David Heinemeier Hansson Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids David Heinemeier Hansson
Hansson in 2016
Born	(1979-10-15) 15 October 1979 (age 45) Copenhagen, Denmark
Other names	DHH
Employer	37signals
Known for	Ruby on Rails

David Heinemeier Hansson, also known as DHH, is a talented person from Denmark. He is a programmer, a writer, an entrepreneur (someone who starts businesses), and even a racing driver. He is famous for creating Ruby on Rails, which is a special tool for building websites. He also works as a partner and chief technology officer (CTO) at a software company called 37signals.

David has written several books with his co-author Jason Fried. These books include Getting Real, Rework, Remote, and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. He also co-wrote Agile Web Development with Rails with Dave Thomas.

David's Programming Journey
David's Racing Adventures
Awards and Achievements
See also

David's Programming Journey

In 1999, David started his own online gaming news website in Denmark called Daily Rush. He managed it until 2001. Later, he helped Jason Fried with some computer coding. Because of this, Jason hired David to create a web-based tool to help people manage their projects. This tool eventually became Basecamp, a popular software product from 37signals.

To build Basecamp, David used a programming language called Ruby. He created a special tool, or "framework," to make the process easier. In 2004, he shared this tool with everyone as an open-source project called Ruby on Rails. This meant other programmers could use and improve it. In 2005, Google and O'Reilly gave him the "Hacker of the Year" award for creating Ruby on Rails. After finishing his studies in Denmark, David moved to Chicago, Illinois, U.S. in November 2005.

David's Racing Adventures

Besides his work in programming, David Heinemeier Hansson enjoys hobbies like photography and race car driving. He has competed in many exciting races.

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2012 -
Teams	OAK Racing, Aston Martin Racing, Extreme Speed Motorsports, Proton Competition, Rebellion Racing
Best finish	8th (2013)
Class wins	1

He took part in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans race, driving for OAK Racing. He also drove a Morgan-Nissan P2 car for Conquest Racing in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), winning two races that season. In 2013, David joined OAK Racing full-time. He finished second five times, earning him second place in the Trophy for LMP2 Drivers. In 2017, his car was disqualified from the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to some issues found after the race.

David is also known for owning some very special cars. In 2010, he ordered a unique Pagani Zonda HH supercar. He also commissioned the Koenigsegg Agera HH, which was later sold. David also bought an Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Le Mans Race Results

Here are some of David's results from the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race:

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	OAK Racing	Bas Leinders Maxime Martin	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	341	14th	7th
2013	OAK Racing	Olivier Pla Alex Brundle	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	328	8th	2nd
2014	Aston Martin Racing	Kristian Poulsen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Am	334	17th	1st
2015	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel	Ligier JS P2-Honda	LMP2	329	28th	10th
2016	Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	Khaled Al Qubaisi Patrick Long	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Am	330	28th	3rd
2017	Vaillante Rebellion	Nelson Piquet Jr. Mathias Beche	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	364	DSQ	DSQ
2018	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Ricky Taylor Côme Ledogar	Ligier JS P217-Gibson	LMP2	195	DNF	DNF
2019	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Ricky Taylor Jordan King	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	199	DNF	DNF
2022	Inter Europol Competition	Pietro Fittipaldi Fabio Scherer	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	364	18th	14th
2023	Jota	Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	316	24th	13th
2024	Nielsen Racing	Fabio Scherer Kyffin Simpson	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	291	25th	11th
2025	United Autosports	Pietro Fittipaldi Renger van der Zande	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	364	24th	7th
Sources:

FIA World Endurance Championship Results

David has also competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Here are some of his results:

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2013	OAK Racing	LMP2	Morgan LMP2	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL 2	SPA 2	LMS 2	SÃO 6	COA 6	FUJ 3	SHA 2	BHR 2		2nd	132.5
2014	Aston Martin Racing	LMGTE Am	Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE	Aston Martin 4.5 L V8	SIL 1	SPA 2	LMS 1	COA 2	FUJ 1	SHA 2	BHR 1	SÃO 2		1st	198
2015	Extreme Speed Motorsports	LMP2	HPD ARX-03b Ligier JS P2	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6	SIL	SPA 8	LMS 5	NÜR 6	COA 4	FUJ 4	SHA Ret	BHR 7		7th	62
2016	Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	LMGTE Am	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SIL 5	SPA 6	LMS 2	NÜR 4	MEX 1	COA 5	FUJ 5	SHA 4	BHR 1	2nd	151
2017	Vaillante Rebellion	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK-428 4.2 litre V8	SIL 9	SPA 4	LMS DSQ	NÜR 4	MEX 5	COA 2	FUJ DSQ	SHA 3	BHR 3	8th	85
2018–19	Jackie Chan DC Racing	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SPA	LMS	SIL	FUJ	SHA	SEB 1	SPA 6	LMS Ret		11th	40
2019-20	Team Project 1	LMGTE AM	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0L Flat 6	SIL	FUJ 7	SHA 5	BHR 9	COA	SPA	LMS	BHR		23rd	20
2022	Inter Europol Competition	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SEB	SPA	LMS 14	MNZ	FUJ	BHR				NC†	0
2023	Jota	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SEB 5	PRT 7	SPA 9	LMS 13	MNZ 1	FUJ 6	BHR 3			6th	84
Sources:

^† As Heinemeier Hansson was a guest driver, he was not eligible for points.

European Le Mans Series Results

David has also raced in the European Le Mans Series:

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	Rank	Points
2011	Lotus Jetalliance	GTE Pro	Lotus Evora GTE	Toyota-Cosworth 4.0 L V6	CAS	SPA	IMO	SIL NC	EST		NC	0
2013	Jota Sport	LMP2	Zytek Z11SN	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	IMO 5	RBR	HUN	LEC		17th	10
2019	Team Project 1	LMGTE	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	LEC	MNZ	CAT 5	SIL	SPA	ALG	17th	10
2022	Inter Europol Competition	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	LEC 11	IMO 9	MNZ 11	CAT 16	SPA 2	ALG 4	10th	32
2024	Nielsen Racing	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	CAT	LEC	IMO	SPA	MUG	ALG	*	*
Sources:

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Results

Here are some of David's results from the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship:

Year	Team	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2014	RSR Racing	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY 9	SEB 2	LGA	KAN	WGL	IMS	ELK	VIR	AUS	ATL 9		24th	57
2015	Tequila Patrón ESM	P	HPD ARX-04b 1 HPD ARX-03b 2	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L V6 Turbo	DAY 10	SIR 9	LBH	LS	DET	S6H	MSP	ELK	COA	PET		21nd	45
2016	Starworks Motorsport	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY	SEB 3	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	COA	PET 6	20th	57
2018	3GT Racing	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	Lexus 5.0 L V8	DAY 9	SEB 5	MDO 4	DET 12	WGL 4	MOS 7	LIM	ELK 12	VIR 8	LGA 7	PET 10	11th	213
2020	Tower Motorsport By Starworks	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	DAY 4†	SEB	ELK	ATL	PET	LGA	SEB 2					18th	32
Source:

^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, not the overall LMP2 Championship.

Awards and Achievements

David Heinemeier Hansson has received several awards for his work:

In 2005, he won "Best Hacker of the Year" at OSCON from Google and O'Reilly for creating Rails.
In 2006, he accepted the Jolt Award for product excellence for Rails 1.0.
In 2012, he was named ALMS Rookie of the Year for his racing skills.

David Heinemeier Hansson facts for kids

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