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Old 06-08-2013
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Moxie Moxie is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NYC
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Re: The ONE and ONLY Happy Birthday Thread!

HBD and thanks for the terrific color commentary to David Hobbs, born 9 June 1939, former professional race car driver who now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Group’s coverage of Formula One. David will celebrate his birthday this year in the booth covering the F1 race in Montreal, Canada.

Prior to joining NBC, Hobbs served as an analyst for SPEED’s coverage of Formula One™, GP2 races, Le Mans, Professional Sports Car and SCCA events. Hobbs began his television career with CBS in 1976 covering 17 consecutive telecasts of the Daytona 500. He joined ESPN in 1987 to provide coverage for Formula One™, Le Mans and U.S. racing series.

During his 30-year racing career, Hobbs drove nearly every kind of race car, including sports cars, IndyCar and Formula One™. He has participated in the world’s top races, including four Indianapolis 500s, and amassed 22 wins in a seven-year Formula 5000 career, second on the all-time win list. Hobbs finished third in his Formula One™ Grand Prix debut and had three third place finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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. Hobbs ultimately participated in six F1 world championship races between 1967 and 1974, driving for BRM, McLaren and Honda.

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.

Hobbs currently lives in Milwaukee, Wis., with his wife, Margaret, with whom he has two sons, Gregory and Guy. He has appeared in the movie Cars 2, as announcer “David Hobbscap”, a 1963 Jaguar from Hobbs’ actual hometown of Royal Leamington Spa, England.

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