The ONE and ONLY Happy Birthday Thread!

[sydude]

DUDES!!! Thank you VERY much for the great birthday wishes! I'm embarrassed to say that I only now looked through this thread and saw your posts, so I apologize for the belated thank you. You guys have been truly great friends and I miss you all.

Originally Posted by Moxie

Some say that his entire wardrobe is fireproof ... and that some South African natives worship his image as a deity they call "Devajuicy." All we know is, he's called Sydude and his birthday is April 16.

Originally Posted by dalyduo

To the guy who started SkippyForums and led me to write more words about racing and have more fun in more cars than I'd have ever thought possible. A heartfelt...

Happy Birthday Sydude!

Originally Posted by cheekychica

Happy Birthday, Sy!

I hope you have as much fun today as you were when that photo was taken.

Originally Posted by Tireman

Hapy Birthday Sy !

Viz

Originally Posted by knightrider

Happy Birthday Sy !!!

Originally Posted by Redneck

Happy Birthday Sy !!!!

Originally Posted by cdh

Happy Birthday Sy, hope it's a great one

Some odd search results

[cheekychica]

Happy birthday Paul! Hope you had fun on the sub and perhaps I'll see you on Saturday.

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Brian! Hope we see you at Lime Rock next weekend!

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Chris!

I hope you have a great day! Stay warm up there!

[Moxie]

HBD to a man who knows the Tao of racing.

“If you understand others you are smart.
If you understand yourself you are illuminated.
If you overcome others you are powerful.
If you overcome yourself you have strength.
If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.
If you can act with vigor, you have a will.
If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.
If you die without loss, you are eternal.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

And if you don't lift, you are faster.
-- Moxie

[dalyduo]

Happy Birthday Chris!

[Tireman]

Happy Birthday Chris !!!!!!Be safe, be fast, HAVE FUN my friend !!

Vi

[knightrider]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Peter!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and have a fun day today!

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Rob! And Happy Belated Leland!

[dalyduo]

Belated birthday wishes to Leland and Rob as well!

[Tireman]

Add me as late to the party, but none the less, sincerest wishes for a Happy Belated Birthday Leland and Rob !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Viz

[rslonaker]

Thanks Guys!

[Moxie]

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes.


And today, HBD to Michael Schumacher.

[Moxie]

Happy belated (January 7) 28th birthday to Lewis Hamilton. Good luck at Mercedes. I hope Michael hasn't taken the keys with him.

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Pat!

I hope you have a great day and enjoy the nice warm weekend!

[oldredracer]

Originally Posted by cheekychica

Happy Birthday Pat!

I hope you have a great day and enjoy the nice warm weekend!

Well, this is ONE race in which you'll never pass me.

[Tireman]

Happy Birthday Pat !!!!

Hope to see you at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Viz

[cdh]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY MAN!!!!! The big __ Oh My Gawd

See ya at the races pal, all the best

[Gerardo]

Happy Birthday Pat!!!!

[Moxie]

Pat, all good wishes and all good things to you on your birthday and every other day as well.

[dalyduo]

It was a great day and celebration. Many thanks to all

[Moxie]

Though it hasn't got much to do with racing or cars in general, spare a moment to think of the late great Janis Joplin, who would have been 70 years old (!) yesterday, January 19.



"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz."

[Tireman]

Happy Birthday Doug ! Hope you are someplace warm !

Viz

[cheekychica]

Happ Birthday, Doug!

[Gerardo]

Happy Birthday, Doug!!!!!!!

[dalyduo]

Happy Birthday Doug!

[Moxie]

Happy Birthday and RIP Joakim Bonnier, 31 January 1930-11 June 1972, who drove a BRM to victory in the 1959 formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix. Born to a wealthy Swedish family, Bonnier was one of the last gentleman racers in F1 and sports car racing. He died driving a Lola-Cosworth at Le Mans in 1972.

[Moxie]

Happy birthday and RESPECT to Sir John Surtees, MBE, OBE who is 79 today. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels.

[dalyduo]

A great racer and a great spirit...

[Moxie]

HBD and a twirl of the moustache to Graham Hill, born 15 February 1929, two-time F1 world champion (1962 & 1968), five-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 winner in 1966, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner in 1972, and the only F1 champion ever to have a son who also became an F1 world champion.

[dalyduo]

One of the great drivers and characters of his day...

[Moxie]

HBD to Enzo Ferrari, born this date in 1898. In terms of complete devotion to motorsports without commercial compromise, the world will never see his like again. :woot:

[Moxie]

HBD and a deep bowdown to Alain Prost, born 24 February 1955. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion , Prost has won more F1 titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio (five championships) and Michael Schumacher (seven championships). From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix victories: 51 wins and 106 podium finishes in his 13-year F1 career from 1980 to 1993. Prost is #5 on the BBC's all-time list of great F1 drivers. Though his best-known rivalry was with McLaren teammate Ayrton Senna , Prost also regularly battled other greats including Nelson Piquet (three championships) and Nigel Mansell (one championship).

[dalyduo]

Happy Birthday Mario!

From Wikipedia:

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, and sprint cars. During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.[1] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.[2]
Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984).[3] He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.[3] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades[4] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.[3]
In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.[5]

[Moxie]

HBD & RIP Jim Clark, born this date in 1936. One of the greatest drivers of all time on almost everyone's list, Clark won two F1 championships in 1963 and 1965, both with Colin Chapman's Lotus team.

Clark's career was tragically cut short when he was killed in a Formula Two motor racing accident in Hockenheim, Germany in 1968. He was just 32 years old when he died. At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver, so imagine what he could have done if he'd lived long enough to fulfill his career potential.

The following summary of Clark's outstanding performances is from Wikipedia --

Jim Clark won the 1963 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in extremely wet, foggy and rainy conditions. After starting eighth on the grid Clark passed all of the cars in front of him, including early leader Graham Hill. About 17 laps into the race, with the rain coming down harder than ever, Clark had not only lapped the entire field except for Bruce McLaren, but he was almost five minutes ahead of McLaren and his Cooper. This would be the first of seven victories for Clark and Team Lotus that year.

In the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting from pole, Clark was leading in his Lotus 49 (chassis R2), when a tyre punctured. He lost an entire lap while having the wheel changed in the pits. Rejoining sixteenth, Clark ripped back through the field, progressively lowering the lap record and eventually equalling his pole time of 1m 28.5s, to regain the lost lap and the lead. He was narrowly ahead of Brabham and Surtees starting the last lap, but his car had not been filled with enough fuel for such a performance: it faltered, and finally coasted across the finish line in third place.

In his Indianapolis 500 win, Clark led for 190 of the 200 laps, with an unprecedented average speed of over 150 miles per hour (240 km/h), to become the first non-American in almost half a century to win the famous race.^{[10] [11]}

In 1963 and 1965, Jim Clark equaled Alberto Ascari's record for Highest percentage of possible championship points in a season (100%). Leading 71.47% of the laps in 1963, Jim Clark holds the record for highest percentage of laps in the lead in a season. He also holds the record for most Grand Slams, taking pole, fastest lap, race win and leading every lap of the race in 8 races (1962 British Grand Prix, 1963 Dutch Grand Prix, 1963 French Grand Prix, 1963 Mexican Grand Prix, 1964 British Grand Prix, 1965 South African Grand Prix, 1965 French Grand Prix, 1965 German Grand Prix).

[Moxie]

HBD Dan Gurney, among the greatest of all time, born 13 April 1931.

[Moxie]

HBD Phil Hill born this date in 1927, the first American-born driver to win the LeMans 24 Hours (1958) and to become F1 world champion (1961), both with the Ferrari team.

Born in Miami, Florida, Hill was raised in Santa Monica, California, where he lived until his death in 2008. Hill left college early to pursue auto racing, working as a mechanic on other drivers' cars. Hill began racing cars at an early age, going to England as a Jaguar trainee in 1949 and signing with Enzo Ferrari’s team in 1956. He made his debut in the French Grand Prix at Reims France in 1958 driving a Maserati. That same year, paired with Belgian teammate Olivier Gendebien, Hill won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the famous endurance race again in 1961 and 1962.

Hill began driving full-time for the Ferrari Formula One team in 1959, earning three podium finishes and fourth place in the Driver's Championship. In 1960 he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the first Grand Prix win for an American driver in nearly forty years, since Jimmy Murphy won the 1921 French Grand Prix. This also turned out to be the last win for a front-engined car in Formula 1.

The following season, Hill won the Belgian Grand Prix and with two races left trailed only his Ferrari teammate Wolfgang von Trips in the season standings. A crash during the Italian Grand Prix killed von Trips and fifteen spectators. Hill won the race and clinched the championship but the triumph was bittersweet. Ferrari's decision not to travel to America for the season's final round deprived Hill of the opportunity to participate in his home race at Watkins Glen as the newly-crowned World Champion. When he returned for the following season, his last with Ferrari, Hill said, "I no longer have as much need to race, to win. I don't have as much hunger anymore. I am no longer willing to risk killing myself."

After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1962, he and fellow driver Giancarlo Baghetti started for the new team ATS created by ex-Ferrari engineers in the great walkout of 1961. In 1964 Hill continued in Formula One, driving for the Cooper Formula One Team before retiring from single seaters at the end of the season and limiting his future driving to sports car racing with Ford Motor Company and the Chaparral Cars of Jim Hall before retiring from racing altogether in 1967.

Phil Hill has the distinction of having won the first (a 3 lap event at Carrell Speedway in a MG TC on July 24, 1949) and last races of his driving career, the final victory driving for Chaparral in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in England in 1967.

Hill also drove an experimental MG, EX-181, at Bonneville Salt Flats. The "Roaring Raindrop", had an ~85 cu. in. (1.5L) supercharged MGA twin-cam using 86% methanol with nitrobenzene, acetone, and sulphuric ether, for an output of 290 HP. In 1959 Phil Hill attained 255 MPH in this car, breaking the previous record of Stirling Moss in this car, of 246 MPH.

[dalyduo]

Visited the Ferrari Museum in Modena last week and opposite the breathtaking display of F1 Championship cars is a wall of Ferrari drivers with Phil Hill and one of his helmets featured. It is the happiest picture of Phil Hill I've ever seen.

[cdh]

Album from 1967 narrated by Hill on YouTube "The Exciting Racing Sounds Of Grand Prix".
I listened to it all most excellent GP engine noises

[cheekychica]

Happy Birthday Roger!

It's perfect riding weather -- I hope you're home to enjoy it!

[oldredracer]

Happy Birthday, Roger.
It's perfect riding weather. I hope you are in one piece to enjoy it!

[dalyduo]

Late to the party...

Happy Birthday Roger!

[rcote]

Late to my own party.. lol.. thanks guys!! It was a good day at LR...Got to say hi to Pat D too..
Im mostly back in one piece now according to the xrays.. now that Im more capable its time to tear into the bike and see for sure how much is bent there.. should be riding again sometime in June if I dont do anything too foolish and rebreak any of the four fractures I gave my collarbone in my December high side. Thanks again all!!

[Moxie]

HBD Colin Chapman (1928-1982), founder of Lotus Cars in 1952 and the man whose famous quote “simplify and add lightness” became the mantra for all successful racing car design. Many of the greatest F1 drivers of all time were associated with Lotus, including Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Stirling Moss, Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti and John Surtees. From Wikipedia --

In 1952 Chapman founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman initially ran Lotus in his spare time, assisted by a group of enthusiasts. His knowledge of the latest aeronautical engineering techniques would prove vital towards achieving the major automotive technical advances he is remembered for. He was famous for saying "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere", as his design philosophy focused on cars with light weight and fine handling instead of bulking up on horsepower and spring rates.

Under his direction, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, between 1962 and 1978. The production side of Lotus Cars has built tens of thousands of relatively affordable, cutting edge sports cars. Lotus is one of but a handful of English performance car builders still in business after the industrial decline of the 1970s.

In 1948 Chapman started with the Mk1, a modified Austin 7, which he entered privately into local racing events. He named the car "Lotus"; he never confirmed the reason but one (of several) theories is that it was after his then girlfriend (later wife) Hazel, whom he nicknamed "Lotus blossom". With prize money he developed the Lotus Mk2. With continuing success on through the Lotus 6, he began to sell kits of these cars. Over 100 were sold through 1956. It was with the Lotus 7in 1957 that things really took off, and indeed Caterham Cars still manufacture a version of that car today – the Caterham 7; there have been over 90 different Lotus 7 clones, replicas and derivatives offered to the public by a variety of makers.

Chapman at the wheel of one of his ownLotus Eleven sports cars, during practice for the 1956 British Grand Prix Formula Tworace at Silverstone Lotus Development Director Mike Costin on left holding notes. Chief Mechanic John Crosthwaite on right leaning on car.
In the 1950s, Chapman progressed through the motor racing formulae, designing and building a series of racing cars, sometimes to the point of maintaining limited production as they were so successful and highly sought after, until he arrived in Formula One. Besides his engineering work, he also piloted a Vanwall F1-car in 1956 but crashed into his teammate Mike Hawthorn during practice for the French Grand Prix at Reims, ending his career as a race driver and focusing him on the technical side. Along with John Cooper, he revolutionised the premier motor sport. Their small, lightweight mid-engined vehicles gave away much in terms of power, but superior handling meant their competing cars often beat the all-conquering front engined Ferraris and Maseratis. Eventually, with legendary driver Jim Clark at the wheel of his race cars, Team Lotus appeared as though they could win whenever they pleased. With Clark driving the legendary Lotus 25, Team Lotus won its first F1 World Championship in 1963. It was Clark, driving a Lotus 38 at the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, who drove the first ever mid-engined car to victory at the fabled "Brickyard." Clark and Chapman became particularly close and Clark's death in 1968 devastated Chapman, who publicly stated that he had lost his best friend.

Chapman’s racing car designs were pioneering, iconic and frequently beautiful, but his minimalist design philosophy sometimes compromised reliability and driver safety. Chapman's notebook from 1975, recently on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show, sheds light on a man for whom failure was simply not an option. With a chilling brevity Chapman notes, "A racing car has only one objective: to win motor races. If it does not, it is nothing but a waste of time and money. It does not matter how ... safe it is, if it does not consistently win it is nothing." These words were written only a few years after Chapman's great friend and champion driver Jim Clark died due to what many think was a technical fault with his car. Clark's successor, Jochen Rindt, wrote to Chapman saying his Lotus would still be competitive if a few pounds were added to make it stronger. This plea wasn't heeded and, soon after, Rindt shared Clark's tragic fate.

Many of Chapman's ideas can still be seen in Formula One and other top-level motor sport (such as IndyCars) today.
He pioneered the use of struts as a rear suspension device. Even today, struts used in the rear of a vehicle are known as Chapman struts, while virtually identical suspension struts for the front are known as MacPherson struts that were invented 10 years earlier in 1949.

His next major innovation was the introduction of monocoque chassis construction to automobile racing, with the revolutionary 1962 Lotus 25 Formula One car. The technique resulted in a body that was both lighter and stronger, and also provided better driver protection in the event of a crash. Although a new concept in the world of motorsport, the first vehicle to feature such a chassis was the road-going 1922 Lancia Lambda. Lotus had been an early adopter of this technology with the 1958Lotus Elite. The modified monocoque body of the car was made out of fibreglass, making it also one of the first production cars made out of composite materials.

When American Formula One driver Dan Gurney first saw the Lotus 25 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, he was so struck by the advanced design that he invited Chapman to the 1962 Indianapolis 500, where Gurney made his Indy début at the wheel of a space-frame rear engined car designed by John Crosthwaite (who had previously worked for Chapman) and built by American hot-rodder Mickey Thompson. Following the race, Chapman prepared a proposal to Ford Motor Company for an aluminium monocoque Indianapolis car using a 4.2-litre aluminium V-8 Ford passenger car engine. Ford accepted the proposal. The Lotus 29 debuted at Indianapolis in 1963, with Jim Clark finishing second. This design concept fairly quickly replaced what had been for many decades the standard design formula in racing-cars, the tube-frame chassis. Although the material has changed from sheet aluminium to carbon fibre, this remains today the standard technique for building top-level racing cars.

Inspired by Jim Hall, Chapman was among those who helped introduce aerodynamics into Formula One car design. Lotus used the concept of positive aerodynamic downforce, through the addition of wings, at a Tasman Formula race in early 1968, although Ferrari and Brabham were the first to use them in a Formula One race at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. Early versions, in 1968 and 1969, were mounted 3 feet (0.91 m) or so above the car, in order to operate in 'clean air' (air that would not otherwise be disturbed by the passage of the car). The underdesigned wings and struts failed regularly, however, compelling the FIA to require the wing mounting hardware to be attached directly to the sprung chassis. Chapman also originated the movement of radiators away from the front of the car to the sides, to decrease frontal area (lowering aerodynamic drag) and centralising weight distribution. These concepts remain features of virtually all high performance racing cars today.

Chapman was also an innovator in the business end of racing. He was among the first entrants in Formula One to turn their cars into rolling billboards for non-automotive products, initially with the cigarette brands Gold Leaf and, most famously, John Player Special.
Chapman was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970. He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1997.

[dalyduo]

You forgot to mention that Chapman was a Gemini...

Originally Posted by Moxie

HBD Colin Chapman (1928-1982), founder of Lotus Cars in 1952 and the man whose famous quote “simplify and add lightness” became the mantra for all successful racing car design. Many of the greatest F1 drivers of all time were associated with Lotus, including Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Stirling Moss, Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti and John Surtees....

[Moxie]

Happy 41st birthday on May 23 to Rubens Barrichello.

Driving for the Jordan, Stewart, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and Williams teams, Rubinho has 11 F1 wins, 14 f1 pole positions, 68 F1 podium finishes and 658 career F1 championship points (the tenth highest total in F1 history). He has 322 career F1 race starts and was the first F1 driver ever to reach 300 Grand Prix starts.

Rubinho was the F1 championship runner-up in 2002 and 2004 on the Ferrari team. He was elected chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association in 2010.

After his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2012 season, in 2013 he started covering F1 race weekends for Brazil's TV Globo.

[Moxie]

HBD to Sam Posey, born 26 May 1944 and one of the great names in the history of Lime Rock Park and US road racing.

From Wikipedia -- "Sam Posey started as an amateur sports car racer, and graduated to the Can Am and Trans Am. Posey raced the Sunoco Camaro for Roger Penske in 1968 in the Trans Am series. Chevrolet won the championship based on the Penske team effort. Mark Donohue was the lead driver and he won a remarkable 10 of 13 races. Posey's first race was at Bridgehampton where he finished 3rd. Other finishes were: Meadowdale, 3rd’; St Jovite, 3rd; Bryar, 6th; Watkins Glen, 2nd which was the only race that Donohue was beaten by a Camaro in 1968. Posey's car was the same Sunoco Blue with yellow lettering as Donohue. Posey sported a yellow spoiler and Donohue had a red spoiler.

"In 1969, he won the Lime Rock Trans-Am in a factory Ford Mustang. In 1970, Posey was the driver for Ray Caldwell's factory-backed Autodynamics Dodge Challenger in Trans-Am, racing against Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue and Jim Hall in what most racing historians regard as the greatest season of professional road racing in US history. Posey also raced in the USAC Championship Car series in the 1969 and 1972-1974 seasons, with 13 career starts, including the 1972 Indianapolis 500. He finished in the top ten 8 times, with his best finish in 3rd position in 1969 at the Kent road course. He was the team driver for Caldwell's Can-Am racer which featured monocoque aluminum construction in two parallel longitudinal space frames, with solid front and rear axles.

"As an endurance racer, Posey appeared at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 10 times (1966, 1969–1973, and 1975–1978) and finished in the top 10 five times. His best finish was 3rd position during the 1971 competition in which he drove the Ferrari 512M. He also won the 1975 12 Hours of Sebring, teaming with three other drivers.

"He participated in two Formula One world championship events, the 1971 and 1972 United States Grand Prix, retiring from the first and finishing 12th in the second, thus not scoring any championship points. He drove Surtees cars on both occasions, but only the first was a works-entered car.

"He also competed in a single NASCAR Grand National (predecessor to Nextel Cup) event, the first race of the 1970 series, held on the Riverside International Raceway road race course in Riverside, California."

Sam has also won a devoted following for his articulate and insightful racing analyses, which have been broadcast on NBC, Speed Channel and ABC. In addition, he is a talented artist.

Sam has recently been immortalized at Lime Rock Park by having a portion of the track named for him. He is frequently seen at the track and is unfailingly accessible, personable and courteous to face fans who want to speak with him or just shake the hand of one of the most accomplished and versatile road racers in America.

[Moxie]

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.

[Moxie]

Happy belated birthday to Sir Jackie Stewart, one of the greatest racers and most passionate advocates for motor racing safety, born 11 June 1939.



From Wikipedia:

Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, OBE is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am. He became well known in the United States as a color commentator of racing television broadcasts for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, and as a spokesman for Ford, where his Scottish accent has made him a distinctive presence. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team. In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor racing."

In 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, taking an astounding 25 second lead in just two laps before coasting home to a win on a 44 second cushion. Within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell; he failed to win just two races (one to clutch failure, one to a spin) in becoming F3 champion.

After running John Coombs' E-type and practising in a Ferrari at Le Mans, he took a trial in an F1 Lotus 33-Climax, in which he impressed Colin Chapman and Jim Clark. Stewart again refused a ride in F1, but went instead to the Lotus Formula Two team. In his F2 debut, he was second at the difficult Clermont-Ferrand circuit in a Lotus 32-Cosworth.

While he signed with BRM alongside Graham Hill in 1965, a contract which netted him £4,000, his first race in an F1 car was for Lotus, as stand-in for an injured Clark, at the Rand Grand Prix in December 1964; the Lotus broke in the first heat, but he won the second. On his F1 debut in South Africa, he scored his first Championship point, finishing sixth. His first major competition victory came in the BRDC International Trophy in the late spring, and before the end of the year he won his first World Championship race at Monza, fighting wheel-to-wheel with teammate Hill's P261. Stewart finished his rookie season with three seconds, a third, a fifth, and a sixth, and third place in the World Drivers' Championship. He also piloted Tyrrell's unsuccessful F2 Cooper T75-BRM, and ran the Rover Company's revolutionary turbine car at Le Mans.

1966 saw him almost win the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt, in John Mecom's Lola T90-Ford, only to be denied by a broken scavenge pump while leading by over a lap with eight laps to go; however, Stewart's performance, having had the race fully in hand and sidelined only by mechanical failure, won him Rookie of the Year honors despite the winner, Graham Hill, also being an Indianapolis rookie.

Also, in 1966, a crash triggered his fight for improved safety in racing. On lap one of the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, when sudden rain caused many crashes, he found himself trapped in his overturned BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel, which can result in a fire. The marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and Bob Bondurant, who had also crashed nearby, to get him out. Since then, a main switch to disconnect electrics and a removable steering wheel have become standard. Also, noticing the long and slow transport to a hospital, he brought his own doctor to future races, while BRM supplied a medical truck for the benefit of all. It was a poor year all around; the BRMs were notoriously unreliable, although Stewart did win the Monaco Grand Prix. Stewart had some success in other forms of racing during the year, winning the 1966 Tasman Series and the 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.

BRM's fortunes did not improve in 1967, during which Stewart came no higher than second at Spa, though he won F2 events for Tyrrell at Karlskoga, Enna, Oulton Park, and Albi in a Matra MS5 or MS7. He also placed 2nd driving a works-entered Ferrari driving with Chris Amon at the BOAC 6 Hours at Brands Hatch, the 10th round of World Sportscar Championship at the time.

In Formula One, he switched to Tyrrell's Matra International team, where he drove a Matra MS10-Cosworth for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Skill (and improving tyres from Dunlop) brought a win in heavy rain at Zandvoort. Another win in rain and fog at the Nürburgring, where he won by a margin of four minutes. He also won at Watkins Glen, but missed Jarama and Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama. His car failed at Mexico City, and so lost the driving title to Hill.

In 1969, Stewart had a number of races where he completely dominated the opposition, such as winning by over 2 laps at Montjuïc, a whole minute at Clemont-Ferrand and more than a lap at Silverstone. With additional wins at Kyalami, Zandvoort, and Monza, Stewart became world champion in 1969 in a Matra MS80-Cosworth. Until September 2005, when Fernando Alonso in a Renault became champion, he was the only driver to have won the championship driving for a French marque and, as Alonso's Renault was built in the UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.

For 1970, Matra insisted on using their own V12 engines, while Tyrrell and Stewart wanted to keep the Cosworths as well as the good connection to Ford. As a consequence, the Tyrrell team bought a chassis from March Engineering; Stewart took the March 701-Cosworth to wins at the Daily Mail Race of Champions and Jarama, but was soon overcome by Lotus' new 72. The new Tyrrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August, suffered problems, but Stewart saw better days for it in 1971, and stayed on. Tyrrell continued to be sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Stewart raced in a car painted French Racing Blue for many years. Stewart also continued to race sporadically in Formula Two, winning at the Crystal Palace and placing at Thruxton. A projected Le Mans appearance, to co-drive the 4.5 litre Porsche 917K with Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance. He also raced Can-Am, in the revolutionary Chaparral 2J. Stewart achieved pole position in 2 events, ahead of the dominant McLarens, but the chronic unreliability of the 2J prevented Stewart from finishing any races.

Stewart went on to win the Formula One world championship in 1971 using the excellent Tyrrell 003-Cosworth, winning Spain, Monaco, France, Britain, Germany, and Canada. He also did a full season in Can-Am, driving a Carl Haas sponsored Lola T260-Chevrolet. and again in 1973. During the 1971 Can-Am series, Stewart was the only driver able to challenge the McLarens driven by Dennis Hulme and Peter Revson. Stewart won 2 races; at Mont Tremblant and Mid Ohio. Stewart finished 3rd in the 1971 Can-Am Drivers Championship.

The stress of racing year round, and on several continents eventually caused medical problems for Stewart. During the 1972 Grand Prix season he missed Spa, due to gastritis, and had to cancel plans to drive a Can-Am McLaren, but won the Argentine, French, U.S., and Canadian Grands Prix, to come second to Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers' standings. Stewart also competed in a Ford Capri RS2600 in the European Touring Car Championship, with F1 teammate François Cevert and other F1 pilots, at a time where the competition between Ford and BMW was at a height. Stewart shared a Capri with F1 Tyrrell teammate François Cevert in the 1972 6 hours of Paul Ricard, finishing second. He also received an OBE.

Entering the 1973 season, Stewart had decided to retire. He nevertheless won at South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, Holland, and Austria. His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the Nürburgring with a convincing 1-2 for Tyrrell.

"Nothing gave me more satisfaction than to win at the Nürburgring and yet, I was always afraid." Stewart later said. "When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I'd come home again." After the fatal crash of his teammate François Cevert in practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Stewart retired one race earlier than intended and missed what would have been his 100th Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Stewart still won the drivers' championship for the year.

Stewart held the record for most wins by a Formula One driver (27) for 14 years (broken by Alain Prost in 1987) and the record for most wins by a British Formula One driver for 19 years (broken by Nigel Mansell in 1992).