All disciplines of racing are stressful and potentially dangerous. There’s a certain type of person that finds racing cars to be an appealing exercise and those people don’t tend to be shrinking violets or wall flowers. Confidence and the supreme belief that you are better, faster, and generally more talented than the guy in the other lane is 100% essential to win. With that being said, there have been some truly over the top examples of people who walked the knife edge of sanity on race day.
In modern times we have the Busch brothers of NASCAR, Whit Bazemore a former NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel Racer, Tony Stewart in his younger days in Sprint Cars and open wheelers, and several others. Historically, you can’t ignore AJ Foyt’s reputation for intensity bordering on insanity during race weekends no matter the series, Shirley Muldowney’s exploits are the stuff of legend in the annals of drag racing and Parnelli Jones was known to have busted a few heads (and a lot of race cars!) during his career.
We’re curious to know who you think is the most volatile personality in racing history, past or present!
Question of the day: Who is the most volatile personality in racing history?
