Panelists, Moderator Announced For HF36's "Dinner and a Panel"

Panelists, Moderator Announced For HF36's "Dinner and a Panel"

"Dinner and a Panel" to Feature David Hobbs, Geoff Brabham, Tommy Kendall, Lyn St. James and Moderator Mike Joy

Get ready for one of the most exciting Historic Festivals in 36 years at Lime Rock Park. Held during Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 30 - Sept. 3, 2018, the Festival offers three days of on-track action among eight groups of vintage and historic sports cars as well as a host of fan activities, including the Saturday Night "Dinner and a Panel." Held on Sept. 1, 2018, at 6:30 in the Hospitality Tent at Lime Rock Park, the dinner will showcase a discussion themed on racing's GTP Era with all-star panelists and moderator. Advance tickets to the dinner are required and can be purchased here. More information about the Saturday Night Dinner And A Panel can be found at www.LimeRock.com/Labor-Day-Historics/SaturdayNight. 

SATURDAY NIGHT DINNER PANELISTS:

The all-start panelists discussing the GTP Era during the Saturday Night Dinner are former racing drivers David Hobbs, Tommy Kendall, Geoff Brabham and Lyn St. James. The panel will be moderated by Mike Joy. Below you'll find an overview of each of their career highlights.

David Hobbs

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee David Hobbs will join us to discuss some of his memorable moments from the GTP era. Currently a commentator for NBC and NBC Sports Network, Hobbs has had a 31-year driving career where he participated in nearly every racing class. He has participated in the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Daytona, and made 20 starts in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where he's credited with an 8th place finish at the first attempt in 1962 followed with a pole position and a best finish of third (in 1969 and 1984) to his credit.
 
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 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 provided commentary for Formula One and GP2 races, the SCCA Valvoline runoffs, and parts of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has worked for CBS on its Daytona 500 coverage, working as both a color 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. 

In 2018, David published an autobiography "HOBBO: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth." He's also made it onto the big screen, appearing in the 1983 comedy film "Stroker Ace," playing a TV race announcer and in the "Cars 2" movie, where his character Announcer "David Hobbscap" was a 1963 Jaguar from David's real-life hometown in England.
 

Geoff Brabham
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee Geoff Brabham is an Australian-born racecar driver who drove in CART early in his career, finishing 8th in 1982, 1984 and 1987 with nine podiums. In 10 appearances in the Indianapolis 500, he had a best result of fourth in 1983 and fifth in 1981. His greatest source of success was in various forms of sports cars, winning four IMSA GTP titles (1988 - 1991) when racing for Nissan, and one Can-Am championship (1981.)
 
Brabham also won the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans driving one of the factory Peugeot 905s alongside French drivers Éric Hélary and Christophe Bouchut. His younger brother David Brabham had won the GT class in the race driving a Jaguar XJ220 for Tom Walkinshaw Racing, but the team was later disqualified for technical infringements. Geoff Brabham became just the third Australian driver to win Le Mans after Bernard Rubin (1928) and Vern Schuppan in 1983. David Brabham would also go on to win Le Mans in 2009, also driving for the factory Peugeot team.
 
Geoff took two race victories in the International Race of Champions stock car series (1992 and 1993), both at Michigan. He made his only NASCAR Winston Cup Series start at the first ever Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in 1994, driving for Michael Kranefuss; however, he crashed in the second half of the race. He is still one of the few drivers to win his first race at Sandown 500 in Australia in 1993. He was runner-up in the 1995 and 1997 Australian Super Touring Championship, and won the 1997 Bathurst 1000 Super Touring race driving a BMW 320i alongside brother David.  
 
Geoff, David and their brother Gary are the sons of three-time Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham. His wife Roseina Brabham is a multi-time Jetski Champion and their son Matthew Brabham is following in the family interest. After a successful karting career, Matthew moved into international open-wheel racing and made his Indianapolis 500 debut with an Australian owned team, PIRTEK Team Murray in 2016 finishing 22nd. He also competed in the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2016, finishing 16th.
 
 

Tommy Kendall 

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee Tommy Kendall has raced in the IMSA GT Championship, the SCCA Trans-Am Series and NASCAR. Son of race driver Charles Kendall, Kendall began his racing career competing at in the IMSA GT Championship driving a Mazda RX-7 in the GTU class - taking the 1986 and 1987 championships. Later he won three other titles in the same car.

He 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 schedule—almost a perfect season. During this time, Kendall was also honored by representing the series for six IROC seasons.

He also ran in 14 NASCAR Cup Series races between 1987 and 1998, primarily on road courses as a road course ringer and scoring a Top 10 finish. Of the American drivers who have competed in the Bathurst 1000 since the race moved to Bathurst in 1963, including races like Johnny Rutherford, Janet Guthrie, Dick Barbour, Sam Posey, Bob Tullius, and John Andretti, Tommy holds the distinction of being the first one to have ever finished the race. Scott Pruett finished 11th the next year.

In 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. Despite the injury, he returned to racing over a year later. In the 2000s Kendall became a television analyst and series host for various program. His latest on-air program premiered on Fox Sports 1 in 2013, entitled  "Driven - A Race Without Boundaries."

Lyn St. James
Florida Sports Hall of Fame inductee Lyn St. James competed in what is now the IndyCar series, with 11 CART and five Indy Racing League starts to her name. She is one of nine women who have qualified for the Indianapolis 500, and became the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500 "Rookie of the Year" award. She also has two victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and one win at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Additionally she has competed in endurance racing in Europe, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring; in the latter, her team placed first and second in class in 1979.

Among her career recognitions, Sports Illustrated for Women has named her one of the "Top 100 Women Athletes of the Century," Working Woman Magazine called her one of “The 350 Women Who Changed the World Between 1976-96” and Automotive News “One of the Top 100 Women in the Automotive Industry in 2010.”

Lyn founded the Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation in 1994 to provide leadership and support to help women's growth in auto and motorsports fields. As a motivational speaker, she shares her story with others across the globe. As an Ambassador for the RPM Foundation, Lyn is passionate about helping to provide a pathway for younger generations into careers in preservation and restoration of collector vehicles. She's an appeal panelist for the National Motorsports Appeals Panel. 

In 2010, she re-published her 2002 book "Ride of Your Life" under its new title, "Lyn St. James: An Incredible Journey."  In 2005, she published "Oh By The Way...A Letter From My Mother."  

Mike Joy
Michael "Mike" Joy is a well-known TV sports announcer who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. Counting 2018, Mike has been part of the live broadcast of 40 Daytona 500s (7 for MRN Radio, 17 for CBS and 15 for FOX). He also serves as Velocity/Discovery Channel's expert analyst for their coverage of collector car auctions.

Mike was born in Chicago, but grew up in Connecticut where attended Conard High School, the University of Hartford and Emerson College in Boston. His career began in 1970s as a public address announcer at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Mass., as well as Connecticut's Thompson Speedway and Stafford Motor Speedway. He also managed Lime Rock Park.

He later moved onto radio, speding 15 years with NASCAR's radio network, MRN Radio (1976-1990), and then to television where he anchored the first live Sprint Cup telecasts on ESPN (1981) and TNN (1991). In 1983, Mike became a pit reporter for CBS' coverage. He launched The Nashville Network's NASCAR coverage in 1991, as a being a lap-by-lap announcer through 1995. When NASCAR went to Indy, Joy anchored the IMS Radio Network live coverage from the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 through 1998. He became CBS Sports lap-by-lap announcer and the lead announcer of Formula One coverage on Fox Sports Net in 1998. For the 2001 season, he moved full-time to Fox with the NASCAR TV package. He also anchors NASCAR Cup coverage on Fox Sports 1.

Mike is also an accomplished sports car racer, winning races at Lime Rock, Pocono, Watkins Glen and New Hampshire, and has competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. In 2012, his drive in Historic Trans-Am at Laguna Seca won the Bonham's Cup, and in 2013, he won a Historic Trans-Am race at Lime Rock.

Now living in North Carolina with his family, Mike restores vintage MGs, and retains his New England roots as CEO and equity partner in New England Racing Fuel Inc., distributor of Sunoco Race Fuels.

 
 

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