Tommy Kendall (born October 17, 1966) is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his IMSA GT Championship and SCCA Trans-Am Series career.

Racing career

Son of race driver Charles Kendall, Kendall began his racing career competing at the IMSA GT Championship. He drove a Mazda RX-7 in the GTU category while studying and by the time he completed his studies, he took the 1986 and 1987 championships. Later he won three other titles in the same car, which he still owns. He later dominated the SCCA Trans-Am Series in the 1990s, scoring four series championships. His greatest year came in 1997, when he won 11 races in a row out of the 13 on the schecule—almost a perfect season. During this time, Kendall was also honored by representing the series for six IROC seasons. He ran in fourteen

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the 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. In 1971, ...

races between 1987 and 1998. He raced primarily only on road courses as a road course ringer, and scored one Top-10 finish. He nearly won the

1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 The 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 was the 12th stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the third race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston West Series season, and the third iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 7, ...

K at Sears Point Raceway, in which he led 12 laps before cutting a tire with two laps to go following a late-race collision with Mark Martin. The two drivers, who were briefly Roush-Fenway Racing teammates in Trans-Am, would not speak about the incident for years until they rehashed their late-race collision on Martin's podcast, twenty years later. While competing in Winston Cup as a ringer, Kendall had a single start in the NASCAR Busch Series. Kendall also had one start with Dick Johnson Racing at the

1996 AMP Bathurst 1000 The 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000 was an endurance race for Group 3A 5.0 Litre Touring Cars held on 6 October 1996 at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the 37th running of the Bathurst 1000, ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

co-driving with Steven Johnson, the son of team boss Dick Johnson. Johnson and Kendall finished 8th in their Ford EF Falcon. Of the American drivers who have competed in the Bathurst 1000 since the race moved to Bathurst in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

including three time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, Janet Guthrie (the first woman to ever qualify for the Indy 500 in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

), Dick Barbour, Sam Posey, Bob Tullius, John Andretti and

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go ...

, Kendall holds the distinction of being the first one to have ever finished the race (Pruett in his only start would finish 11th the

next year "Next Year" is a song released as the last single from the third Foo Fighters' album ''There Is Nothing Left to Lose''. History A shorter version (running at just 3:21 compared to the original's 4:36) was released as a single in 2000 and wa ...

at Bathurst1997 Primus 1000 Classic result
/ref>). On June 30, 1991, Kendall suffered serious leg injuries at Watkins Glen when a mechanical failure caused his Intrepid RM-1 IMSA GTP car to leave the track and crash head-on into a tire wall. This occurred along the same area of track where

J. D. McDuffie John Delphus McDuffie Jr. (December 5, 1938 – August 11, 1991) was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 top-10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead ...

of NASCAR Winston Cup fame was killed only a month later, and both crashes led to the addition of a bus stop chicane on the backstretch. Kendall spoke of this incident during Episode 4, Season 2 of the Speed Channel series, ''Setup'' as a "crossroads in his racing career." He returned to racing close to a year later in June 1992. He also discussed his accident on '' Athlete 360'', a sports medicine television show hosted by

Mark Adickes Mark Stephen Adickes (born April 22, 1961) is an orthopedic surgeon and a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins. Adickes was an All-American offensive l ...

Broadcasting career

In the 2000s Kendall became a television analyst for the Champ Car series. He is also the host of the Speed Test Drive promotional television series where he and another professional race car driver drive a new vehicle on a race course while being able to remotely talk to each other and offer their positive thoughts on the car. In 2007 and 2008, Kendall was one of the hosts of the show ''Setup'' on SpeedTV. On July 15, 2012, Kendall revealed on SpeedTV's '' WindTunnel'' program that he would be returning to the cockpit as one of four full-time drivers in a factory-backed Dodge Viper effort competing in the American Le Mans Series. On September 22, 2013, Kendall's new show, ''Driven - A Race Without Boundaries'', premiered on Fox Sports 1. It also stars Rhys Millen and is hosted by Tiff Needell.

Personal life

Kendall was raised in the city of La Cañada Flintridge, California and is a 1984 graduate of La Cañada High School. Kendall earned a degree in economics from UCLA and to this day maintains an avid interest in business.

Hall of Fame

In 2015, he was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.Tommy Kendall
at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Winston Cup Series

Busch Series

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Bathurst 1000 result

References

External links

*
Tommy Kendall at Driver Database

Tommy Kendall at IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendall, Tommy Living people 1966 births Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California Racing drivers from California 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Trans-Am Series drivers NASCAR drivers International Race of Champions drivers University of California, Los Angeles alumni FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers Hendrick Motorsports drivers RFK Racing drivers