ESPN Ranks Top 25 Drivers of All-Time

The ROC doesn't mean squat. If they added an oval race in a full bodied car, then i'd say it's fair, otherwise it's biased towards road racers and rally drivers, just like IROC was biased towards Nascar drivers. The ESPN list is useless, but that's not surprising.

 

You never did see Dale Sr driving the C5R at Daytona at night in the wet did you? The man could just flat out drive. If as a young man he would have wanted to drive in F1 or anything he would have made it.

 

15. Al Unser
14. Cale Yarborough
13. Jackie Stewart
12. John Force
11. Rick Mears

The list has people I've never even heard of in it...

John Force is some drag racing dude. Brave - check, Great reactions - check, top 25 driver of all time - I think not.

 

Absolutely, you can't even compare drivers of different eras.

 

Anyone who can win the Championship 14 times in 15 years in a major racing series deserves to make the list. Force has done that.

 

They've overlooked me so far.

 

You and Casey! Got to be a bogus list.

 

Am I the only surprised not to see any rally drivers up there??? Walter Rohrl, Hannu Mikkola, Seb Loeb are all worthy.

 

I have two thoughts about this whole list and the legitimacy thereof:

1. I'm surprised SI has even tried to put together a list of anything having to do with motorsport. Isn't there a baseball game happening somewhere that these guys should be covering. Seriously.

2. Formula 1 drivers have gone from F1 to other series and sometimes with great success. Mario Andretti won an F1 WC, the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and a handfull of Indy Car titles. Even Scott Speed won a race in whatever series he's racing now. Not very many guys come from other series to make it in F1. So. Senna, Schumacher and Andretti must be in the top three for this list to make any sense to me.

 

Err, it's an ESPN list, not an SI list.

However, this weeks SI does have a pretty good article on Danica - I'm getting to like her more and more given her MS and Senna comment. And, she did clean up well in the swimsuit edition

Cheers,
Ian

 

I'd say Derik Bell needs to be on that list before John Force. Winning LeMans 5 times should get you something. I'd probably bet Derik racked up more miles in those five races than John Force did in his whole career.

 

This COULD be called the best 25 RACERS of all time. And some of it would be understandable.

But it's called the 25 greatest DRIVERS. This should SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the number of drivers considered, and the series of motorsports as well.



What did you expect from ESPN though? Retards.

 

What! I thought Casey was on the list!

 

I wondered where Danica would be on the list

 

Any driver that has shown mastery of the 'Ring should immediately be placed on this list, starting with the #1 position! And Stewart is #13?!

 

Ron , I totally agree with you about your last sentence, but mentioning that skill requires you stay alive, umm, no. Sometimes it's just luck, pure and simple. It might mean you were skillful but something untoward occurred that even someone with remarkable ability could not avoid. That category would include Jimmy Clark, Stefan Bellof, Henri Toivonen, Bill Vukovich... the list is lengthy unfortunately. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I take comfort mine is supported by scads of reporters who've covered F1 for decades and regard GV as one of the greats and if not, one of their favourites. Obviously, he was one of yours too. However, you mention Pops Turner and then say GV was reckless!!!! Please, .......pot calling kettle time. I don't remember reading how Gilles had to get his friends to rent cars for him because he was blacklisted for submerging them .....or how he drove a Fleetwood sedan through his team's garage door to advise them he was ticked........... or how he routinely enjoyed slapping on the autopilot to take a nap in his Beech after downing a quart of Thunderchicken................You KNOW I can keep going.......

CT is one of my faves. Quite possibly The Greatest politically incorrect driver of all time....perfect fit for an almost Chevelle...

 

They haven't got down to the top 5 yet. Be patient, as credible as this list is, you and Casey will be on there guaranteed.

 

Just read MotorSport, and from that one of the greatest had to be Jim Clark.

 

ESPN IS A JOKE. They shouldn't even try.

 

I'm at a loss with Prost, and Stewart not in the top 5 or 6.... I would think the best of all time is either Jim Clark or Possibly Mario Andretti... they both raced all types of cars and won... Andretti won at almost everything except Le Mans... Same for Clark... only guy to will all is Graham Hill... but I would not rate him a great driver... but he should be in the top 25 no question. Problem is people that are doing the poll have not really been big racing fans.

Schumacher and Senna should be in the top 4 as well. For Americans other than Andretti - Gurney should also be way up the list as well as AJ Foyt.. he's a Le Mans winner...Phill Hill,

 

How in heck does Tony Stewart make the top 25?

These people are nuts.

 

Take a look at the 19 voters - hopefully JPM is the nominator for the best (based on FChat thinking) drivers. The voters seem to be predominately ESPN reporters and NASCAR crewchiefs/drivers who most likely don't know the world beyond being large or (in some cases like Bristol) very small ovals. To dispute an earlier comment regarding drag racers, it takes a bit of talent to drive a very expensive nitro machine in excess of 1000 hp in a straight line (TF) and John Force has made history in his career in FC (I sat in one once, definitely not like driving your road car down the road!). You don't just hop in and go when the tree turns green! I think the results are skewed by the number of roundy-round voters. Just my $0.02 on the subject.

Carol