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 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, an event subsequently stripped of its world championship status.