Tommy Kendall
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Tommy Kendall | |||||||
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![]() Kendall at Daytona International Speedway for the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona | |||||||
Born | Santa Monica, California | October 17, 1966||||||
Awards | 2015 inductee in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America | ||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
14 races run over 10 years | |||||||
Best finish | 47th (1990) | ||||||
First race | 1987 Winston Western 500 (Riverside) | ||||||
Last race | 1998 The Bud At The Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 85th (1990 | ||||||
First race | 1990 NE Chevy 250 (Loudon | ||||||
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24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
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Years | 2000, 2013 |
Teams | Konrad Motorsport, SRT Motorsports |
Best finish | 14th |
Tommy Kendall (born October 17, 1966) is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his IMSA GT Championship and SCCA Trans-Am Series career.
Racing career
Son of race driver Charles Kendall, Kendall began his racing career competing at the IMSA GT Championship. He drove a Mazda RX-7 in the GTU category while studying and by the time he completed his studies, he took the 1986 and 1987 championships. Later he won three other titles in the same car, which he still owns.[citation needed]
He later dominated the SCCA Trans-Am Series in the 1990s, scoring four series championships. His greatest year came in 1997, when he managed to win every single race on the schedule, except for the last two—almost a perfect season. During this time, Kendall was also honored by representing the series for six IROC seasons.
He ran in fourteen NASCAR Winston Cup races between 1987 to 1998. He raced primarily only on road courses as a road course ringer, and scored one Top-10 finish. He nearly won the 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300K at Sears Point Raceway before cutting a tire with two laps to go. He had a single start in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Kendall also had one start with Dick Johnson Racing at the 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000 co-driving with Steven Johnson, the son of team boss Dick Johnson. Johnson and Kendall finished 8th in their Ford EF Falcon.[1] Of the American drivers who have competed in the Bathurst 1000 since the race moved to Bathurst in 1963 (including four time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, Janet Guthrie, Sam Posey and Bob Tullius), Kendall holds the distinction of being the only one to have ever finished the race.
On June 30, 1991 Kendall encountered serious injuries at Watkins Glen when a mechanical failure caused his Intrepid RM-1 IMSA GTP car to leave the track. This occurred along the same area of track where J. D. McDuffie of NASCAR Winston Cup fame was killed only a month later. Kendall spoke of this incident during Episode 4, Season 2 of the Speed Channel series, Setup as a "crossroads in his racing career." He returned to racing over a year later in August 1992. He also discussed his accident on Athlete 360, a sports medicine television show hosted by Mark Adickes.
Broadcasting career
In the 2000s, Kendall became a television analyst for the Champ Car series. He is also the host of the Speed Test Drive promotional television series where he and another professional race car driver drive a new vehicle on a race course while being able to remotely talk to each other and offer their positive thoughts on the car.
In 2007 and 2008, Kendall was one of the hosts of the show Setup on SpeedTV.
On July 15, 2012, Kendall revealed on SpeedTV's WindTunnel program that he would be returning to the cockpit as one of four full-time drivers in a factory-backed Dodge Viper effort competing in the American Le Mans Series.
On September 22, 2013, Kendall's new show, Driven - A Race Without Boundaries, premiered on Fox Sports 1. It also stars Rhys Millen and is hosted by Tiff Needell.
Personal life
Kendall earned a degree in economics from UCLA and to this day maintains an avid interest in business.[citation needed]
Hall of Fame
In 2015, he was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.[2]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series
Busch Series
NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | NBSC | Pts | |||||
1990 | Reno Enterprises | 40 | Chevy | DAY | RCH | CAR | MAR | HCY | DAR | BRI | LAN | SBO | NZH | HCY | CLT | DOV | ROU | VOL | MYB | OXF | NHA | SBO | DUB | IRP | ROU | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | CLT | NHA 15 |
CAR | MAR | 85th | 118 |
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
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2000 | ![]() |
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Porsche 911 GT2 | GTS | 317 | 14th | 7th |
2013 | ![]() |
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SRT Viper GTS-R | GTE Pro | 301 | 32nd | 9th |
References
- ^ NATSOFT Race Result
- ^ "Mark Martin, Ricky Carmichael among 2015 inductees into Motorsports Hall of Fame of America". Fox News. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
External links
- Tommy Kendall driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Tommy Kendall at Driver Database
- Living people
- 1966 births
- Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California
- Racing drivers from California
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- American Le Mans Series drivers
- Trans-Am Series drivers
- NASCAR drivers
- International Race of Champions drivers
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- FIA World Endurance Championship drivers