Jacques Duval

Born in Lévis, Jacques Duval first took to the microphone at the tender age of 17 years minus two weeks. He started as a radio announcer, show host and DJ on CKCV Québec. Since the very beginning of his career, he promoted French and Quebecois singers, even after switching to CKVL Verdun, where he worked for more than 10 years as a host and DJ.A fervent believer in Quebecois music, Duval was hired by Télé Métropole to host Le Club du Disque along with the late Roger Gosselin. Through this program, Duval’s chronicle Le Cimetière du disque started to gain popularity. He became an automotive journalist for MacLean’s magazine in 1960, and thus decided to take up auto racing in his spare time.

As an automotive specialist and music critic, Duval was unable to juggle both interests and the numerous engagements that they entailed. After working with Jean Pierre Coallier on Jeux d’Hommes, Duval pitched a weekly program to Radio Canada TV, which would be called Prenez le volant. In 1967, in the midst of the show’s eight-year run, Duval published the first Guide de l’auto, a move that cemented his position as Quebec’s leading automotive specialist. This was bolstered by his racing success, as he earned more than 100 trophies at events including the 24 Hours of Daytona (GT category), the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, and the Quebec Championships (5-time winner). Duval even wrote an autobiography, which was published in 2007 by Québec Amérique.

The father of three children, Jacques Duval is enthusiastically returning to the Guide de l’auto as its founder and editor emeritus. In doing so, he will see to the continuity of the work he first published in 1967. He was recently inaugurated into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, in recognition of his success as a race car driver and his efforts to popularize motorsports in his home province of Quebec. In 2011, the Quebec government presented Duval with the Georges-Emile Lapalme Award for his remarkable work and exceptional contribution to the cultural development of Quebec society.