Steve Matchett Steve Matchett (born 23 December 1962 in England) is a commentator for American TV network Fox Sports on its Formula E programming. He formerly co-hosted live Formula One practices, qualifying sessions, and races alongside David Hobbs and Bob ...

) until 2013, the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

Valvoline runoffs, and parts of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has also worked for

on its

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of thr ...

coverage, working as both a colour commentator and a feature/pit reporter from 1979 until 1996, and then moved to

in 1996 working as a colour commentator and then moved to

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming pri ...

in 2013. 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 Alyson Mackenzie Stroker (born June 16, 1987) is an American actress, author and singer. She is the first wheelchair-using actor to appear on a Broadway stage, and also the first to be nominated for and win a Tony Award. Stroker was a finalist on ...

'', playing a TV race announcer. He also appeared in the ''

Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American computer-animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Cars'' (2006), the second film in the ''Cars'' franchise, and the 12th animated film from the ...

'' movie, which premiered in June 2011, as announcer "David Hobbscap", a 1963 Jaguar from Hobbs' real life hometown in England.

Personal life

Hobbs's father, Howard Frederick Hobbs, was an Australian-born engineer and inventor who developed an early version of the

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

, known as the Mecha-Matic.

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman i ...

had this transmission fitted to his

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

racecars. Hobbs lives in

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is t ...

with his wife, Margaret, with whom he has two sons, Gregory and Guy. In 1986, Hobbs opened a

car dealership A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...

, David Hobbs Honda, in

Glendale, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a suburb of the neighboring Milwaukee. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 census. Geography Glendale is located at (43.130060, −87.927719). According to the United ...

, 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. He is the grandfather of current racing driver Andrew Hobbs.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) ;Notes * –

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name retu ...

entry.

Non-Championship Formula One results

( key)

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Indianapolis 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

=Daytona 500

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

References

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, David 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 Australian Endurance Championship drivers Team Joest drivers