The Queue: This Week in Motorsport

It is hard to overstate how important David Hobbs's commentating was to the blossoming of my fondness for international motorsport, especially Formula 1. Hobbs, along with play-by-play host Bob Varsha & fellow color commentator Steve Matchett, a World Championship-winning mechanic, did not just describe what was happening in the races, but also explained a great deal of why it was happening—unvealing the alchemy between drivers, engineers, mechanics, & designers necessary to making a race-winning F1 car. The trio were comedic dynamite, making ever rained-out practice sessions worth watching. After several years @ Speed, the F1 television contract was won by N.B.C., & the best decision the Peacock made was to bring over Hobbs & Matchett, now teamed with Leigh Diffey instead of Varsha. I prefer Varsha to Diffey, but most of the magic was still there. I cherished Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett, & Diffey—as well as pit lane reporter Will Buxton—as the gold standard of motor racing commentating, & watched enough other racing series to appreciate just how superior the F1 crew was. Once N.B.C. lost the contract to E.S.P.N., I saw just how much Hobbs & co. added to F1; E.S.P.N. went the cheap route, not having their own commentary team but using the wholly inferior crew from the U.K.'s Sky Sports, whose commentary is neither amusing nor enlightening. Without the magic of David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, & Will Buxton, F1 quickly became unwatchable, & I haven't missed it. By contrast, I enjoy the 24 Hours of Le Mans almost no matter who is commentating (though of course some commentators are much, much better than others).

As the above paragraph indicates, I've only known Hobbs as a television commentator. I knew he was a veteran & championship-winning racing driver, but he stopped racing years before I became interested in motorsport. Hobbo spends one chapter on Hobbs's forty years in television (chapter fifteen, "Forty Years in Television [1976-2017]"); one on his youth (chapter one, "Almost Australian [1939-1959]"); one on home, family, & business (chapter sixteen, "Home, Family, and Business"); & its other thirteen chapters on his thirty-four years as a race car driver (1959-1993). Hobbo is a coffee-table book, lavished illustrated with photographs of racing cars & racing drivers from a golden age of racing. I reckoned I would enjoy Hobbo, & even so I was surprised by how delighted I was reading it. Hobbs has quite a way with words, even for those not familiar with his English accent (even after decades living in America) & the cadance of his speech, & I would recommend Hobbo to anyone who enjoys funny stories set in pubs & good humor in the face of a career marked by near-misses with greatness & golden opportunities turned to ashes.

I'm confident I'll revisit Hobbo: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth time & time again, to much delight.

Recently
Skip Carmichael, The Frozen Lighthouse
Cyril Jones-Kellett, Ad Limina
David Hobbs with Andrew Marriot, Hobbo: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth—The Autobiography of David Hobbs

Currently
Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ
Ulrich L. Lehner, God Is Not Nice: Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For

Presently
Flannery O'Connor, Flannery O'Connor Collection
Michael Gorn, N.A.S.A.: The Complete Illustrated History
Brandon Vogt, What to Say and How to Say It: Discuss Your Catholic Faith with Clarity and Confidence