During his career, the blond Irishman David Kennedy failed to qualify for a single Championship Grand Prix, yet many remember him to be firmly associated with the world of Formula 1. The talented youngster was simply one of those who did bet on the wrong horse at a bad time. For Kennedy, such stroke of destiny came in a form of a move to unraveling team Shadow in 1980. Still, the 62-year old from Sligo became a personality that can look back at a number of sporting and business achievements in the field of motorsports. Today, Kennedy owns racing organizations in Europe and Asia. He talked to our friend, Roman Klemm, at Monza.
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Roman Klemm: After proving your talent in the European Formula 3, you have entered the 1980 season as a factory driver for team Shadow in Formula 1. The only reward was seven straight unsuccessful qualifying sessions before the team finally folded and disappeared. Do you regret that move, and how frustrating was it for a young driver like yourself?
Dave Kennedy: "Yes, the circumstances of my entry to Formula 1 could have hardly been worse...but why regret it? The situation was not much different from today...if you had any chance to break into Formula 1, you just grabbed it. And that was precisely as it happened for me. My only chance to sit in an F-1 cockpit at that time. The mood within the team was dreadful, it still belonged to its founder Don Nichols, who was wasting a lot of time and energy on endless bickering about the ownership issues. Later Teddy Yip finally took it over. I started the season with my good friend Stefan Johansson in the other car and most of the time was quicker than him. After Brazil, Geoff Lees replaced Stefan, but it did not change a thing. In late June, the team ceased operations after the French Grand Prix, and I was out of drive”.
Roman: Let’s step back several years, to the very beginning. Is it true that together with a friend, you went digging for gold in order to finance your racing?
Dave: "Of course...and that friend was none other than Derek Daly! Someone told us that there is money to be made in precious metals mining in Alaska and Australia. We could not decide which way to go, so we flipped a coin...I am not kidding you! And Australia it was. We shed sweat and blood there for six months, but it was worth it. When we came home, each of us bought brand new Formula Ford car. I then dominated the British Championship (winning the 1976 title) while Derek won the prestigious Formula Ford Festival. Formula Ford back then wasn’t a joke with 16 cars on the grid, as many junior categories are today. We had weekends with 60 hungry guys registered to race. There was qualifying, several heats, and the final race. Any youngster who wanted to succeed really needed to want it bad, much more than most kids today. And I wanted it bad. When I sat in my Shadow on the grid in Spain, and Derek was few rows in front of me in a Tyrrell, it made me remember those days in Australia. In a way, it was amazing how far did a couple of kids from Formula Ford made it. That was the race I qualified for, but Balestre and the FIA declared it illegal afterwards”.
Roman: The natural progression from Formula Ford led to Formula 3, yet at the time you made surprising decision to enter the European Championship instead of the British series. Why?
Dave: "Yes, all my rivals from Formula Ford were drawn to the British F-3. I took my own path and went to Europe. I thought that it would be better for a longer term to learn the European tracks”.
Roman: You journeyed around the continent in a rebuilt bus that contained within it the slightly exotic Argo F-3 car. How did it go?
Dave: „In Formula Ford, I could do it on my own and my only companion was my girlfriend. But it did not work that way in Formula 3. I began the season with March, but the team I was driving for went bankrupt and I had to look around for something else. I took a chance with then new Argo JM1 from Anglia Cars, because their owner Jo Marguart offered me a good deal. They needed to promote their car, so in a way, I was something of a factory driver. Four people traveled with me to every race (Marguart was one of them) and the season cost me around 30000 pounds”.
Roman: From the beginning, you were supported by a firm called Group Waterworks. What kind of company was it?
Dave: "It was an outfit that manufactured and installed water supply lines in Ireland. The company was owned by a friend”.
Roman: How did you do in Formula 3?
Dave: "At that time (1978) is was extremely difficult to win there. We had aces like Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, or Piercarlo Ghinzani, although the exceptional quality of that field did not become obvious until later on. I had four fastest race laps and two 2nd place finishes. That made me think that I was as fast as any of them. I had the speed, but the car was unbalanced, because Marguart used transmissions that were much too heavy”.
Roman: Immediately after that you switched to the British Formula 1 Championship (Aurora Series) with the help of certain Hong Kong businessman by the name of Teddy Yip. How did the two of you meet?
Dave: "Thanks to Sid Taylor, who was looking after the sporting side of Theodore organization. He also came from Ireland and believed in my ability as race driver”.
Roman: In 1979, you became Aurora vice-Champion behind Rupert Keegan.
Dave: "We had a very good car, Posthletwaite-designed Wolf WR4. Great single-seater for drifting through turns with the steering wheel at opposite lock. I had a wonderful time and it was a good experience as well. I won my very first race (in late 1978) against the likes of Tony Trimmer, Guy Edwards and Emilio de Villota. Over the winter, we went to Australia, where they held something like mini Tasman Cup (Rothmans International Series). I won in Surfers Paradise... lovely. I have beautiful memories from those times. Desiré Wilson drove the same car in the Aurora Series. She was very good...perhaps the best lady racer ever”.
Roman: Then came that forgettable episode with the Formula 1 World Championship, and after that you never drove in single-seaters again. Your driving career continued in SportsCar.
Dave: „I got an offer from Mazda to be their No.1 factory driver. But I was more than a driver. I was their de facto director of European operations. The cars were built in Japan, but all the team and crew members were stationed in England. We were a fairly small group and I was able to get Nigel Stroud, who designed the Can-Am Porsche. I continued with Mazda into the 1990s and the culmination of our work came at 1991 Le Mans. At that time, I still was the No.1 at Mazdaspeed, but it was our second car with Herbert, Weidler, and Gachot that won the race. The car I co-drove with Stefan Johansson and Mauricio Sandro-Sala came home in 6th”.
Roman: How about your business interests besides racing?
Dave: "Of course. I have founded the global brand GPRacewear, for example, and sold it few years ago. I also did some driver management, my clients included Richard Lyons or Ralph Firman. Thanks to my good connections in Japan, I was able to place them in solid positions for local championships over there. Plus, I still maintain regular newspaper column and also work for TV”.
Roman: These days you work with Teddy Jr., the son of your former benefactor Teddy Yip.
Dave: „I have known Teddy Jr. since he was a baby. I have always had the best of relationships with the Yip family and now with Teddy’s widow Beverly Clark-Yip. Me and Junior got together for the A1 Cup of Motorsport, where we ran Team Ireland during 2008-2009. Our driver was Adam Carroll and we’ve had very good results (Team Ireland won the Championship). Based on that, Teddy Jr. figured that motorsport is easy and since then we are in it together”.
Roman: Your team Status fields cars in GP2 and GP3.
Dave: "Not just there! Under the name Theodore Racing we participate in several other series in China, Macau, and elsewhere in Asia. For now, Teddy Jr. remains reluctant to resurrect this name on the international scene”.
Roman: For now? Does that mean that we could soon see the phenomenon of Theodore Racing back in Europe?
Dave: "We are thinking about it. But for now, we will remain Status”.
Roman: What are your plans for 2016?
Dave: "Definitely GP2, where we have only just established ourselves. But we may give up GP3 (at the moment it has been already confirmed that Status Grand Prix is not going to take a part in 2016 GP3 series season)”.
Roman: To summarize...what was your saddest experience in a lifetime of racing?
Dave: "Without a doubt the death of Juanito Campos, my teammate at Argo-F3. He came from Argentina and during testing at Silverstone hit the guardrail head-on at high speed. His neck was broken instantly and it was terribly difficult for me to deal with that”.
Roman: And what are you most proud of?
Dave: "First of all, the fact that my legs are still firmly attached to my arse. From the sporting side, the days in Formula Ford when I showed everybody that I was the best. And my three class victories at Le Mans”.
Roman: For sure they are fantastic achievements. Thank you very much for the conversation and I wish you could continue that way!
Dave: "Thank you very much as well. My pleasure!”
