Bob Earl (born January 13, 1950) is an American former racing driver from

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of Los Angeles. It lies in the Pomona Valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had ...

. He began racing in

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

in 1972 and was the 1973 national champion. In 1979 he made his professional debut in

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club ...

. In 1981 he became the first American to win the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix (; ) is an annual motorsport road racing event for automobiles and motorcycles held on the Guia Circuit in Macau. The event includes the Formula Regional and Motorcycle Grand Prix title races, with other races for Touri ...

, driving a modified Hayashi 320. At the time, the race was contested with Formula Atlantic cars. Earl moved to sports cars in 1985 and drove a

Pontiac Fiero The Pontiac Fiero is a Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, rear mid-engine, light sports car manufactured and marketed by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac for model years 1984 – 1988. Intended as an economical commuter car with modest perf ...

for

Huffaker Racing Huffaker may refer to: People *Clair Huffaker (1926–1990), American author of Western fiction * Carl B. Huffaker (1914–1995), American biologist and agricultural scientist * Scott Huffaker (born 1999), American racing driver Places * Huffake ...

in the IMSA GTU series for two years. He moved up to the GTP cars in 1986 driving for a prototype for

Spice Engineering Spice Engineering was a British racing team founded by driver Gordon Spice with Raymond Bellm in the early 1980s, later becoming a successful sports car constructor in 1986. They competed in the World Sportscar Championship in Europe as well as ...

. Earl and the Spice team earned a class victory at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

in 1987. He continued with Spice in GTP class in 1988, but in 1989 moved to

Roush Racing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s and early 2010s, Roush formerly ...

's Lincoln-Mercury effort in the GTO class, capturing class honors at Daytona. He moved to the

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

GTP factory team in 1990 and captured victories at the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

, Miami and Watkins Glen. He stayed with Nissan until they left the series in 1993. For the 1993 season he competed in the Camel Lights prototype class in an

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

powered Spice with 2 wins. Earl retired as a competitor after the 1993 season to become a driver coach. In 1996 he was hired to start the

Derek Daly Derek Patrick Daly (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former racing driver, businessman and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Dublin, Daly won the British Formula Three Championship in 1977, before partici ...

Academy at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

. In 2000 he returned home to the Marin County to resume freelance driver coaching. From 2002 to 2009 Bob was the Technical Director and overlooked the Mechanics Training Program at the Jim Russell Racing School at

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

in Sonoma California. Earl has also developed and sells the "Virtual Racing Chassis", an advanced racing sim for use with Racing video games. Earl continues as a freelance driver coach, lecturer on racing organization and mental training, and promotes the advantages of Alkaline Water Ionizers for improving ones health. Earl has recently moved to Humboldt County and is involved in many Environmental activities doing Restorations of Beach Dunes, Redwood Forest trails and many others. He has become an environmentalist of sorts working to address climate change.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial websiteOfficial website
1950 births Atlantic Championship drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Living people Sportspeople from Claremont, California Racing drivers from California SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners 12 Hours of Sebring drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Nismo drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub