DAVID WISHART HOBBS - 06/09/1939
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 raced the Indy 500 on four occasions. His best finish came in 1975 when he finished fifth. 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. 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. Twelve years later, he would
claim the 1983 Trans-Am Series championship as well. He also made two NASCAR Cup starts in 1976, including leading two laps at the 1976 Daytona 500 and drove a race in the 1979 International Race of Champions. 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 color
Formula 1 - Monza 1974
Indy 500 1974
commentator and a feature/pit reporter from 1979 until 1996, and then moved to Speed in 1996 working as a color commentator and then moved to NBCSN in 2013. He also worked for ESPN, serving as an analyst for their Formula 1 coverage from 1988 until 1992. 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. Hobbs was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009. Hobbs's father, Howard Frederick Hobbs, was an Australian-born engineer and inventor who
developed an early version of the automatic transmission, known as the Mecha-Matic. Hobbs lives in Vero Beach, Florida with his wife, Margaret, with whom he has two sons, Gregory and Guy. 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.
IMSA - Road America 1985
Daytona 500 1975