WHO ARE THE BEST DRIVERS???
Well, we could go look at who has been winning this year. That might help help us see who is currently the best in a particular series. But maybe not! You see, its a whole lot more complicated than that. It can be a tricky subject, for many people choose their favorite driver on anything but driving talent! They might like the way they talk or look or some other personal reason, but this page is not going to examine this angle.
We should all probably agree on some traits that the best drivers will
possess though: courage, talent, quickness, brains and luck. Money doesn't hurt either!
Just looking to see who has been winning lately doesn't necessarily point us in the right direction. Maybe the best driver hasn't been winning because...
Many people claim that a driver who races on a road course not only has to change speed more drastically, but turn right as well as left. But on a oval, there is a constant faster speed. The faster you go, the less time you have to make decisions. There is a concrete wall, there's generally more passing, and the danger is higher.
Also, open-wheelers are more aerodynamic and travel at faster speeds, but when they wreck, since they are not usually all close as flies, not as many cars get wrecked. Often times in Nascar, you are at the mercy of what happens in front of you more than in open-wheel series. Anyway, one famous attempt has been made to compare drivers - IROC!
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IROCThey pit stars from different series together in an attempt to see who is the best. IROC holds four races each year. They race only on large ovals and in equally prepared closed-wheel cars that resemble Trans-Am or stock cars.
Drivers from different series are invited to participate. Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, Richard Petty, Gordon Johncock, Jody Scheckter, Johnny Rutherford, Buddy Baker, James Hunt, Denny Hulme and Martin Brundle are some of the drivers who have competed over the years.
F1 drivers have not competed in the last several years.
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Race of Champions - ROCThis series takes 3 drivers each from different countries and pits them against each other in off-road rally cars. Typically each team consists of a motorcycle champion. Generally, your professional Rally drivers win. It is still interesting to see though, as this year (2002) we had drivers from CART, F1, and Winston Cup competing for their respective countries including Jeff Gordon, Cristiano Da Matta, and Nick Heidfeld. Information on this series can be found at their website: ROC |
Is Jeff Gordon a Wimp?Does Winston Cup require that much experience, or are their drivers just old farts? Bruno Junqueira, a CART rookie who qualified for 2001 Indy 500, said he was baffled by the physical condition that stock-car drivers seem to be in. His favorite example: Bobby Hamilton who was so exhausted by driving 500 miles last month at Talladega that he couldn't stand up to be interviewed. "They couldn't make it for half of an F3000 (road) race," he said. Bruno was last year's F3000 champion. My neighbor's friend said that the little smart-alek wouldn't last half-way through Bristol! Then my neighbor intervened with, "These racers are different types of animals, like football players are different than basketball players! Well I thought that sounded like a good excuse to remember incase you ever get into this argument in the pub!
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Who is the best driver of all time?
Wins alone would point to Petty. He scored his 200th and final victory on July 4, 1984, at Daytona International Speedway in front of President Reagan. Petty has 95 more victories than David Pearson, who holds down second place on the all-time NASCAR win list. But Petty started 1,184 races, compared to 574 for the "Silver Fox." Neither Petty nor Pearson ever started the Indianapolis 500. Petty won the Daytona 500 a record seven times and the championship the same number of times. Earnhardt, who was fatally injured in a last-lap crash at Daytona last February, finally won his only Daytona 500 in 1998 but matched Petty's record of seven Winston Cup titles. Earnhardt's 76 career race victories is sixth all-time, coming in 676 starts. Both Foyt and Andretti not only drove in the Daytona 500 but also won it. Foyt is the all-time Indy car race winner at 67, including four in the Indianapolis 500. He also started at Indy 35 consecutive times, an incredible record. And in 1967, he shared the winning ride with Dan Gurney in the demanding Le Mans 24 Hours sports-car race. Andretti is second on the Indy-car victory list with 52. He also is second on the Indianapolis 500 races started list with 29 and third in laps led, 556, yet he only won the world's most famous race once, in 1969. Foyt won the national championship seven times, Mario four times. On the plus side for Andretti is that he drove in 128 Formula One races, won 12 and the 1978 World Championship. He has finished no better than third at Le Mans. Andretti started a record 407 races in an Indy car, and, combined with his F1 starts, his start total in the top two forms of open-wheel racing is a remarkable 535. Foyt started 369 Indy-car races. Michael Schumacher, who now owns four World Championships with two different teams, has strong credentials for consideration as the greatest driver. He won consecutive titles with Benetton in 1994-95 and has followed with two more with Ferrari in 2000-01. He was never seriously challenged this season and wrapped up the title with four races remaining. This is the 11th F1 season for Schumacher, 32. His 52 wins have come in just 158 starts. Prost started 199 races between 1980-93 and won championships in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993. Another factor favoring Schumacher is that he already has led 87 Grands Prix for 3,053 laps, while Prost was a pacesetter in 84 races for 2,684 laps. Brazilian Ayrton Senna, whose career was cut short -- like Earnhardt's -- by death in a crash, won 41 times in 161 starts and led 2,986 laps in 86 races. Schumacher's victory in last year's inaugural SAP United States Grand Prix at Indy was particularly impressive. No team had practiced at the new 2.606-mile, 13-turn road course, yet Schuey dominated in practice, qualifying and the race. He might have won by half-a-lap but for his own late inattention that caused him to briefly spin off course and trim his imposing lead. One thing Schumacher hasn't done is take a shot at the Indianapolis 500. Some other F1 stars of the past, such as Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi did. Clark, Hill and Emmo won it, and Stewart had the 1966 race in his crosshairs until an engine problem took him out with 11 laps to go. Then we come to Gordon. He grew up in the shadow of the Speedway yet hasn't raced there in an open-wheel car. He chose to go to stock-car racing and has won 57 times in just 283 races. He raced to victory in the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 and after only eight events already is a three-time winner. He has won on the big ovals, short tracks and road courses, and soon will pass the late Earnhardt as the sport's all-time money-winner. Possibly all of these drivers are second to the late Juan Manuel Fangio. All this Argentine did was start in the front row in 48 of 51 races, win 24, capture 29 poles and earn a podium finish 35 times. He led 39 races for 1,348 laps and won championships in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. The drawback in selecting him as the greatest is the strength of competition in the 1950s and the lack a strong racing season. Still, he won a career-high 47 percent of the races he started, and that says a lot for his talent. All any driver can do is beat the competitors who race against him each time. As far as Schumacher is concerned, it is great for American racing fans that Speedway President Tony George brought Formula One back to the U.S., and particularly to the Speedway. This has allowed them to see Schuey in person and make a personal judgment on where he fits among the all-time greats of the sport. Excerpts from "Who Is The Greatest Of Them All?" by Dick Mittman, the Senior Editor for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. |
Money Matters??
We all know that money helps buy not only the best equipment, but the best employees. F1 teams in the 90's are very large and have a lot of money. The teams employ anywhere from 100 to 500 people and are worth $50 million to a $1 billion. These teams are by far the richest race teams in the world. If F1 spends the most money on drivers, does this mean they have the best drivers?! Sounds logical. However, they do not tap the well of oval track drivers where most Americans race. Jeff Gordon is never going to get a chance at F1, even though he might be the best driver in the world. The world of F1 would like to have an American driver too! Not only because they now have an American Grand Prix, but because of American sponsors and the fact that they call their Championship the "World" Drivers Championship. The last American to get a chance to race in F1 was Michael Andretti, and this was because he had road course experience in the CART series. It didn't seem to go him much good though. Why is it that Americans race on ovals? This seems to go all the way back to the beginnning of auto racing. Europe had a decent road structure before the auto was invented. The 1800's found America's horses and wagons blazing trails and muddy ruts as the westward expansion continued. When auto racing began at the beginning of the century, Americans turned to their dirt horse tracks to race on. Europeans skipped their "grass" horse tracks and used their roads instead. Hence separate traditions began that continue to this day, a century later.
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Michael Schumacher earned $80 million in 2001, easily making him the highest paid driver in the world. Schumacher, arguably the best race car driver of all time, broke many records in Formula One in 2001. He clinched his 4th World Drivers Championship by August and he kept on winning. He surpassed Ayrton Senna for the highest number of laps lead in a lifetime. He surpassed Alain Prost for the most number of career victories. He tied Nigel Mansell's record for the most wins in a season. Michael won 11 poles and 9 races in the 16-race 2001 season, and he finished 2nd five times. He now has a total of 53 career wins. Yet, there are still some records for Michael to shoot for. Juan Fangio won 5 F1 Championships and Ayrton Senna won 65 pole positions. Note: Juan Fangio was able to switch cars and choose the best car in the race in the 1950's! But something not reflected in the facts above, is that Michael Schumacher WILL CHEAT TO WIN. Just look at his attempt to purposely drive Villeneuve off the track in the last race of 1997. In my opinion, this automatically removes him from being the "Best Driver". Maybe the majority of drivers, and definately teams, do cheat, but there are some who do not! They're number 1 in my book.
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Amazing Driver feats:
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In 1996, the IRL was formed, which caused some CART team-owners to boycott the Indy 500. The following is a list of the 1995 IndyCar drivers, who are still active, and which series they now race in. Letter from Tony George - 1995 (What really hurt Indy Car was the retirement of many legendary drivers all around the same time. Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Johnny Rutherford, Danny Sulivan, Gordon Johncock and Emerson Fittipaldi all left.)
IRL - Scott Brayton (died in practice crash at Speedway in '96)
CART- Paul Tracy - returned to Indy 500 in 2002
CART - Bobby Rahal, retired in 97. He competed in 13 Indy 500's - Started IRL team in 2003
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Total F1 Winners | ||
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Wins | ||
Cla | Drivers | Total |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 |
M.Schumacher Alain Prost Ayrton Senna Nigel Mansell Jackie Stewart Jim Clark Niki Lauda J.M.Fangio Nelson Piquet Damon Hill Mika Hakkinen Stirling Moss Jack Brabham Graham Hill E.Fittipaldi Alberto Ascari Mario Andretti Carlos Reutemann Alan Jones J.Villeneuve David Coulthard Ronnie Peterson Jody Scheckter James Hunt Gerhard Berger Denny Hulme Jacky Ickx Rene Arnoux Tony Brooks John Surtees Jochen Rindt Jacques Laffite G.Villeneuve Riccardo Patrese Nino Farina Clay Regazzoni John Watson Keke Rosberg Michele Alboreto Bruce McLaren Dan Gurney Eddie Irvine Ralf Schumacher H-H.Frentzen Peter Collins Mike Hawthorn Phil Hill Didier Pironi Thierry Boutsen Johnny Herbert M.Trintignant J.F.Gonzalez Bill Vukovich W.von Trips Jo Siffert Pedro Rodriguez Peter Revson P.Depailler J.P.Jabouille Patrick Tambay Elio de Angelis Luigi Fagioli Lee Wallard Sam Hanks Jim Rathmann Troy Ruttman Johnnie Parsons Pat Flaherty Piero Taruffi Rodger Ward Bob Sweikert Jimmy Bryan Luigi Musso Jo Bonnier Innes Ireland Richie Ginther G.Baghetti Lorenzo Bandini L.Scarfiotti J.P.Beltoise Peter Gethin Francois Cevert Carlos Pace Jochen Mass V.Brambilla Gunnar Nilsson A.Nannini Jean Alesi Olivier Panis Rubens Barrichello J.P. Montoya |
53 51 41 31 27 25 25 24 23 22 20 16 14 14 14 13 12 12 12 11 11 10 10 10 10 8 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |
Total 500 Winners | Driver | Wins |
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A.J. Foyt Jr. | 4 |
Al Unser | 4 |
Rick Mears | 4 |
Bobby Unser | 3 |
Johnny Rutherford | 3 |
Lou Meyer | 3 |
Mauri Rose | 3 |
Wilbur Shaw | 3 |
Al Unser Jr. | 2 |
Arie Luyendyk | 2 |
Bill Vukovich | 2 |
Emerson Fittipaldi | 2 |
Gordon Johncock | 2 |
Rodger Ward | 2 |
Tommy Milton | 2 |
Bill Cummings | 1 |
Bill Holland | 1 |
Billy Arnold | 1 |
Bob Sweikert | 1 |
Bobby Rahal | 1 |
Buddy Lazier | 1 |
Danny Sullivan | 1 |
Dario Resta | 1 |
Eddie Cheever Jr. | 1 |
Floyd Davis | 1 |
Floyd Roberts | 1 |
Frank Lockhart | 1 |
Fred Frame | 1 |
Gaston Chevrolet | 1 |
George Robson | 1 |
George Souders | 1 |
Graham Hill | 1 |
Howdy Wilcox | 1 |
Jacques Villeneuve | 1 |
Jim Clark | 1 |
Jim Rathmann | 1 |
Jimmy Bryan | 1 |
Jimmy Murphy | 1 |
Joe Boyer | 1 |
Joe Dawson | 1 |
Johnnie Parsons | 1 |
Juan Pablo Montoya | 1 |
Jules Goux | 1 |
Kelly Petillo | 1 |
Kenny Brack | 1 |
L.L. Corum | 1 |
Lee Wallard | 1 |
Louis Schneider | 1 |
Mario Andretti | 1 |
Mark Donohue | 1 |
Parnelli Jones | 1 |
Pat Flaherty | 1 |
Peter DePaolo | 1 |
Ralph DePalma | 1 |
Ray Harroun | 1 |
Ray Keech | 1 |
Rene Thomas | 1 |
Sam Hanks | 1 |
Tom Sneva | 1 |
Troy Ruttman | 1 |
Synopsis
Technical Comparison
Comparing the Series
Visual Comparison
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