David Hobbs

David Wishart Hobbs (born 9 June 1939 in Royal Leamington Spa, England) is a British former racing driver originally employed as a commentator for the Speed Channel, he currently works as a commentator for NBC and NBC Sports Network. In 1969 Hobbs was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, an élite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.

Hobbs currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 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 continues to exist today, and who he personally voices advertisements on local radio for. His youngest son, Guy, worked for Speed as a pit reporter on their sports car coverage. Hobbs was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.

Driving career
Hobbs was born just months before the outbreak of World War II, and has a vast, 30-year history of international driving experience at all levels of motor sports, including 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.

In 1971 Hobbs won the U.S. Formula 5000 L&M Continental Series 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 (Elkhart Lake), Edmonton and Lime Rock. 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 and drove a race in the 1979 International Race of Champions.

Television commentator
Hobbs provides commentary for Formula One and GP2 races (alongside Bob Varsha and former Benetton mechanic Steve Matchett), 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 commentator and a feature/pit reporter from 1979 until 1995, and then moved to Speed in 1996 working as a color commentator and then moved to NBC Sports Network in 2013.

Other appearances
David Hobbs appeared in the 1983 comedy film Stroker Ace, playing a TV race announcer. Hobbs 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.

Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)

$‡$ indicates an entry with an F2 car.