Favorite/Best Race Car Drivers

[SennaP1]

Allright well no poll from me, (not enough) options.

I'm a huge race fan, 3 categories, feel free to add more...


Here's my picks:

Nascar....................Dale Jr. (congrats on the 500 btw)
CART/Indycar.........Mario (note not whiny son Michael) Andretti
Formula One..........Ayrton Senna

Like I said, only these 3 types now, feel free to add more, WRC, IRL etc.


Also any of you that have been to a live race event, I've only been to F1 and Indy, what were your takes? I thought it was an incredible show to be there live.

 

[JetPilot_Mike]

Nascar.......Jeff Gordon
IndyCar.....Mario Andretti
F1..............Mario Andretti

I've been to Talladega for Nascar, Cleveland and Mid-Ohio for CART and some other races, and Watkins Glenn for F1 when I was just a kid.

 

[Bluestreak]

NASCAR-BIll Elliott or Cale Yarborough,or maybe David Pearson
I was never an Earnhardt fan,but I will say if I owned a car I would want him driving it.NASCAR just isn't the same anymore.

Formula One-Niki Lauda or Jackie Stewart (I know,he can be annoying,but he could DRIVE),Prost

NHRA-Garlits,Lee Shepherd or Bob Glidden,Force

WoO-Steve Kinser,Sammy Swindell

IMSA-(yeah,back in the day) Al Holbert,Tommy Riggins

Indy -Al Jr.,Rahal,Emmerson Fittapaldi

I'm old school hardcore.so sue me.

 

[enigma]

The best American all around driver of all time: first place tie, A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. Mark Donahue comes in a close third. Phil Hill and Dan Gurney round out the top five.

Best ever, worldwide? There are too many variables, but I'll go with Mario Andretti. He won in all forms of competition. The automotive experts disagree they would say Juan Manuel Fangio or Tazio Nuvarli

Now for a couple of off the wall catagories.

Biggest cajones goes to Sam Hornish Jr.

"Racer" goes to Kenny Schraeder, find a track and he'll be there.

Mr. Smooth can be no other than Bill Elliott, followed by the Silver Fox, David Pearson.

Smartest driver who succeeded despite average skill, Mark Donahue.

Mr. Dirty Driver, who else but Earnhart.

more later,
enigma

 

[low-n-slow]

NASCAR-BIll Elliott or Cale Yarborough,or maybe David Pearson
I was never an Earnhardt fan,but I will say if I owned a car I would want him driving it.NASCAR just isn't the same anymore.

Formula One-Niki Lauda or Jackie Stewart (I know,he can be annoying,but he could DRIVE),Prost

NHRA-Garlits,Lee Shepherd or Bob Glidden,Force

WoO-Steve Kinser,Sammy Swindell

IMSA-(yeah,back in the day) Al Holbert,Tommy Riggins

Indy -Al Jr.,Rahal,Emmerson Fittapaldi

I'm old school hardcore.so sue me.

Wow, our choices are amazingly close. My favorites in order...

NASCAR - Elliott, Yarborough and Petty. Pearson was a class act. Today, I believe I'd choose Stewart over JR.

Formula 1 - Never did watch it much, but ditto with Lauda and Stewart.

NHRA - Force*, Glidden, Shepperd and Garlits.

WoO - No doubt about it, Kinser and Swindell.

IMSA - Holbert, St. James and Dyson.

Indy - Mears, Al Jr and Foyt.

I've always enjoyed watching Bob Senneker in the ASA.

*After winning the Gatornationals a few years back I watched John Force (after OKing it with dad) pick up a wheelchair bound young kid and sit him in the driver's seat of his funny car, taking his time and explaining everything in great detail about the car. Actually making him a couple of minutes late for the trophy presentations. I've noticed several events where Force takes his time with the kids, signing autogrphs, talking to them and etc. He's a class act.

 

[46Driver]

poll bump

 

[bart]

F1 - Michael Schumacher, bar none...

 

[Bluestreak]

I ought to add a few more:

NASCAR-Neil Bonnet-nice guy,hard racer,what a shame.

F1-James Hunt.He told a great story about testing with Lauda.In a certain turn,he'd see Lauda always in the right mirror,trying to get a nose under him.Lauda did this for a while,then,when Hunt expected him to appear in the mirror,he didn't-he was going by on the left ! He said "I knew then I'd never be World Champion".

NHRA-"The Grump" ! Fastest Vega on the planet.

I've collected a lot of stuff from my racin' days-I have a Road & Track with Tim Richmond and Holbert on the cover,duking it out at TRC in Ohio-Monte Carlo vs. Porsche 962 and the Chevy wins ! 240 MPH ! Tim autographed it for me.I went to the Holman-Moody reunion several years ago and got Fred Lorenzen (you GOT to be old to know that name) to autograph a Ford Motorsport thermometer for me-it's signed "Fred Lorenzen-Ol' #28".I have a Ford Motorsport clock autographed by Bill,Dan and Ernie Elliott.I got the late,great,Smokey Yunick to sign my pit pass at Indy.Funny you should mention Rob Dyson Low-N-Slow-I introduced my sister to Price Cobb once and she wanted to go to the races every week ! I sure miss those Group 44 Jags,too.

 

[SennaP1]

The other form of racing that interests me is Rally, WRC, being a Michigander. Lots of Rally racing goes on in the U.P.

Everytime I drive by a Subaru Dealership, that WRX looks like a good time. Unfortunately, probably couldn't afford the bill to unwrap my brand new WRX from around a tree.

I liked Tommi Makinen in his day, seems like Sebastien Loeb is the new "it" driver

 

[skyking1976]

Indy/CART - A.J. Foyt
NASCAR - Cale Yarbarough
Formula - Michael Schumacher
NHRA - John Force
Busch Series - Buckshot Jones

 

[Dizel8]

Niki Lauda, Schumacher, Regazone, Hakkinen!

 

[I.P. Freley]

Aw, c'mon now, how can anyone who's mentioned F1 drivers here NOT mention Jim Clark?

Schumacher is obviously the most successful driver of all time, but I don't think he could hold a candle to Clark, Fangio, or Nuvolari in their prime(s). At least he was able to win championships in less than the best car (see '94 and '95).

Lauda- Huge, HUGE cojones for racing in the rain in Japan after nearly losing his life at the Nurburgring in '76, and he's definitely one of the greats, but not top-5.

Hunt- A real character, and a driver in the old mold, but not even in the top-10.

Andretti- PLEASE! He was only able to be a dominant driver in the Lotus 78/79. A great driver to be sure, but he needed a major leg up to win a championship. A real legend of a driver would've won a championship in a car that WASN'T a shoo-in (this is why Mansell, for instance, will never be in the top-10).

Hakkinen- A great driver, but another example of a guy who was dominant only when the car was top-notch. He retired at just the right time... The McLaren hasn't been the top car since his last championship season, and even Hakkinen wouldn't have made it the best car.

Regazzoni?? Not sure how he even got an honorary mention.

Senna.... Well, his skill was never in doubt, but his level of cheating and intimidation would embarrass even Earnhardt, Sr. He should've had his '90 championship taken from him for intentionally ramming his competition out of the final race of the year, which he admitted to a year after the fact. I won't even get into the fact that he scored fewer points than Prost in his '88 championship season, but won the championship anyway on the basis of the ridiculous "best 12 finishes are the only ones that count" points system in F1 at the time....

 

[Freddie Spencer]

Lauda- Huge, HUGE cojones for racing in the rain in Japan after nearly losing his life

He actually pussied out and whitdrew (due to the +RA) on lap #2.

He said "I knew then I'd never be World Champion

To bad he was wrong, since he went on and clinch the championship -76

 

[I.P. Freley]

Pussied out, indeed. Starting in Japan in the first place exhibited more balls than you or I will ever show. Simply being in a racing car seven weeks after his near-death experience, scarred for life when nearly burning alive in his Ferrari, shows he wasn't a puss.

And since you're such a genius in proving that Hunt could win a WC, I guess you will have to admit that he only won it because Lauda "pussied out" in the first place.

 

[AAsRedHeadedbro]

As far as I'm concerned, Michael Schumacher is the best driver I have ever seen (I'm only 40 so I can't speak for Fangio). He won races and championships with cars that were inferior in his early days (Bennetons with V-8 engines that were down more than 75 HP to the tops engines of the day) and was almost unbeatable week in and week out with the Ferraris. He almost never crashes (although in his early days it seemed to be crash or win with him). He out-drives and out-brakes everyone on the track. Everyone, including that wacko Montoya. He seems to have better car control than anyone I've ever seen drive a car and I've been a race fan since I was 5 years old. Ultimately, car control is what wins races.

Just my opinion for what it's worth, but he does have six F1 titles to show for his skill.

 

[Freddie Spencer]

Pussied out, indeed

IP; are you a moron or what? The guy pussied out. Just like any day in your life, that day he had no balls.

 

[bart]

best 12 finishes are the only ones that count" points system in F1 at the time

They tried to prevent Michael Schumacher from winning his 6th World Title by changing the rules. He was in a tight competition with Kimi Raikonnen, who had won ONE race all season. How ridiculous is that?

I agree that Senna was not as great as most think that he was. He made Schuies ramming of Villeneuve look tame.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Moron?

Freddie, you are SUCH a delight! Welcome to Flightinfo! We need more uninformed name-callers like you... Keeps things interesting.

My only question is... Whatcha got against Niki? Calling me names doesn't explain why you think a guy who was stuck in a car that was on fire, in an accident which permanently and horribly disfigured his face and head and brought him to the brink of death... Who was back in a racing car only weeks later, bandaged up like a mummy and in excruciating pain from third-degree burns... And who decided the deluge in Japan that year wasn't worth the risk after coming so close to the brink scant months prior... THAT man is a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**?

Such a puss, in fact, that he won two more WC's thereafter... totally burying his new (and very highly regarded) teammate Carlos Reutemann the next season to win his second. Almost as soon as he'd secured the '77 championship, he gave the proverbial finger to Old Man Ferrari and went off to Brabham.

I have seen film of the inferno that was his car at the old 'Ring in '76. I have seen film of the monsoon in Japan that he opted out of. Have YOU? If you really think this guy is a wimp, you are either Old Man Ferrari reincarnated or a member of the Italian press, both of whom raked him over the coals and relished the thought of Reutemann beating him in '77. Too bad for them (and you, I guess), since Lauda outscored Reutemann by nearly 2-1 in that season.

My apologies, Freddie, for disagreeing with you and having facts and insight to back it up. You thinking me a moron has me in quite a tizzy, as your opinion matters SO much to me

Cheers!

 

[I.P. Freley]

Bart... I think that Senna WAS as great as everyone says he was, but his obvious and glaring flaws knock him down several notches from the all-time #1 status. While he was an active driver, he was my most-reviled driver in the series, but I always recognized his genius and the fact that he was a serious threat no matter how bad his car was.

Ramming Prost off the track in Japan because he wanted to "get back" at his rival for their collision that ended the '89 season, which he claimed was a "racing incident" at the time but admitted was intentional a year later, is just the most publicized event that removes him from contention as "the best ever" (IMHO).

He truly was the Earnhardt, Sr. of F1, with all the good and bad things that suggests. That they both happened to die in racing cars only makes the comparison creepier.

 

[enigma]

I just noticed that the Feb 9, issue of Autoweek, Jackie Stewart spoke to this subject. Here are his words (somewhat out of context because I don't want to type the entire article), "Nelson Piquet probably was (the best) at his time", "Michael Schumacher, He's the best of his time, He's not the best ever...", "Rubens Barrichello right now in my opinion is technically the best racing driver. I think he's better than Michael....nobody stays on a pedastal forever"

Sir Jackie also said that Coultard is Schumachers equal in on track racing ability, "but what he doesn't have is the mind management of Michael Schumacher".

Yes, Jackie does seem sort of contradictory with his Michael's the best, Rubens is the best, statements. I can only conclude that he considers Michael past his time. The Autoweek article did not resolve the conflict.

regards,
enigma