By Marcal Eilenstein
The 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the venerable old Indianapolis Motor Speedway is coming up in just a few short weeks, and with it all the pageantry and parades that typically accompany this classic American race. When I was a kid, the Indy 500 was a big, big deal; the Month of May really was a month-long affair, including Pole Day, Carb Day, Bump Day, and lots of building excitement that led to the Memorial Day classic. I’m just old enough to remember the days before the IRL, the 25/8 rule, and other such, well, interesting developments.
Regardless who ran the show, though, there were the drivers, the real heroes of the show. Drivers that piloted their machines to 230, 235, 240 mph and never flinched. Names from my youth like Andretti, Moore, Unser, Mears, Luyendyk; and later Lazier, Tracy, and Jourdain. All of these guys commanded your respect because of what they could do with a car that you and I probably never could. That’s what makes them heroes – they perform feats we can’t.
What about you? Is someone like Parnelli Jones a hero? Mario Andretti? If drag racing is more your style, maybe you idolized Don “The Snake” Prudhomme or “Big Daddy” Don Garlits. F1 isn’t short on famous drivers, either, and many of them would make my list. Let’s hear about your racing heroes in the comments.
Image: PanoramaAuto.it
Jeff Glucker
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Colin McRae's hard charging, 11/10ths driving style made me love him. His breadth of racing, from WRC to BTCC to GT cars at Le Mans made me respect him.
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I named my cat after him!
courtesy embed:
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However, someone has already +1ed you. Because you have a cat? Because your cat has a name? I just can't see the image for some reason? Who knows?
Aww man. i can see the pic when I look at it, but maybe it's just my imagination again.
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I was fortunate enough to get him to sign his autobiography when he was at COTA.
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I'll probably catch some flack for this but here goes: Robby Gordon. Not for his NASCAR driving but for the fact that he'll
wreckrace anything with four wheels. And for everything he gives back to the off-road racing community, including starting a new indoor off-road racing series.<img src="http://s1.aecdn.com/images/news/robby-gordon-aims-for-2010-dakar-win-14911_1.jpg" ,="" width="500/">
John Surtees. Always a gentleman, but tough as nails. Champion on two wheels and four. Nobody has ever had so much grit and talent as a racer and so much class as a human being.
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Honorable mention: Johnny Rutherford, for pretty much the same reasons.
I'm going with Bob Holbert. He's the man who brought Porsche to the US first and just about every Porsche that was on a track in North America for many years went through his shop. He had a pretty decent career but retired fairly early to build up the dealership while his son started racing. Him being local to me helps also. I'm always more than a little disappointed when I pass by the dealership and it says "Thompson" now instead of "Holbert's".
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Is his son Al?
Yup
That was before my time, Mark Donohue. That I actually got to see race, AJ Foyt, although I only saw him at the end of his career, WELL past his prime. But you didn't specify driver, so I will have to go with The Captain, Roger Penske. He did have a brief driving career, but has been amazing as a team owner for decades. FIFTEEN Indy 500 wins for Penske Racing!
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I was just a kid when Mark was racing in Trans Am, but he was my hero as well (along with Penske). Other favorites of mine? Cale Yarborough, Don Garlits, Niki Lauda, Carlos Sainz (El Matador!), and Sebastien Loeb.
Hans-Joachim Stuck
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He has a real passion. And has a lot of fun too. And has a smoking hot wife. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/what-id-do-d…
Right, Streezl Stuck, and people like Mass, Bellof, Ickx (I know)… basically all the professional drivers in the 70ies were crazy (technology way ahead of safety concerns), but the rally navigators were the looniest: Geistdörfer knows what "riding shotgun" really means, next to Röhrl!
The best racing heroes aren't just good at one thing–they are good at many aspects of motorsports. When I read today's headline, Garlits immediately came to mind, but then I saw he was listed in the article, so I'll leave that as low-hanging fruit for someone else.
Mickey Thompson indeed epitomized my criteria for a racing hero. Often credited with designing the slingshot dragster, he also was a talented driver, hitting 400mph at Bonneville. He led teams at the Indy 500, and was an innovator on that circuit, as well as staying active and bringing new ideas to the drag racing circuit. He went on to start a performance parts company and sanctioning bodies for off-road racing and stadium shows.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wyoDAAAAMBAJ&…
Beat me to it on Thompson.
Lots of folks are fast, he was a great guy.
I admire NASCAR's Mark Martin, age 54. I think he is a class act.
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Rickard Rydell ever since he showed up in the BTCC with a Volvo 850 Estate.
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[youtube HCxeWJ6kzRE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCxeWJ6kzRE youtube]
Awful, overedited video, but it seems Youtube isn't awash with BTCC footage of that time. What a shame! It was always huge fun to watch.
Photo above by Daniel Ahlqvist, wants to be credited. 🙂
I have always rooted for the underdog so when I got into F1, I picked Nick Heidfeld to be my driver. Over 12 seasons, he holds the all-time record for most podium finishes (13) without a win. He also holds the records for the most consecutive finishes (33) and most consecutive classified finishes (41).
Incidentally, he raced in Laguna Seca on Saturday for Rebellion Racing. He finished second.
Now here is one film-in-parts for you: Buzz Aldrin. It's not at all about Buzz Aldrin, but about how being second is underappreciated. Among other things… =8^)
I would have to flip a coin to nominate either Paul Newman or James Garner. Both were extremely talented, and while Newman raced longer with more publicity and success, Garner raced many different vehicles in multiple types of races.
Just for the hell of it I vote for John Buffum, because old school SCCA rally champ. I'd also consider Malcolm Smith for overall desert mastery and Danny Ongais for interstingness.
Stig "The Stig" Blomqvist
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Have you seen his track record and the cars he drove?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stig_Blomqvist#Track…
Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford in IndyCar….sooo smooth and Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell in F1…Professors.
Sparky Pete!
Ari Vatanen, and I have a thing for Tiff Needell for racing those hopeless Nimrod AM sportscars in the eighties.
Just you google Climb Dance (Vatanen doing Pikes Peak) and you all will concur with my choice.
My first instincts were these three: Phil Hill, Juan Manuel Fangio and Richard Petty. Let's not forget Masten Gregory, either.
Lots of greats but I gotta go with Foyt – 4 Indy wins (front and rear engines), LeMans, Daytona 500 and 24 Hours of Daytona not to mention countless wins in Sprint cars and midgets. Dirt, open wheel, stock cars and sports cars. May have stuck around the party too long as a driver but in his prime he was one of the greats
THE All American Racer.
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Of course, if we aren't limiting the conversation to drivers, this guy certainly deserves a mention as well:
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Yunick was definitely on my mind when I was writing this. I got to see his sidecar Indy special at the LeMay museum (hope to share that with everyone soon), and I was amazed. I mean, I've seen pictures of the thing, but standing next to it really brings his genius into perspective.
If you haven't read Smokey's autobiography, you need to do that NOW.
Have read Smokey's triology bio three times. He single-handedly was responsible for putting more people to work rewriting rulebooks in NASCAR. His capacity to think outside the box resulted in the black/gold #13 Chevelle that fried all the tech inspectors minds. That car is the reason for today's "stock cars" being what they are. Curtis Turner, who drove the beast, could run circles around these punks driving today while in his normal "impaired" mode.
Guy Martin – van mechanic/lovable lunatic/ road racer – thrilling to watch and a never say die attitude. If you have not seen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1698010/, then you're in for a treat.
On 4 wheels, Ari Vatanen and Senna…
John Force. 14 NHRA Funnycar Championships. Gets in a bad wreck- so bad his family says he'll never race again. Two years later wins his 15th National Championship at sixty years of age. And he says he's just getting started…
Ab Jenkins, The father of Salt.
Stirling Moss.
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1955 Mille Miglia
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Caracciola, Nuvolari, Donahue, Clark, Peterson, Emo, Villeneuve…
Sir Jackie Stewart: No one has done more to make sure that drivers live to write their memoirs.
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Nuvolari and Jim Hall, of Chaparral fame. He wasn't a superhero racer, but dangit, he raced his own wacky designs and did pretty good.
Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Ayrton Senna. For Indy drivers: Bill Vukovich, AJ Foyt, Arie Luyendyck. NASCAR: Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, Buddy Baker, Allison boys. (i'm in the 60's-70's)..
Ol' Shel, a name that is absolutely recognized by almost anyone. He was a bad ass on the track, and then made his work available to the masses on the street, and even in your kitchen if you so choose. Even in the '80s when performance seemed a distant memory, he took a little 4 banger econobox and made it Go Like Hell. God rest Carroll Shelby's soul, he was the freaking man.
Mario. 'nuff said in my book.
Dale Earnhardt – the last fearless racecar driver