David Kennedy is a former racing driver from the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. He was one of his country's first Grand Prix

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 drivers, and is widely seen as having helped pioneer the Irish move into international racing.

Kennedy was in the vanguard of a wave of 1970s Irish international racing talent and became Ireland's first winner of a British single seater championship when he won the RAC and Townsend Thoresen Formula Ford 1600 Championships in 1976 driving a Crossle-Minister 30F. He also finished a close second in the European FF1600 series that year. In 1977 he graduated to the factory supported AFMP March European Formula 3 team but the squad folded early in the year and Kennedy soon switched to the small Argo team, scoring a number of giant killing results with the Jo Marquart designed JM1 chassis.

He finished sixth in the series in 1978 but switched to the British Formula One series before the end of the year scoring a win on his debut with a Theodore Racing run Wolf WR3 at Snetterton. He finished runner up in British F1 in 1979 which helped him to moved into Grand Prix racing with the Shadow

Shadow Racing Cars

Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team, founded and initially based in the United States although later Formula One operations were run from Britain.-1971-1972: Early years in CanAm series:...

 team in 1980. However, the team was chronically underfunded and had a poorly-engineered DN11 chassis. Teddy Yip of Theodore Racing fame took over ownership of the team after a few races but a new DN12 design turned out to be a similar disappointment. Kennedy did qualify and race in the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix

1980 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1980 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 1, 1980 at Circuito Permanente del Jarama...

, an event subsequently stripped of its World Championship status.

After a part season of Can Am racing in 1981 with a Frissbee, Kennedy returned to Europe and went on to forge a successful career in sportscar racing, latterly with the Mazda factory team with whom he raced extensively at Le Mans, Japan and the world sportscar championship.

Since 1995 Kennedy has been a Formula One commentator for Irish television, first with RTÉ

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

 and more recently with Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

. He also regularly writes a column for the Sunday Independent newspaper. He also did some testing with the Jordan Grand Prix

Jordan Grand Prix

Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team is named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan...

 F1 team, mainly for television programme features, in the late 1990s.

Complete Formula One results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1980 1980 Formula One season The 1980 Formula One season was the 31st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently from January 13 to October 5 over a fourteen race series...	Shadow Cars	Shadow Shadow Racing Cars Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team, founded and initially based in the United States although later Formula One operations were run from Britain.-1971-1972: Early years in CanAm series:...   DN11	Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...  V8 V8 engine A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....	ARG 1980 Argentine Grand Prix The 1980 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on January 13, 1980 at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez Circuit in Argentina. It was the first race of the 1980 Formula One season... DNQ	BRA 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix The 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on January 27, 1980.- Classification :-Notes:*Lap leaders: Gilles Villeneuve , Jean-Pierre Jabouille , René Arnoux... DNQ	RSA 1980 South African Grand Prix The 1980 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on March 1, 1980.Alain Prost and Marc Surer both crashed in separate incidents during qualifying: Prost broke his wrist and Surer suffered serious injuries to his legs. Neither started the race, with Prost also missing... DNQ	USW 1980 United States Grand Prix West The 1980 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One race held on March 30, 1980 at Long Beach, California.__FORCETOC__-Summary:Nelson Piquet took pole, fastest lap and his first career race win to dominate the weekend in his gleaming blue and white Brabham... DNQ	BEL 1980 Belgian Grand Prix The 1980 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on May 4, 1980.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings... DNQ										NC	0
	Theodore Shadow								MON 1980 Monaco Grand Prix The 1980 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on May 18, 1980. It was won by Carlos Reutemann driving a Williams-Cosworth... DNQ
		Shadow Shadow Racing Cars Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team, founded and initially based in the United States although later Formula One operations were run from Britain.-1971-1972: Early years in CanAm series:...   DN12								FRA 1980 French Grand Prix The 1980 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on June 29, 1980.Financial problems meant that this was the last race contested by the Shadow team.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standings... DNQ	GBR 1980 British Grand Prix The 1980 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on July 13, 1980.This race proved to be Patrick Depailler's final Grand Prix...	GER 1980 German Grand Prix The 1980 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheimring on August 10, 1980. It was the ninth round of the 1980 Formula One season...	AUT 1980 Austrian Grand Prix The 1980 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 17, 1980 at the Österreichring circuit in Austria. It was the tenth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :*Milestones:...	NED 1980 Dutch Grand Prix The 1980 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 31, 1980 at the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands. It was the eleventh race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones...	ITA 1980 Italian Grand Prix The 1980 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 14, 1980 at the Imola Circuit in Italy. It was the twelfth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones:...	CAN 1980 Canadian Grand Prix The 1980 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 28, 1980, at the Montreal Circuit in Canada. It was the thirteenth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones:...	USA 1980 United States Grand Prix The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York...