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BangShift Question Of The Day: Who Is The Best American Racecar Driver Ever?


BangShift Question Of The Day: Who Is The Best American Racecar Driver Ever?

After watching the 1959 Phil Hill Bonneville video and thinking about the amazing career of Hill and others, it sparked some other thoughts of great American racing drivers and I started a mental list of ranking guys until I ran out of fingers to count on. AJ Foyt, Jones, Follmer, Gurney, Andretti, Ongais, Donohue, Tony Stewart, the Intimidator, Garlits, Muldowney, Steve Kinser, it could go on for days. Also, it becomes an interesting exercise when you try to come up with a way to rank them. Total race wins? Significant race wins? Number of disciplines of racing that they competed in? There are as many ways to go with it as there are guys (and women) who rank very high up on the list.

We threw in a couple of contenders below for your viewing pleasure. Dig Hill in that 250 MPH MG and then think about all of the other lithe open wheel cars he drove over the years. He must have gotten quite and education early in behind the wheel of that big mother! While there are no rules for this question, it seems to us that guys who drove multiple genres of cars would be heavily favored in something like this. There’s one guy that we can think of that drove nitro drag machines, the Indy 500, off road, and more. Those were the days!

BangShift Question Of The Day: Who Is The Best American Racecar Driver Ever?

 

foyt

gurney1

mario


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19 thoughts on “BangShift Question Of The Day: Who Is The Best American Racecar Driver Ever?

  1. Gary

    It just has to be A.J., which doesn’t take a damn thing away from any of the others. Mario and Gurney would round out the top 3…
    Those guys drove and won in multiple disciplines when the cars handled like shit, had shit for brakes, shit for tires, etc, etc. The new guys may go faster, but they do it because they can buy their rides, and because of technology. There’ll never be the likes of the three I mentioned, as well as some of the rest of your selection, ever again. No drag racer comes near Big Daddy. Shirley was a champion, yes, and deservedly so. But she didn’t build the chassis, build the engine, drive the tow truck, tune the car, and drive it. No drag racer will ever approach the skill and detirmination of Big Daddy, save Bob Glidden. Glidden for the most part was the lone Ford through most of his championship years. With no other team to share information with, a sanctioning body that would change the rules on him in between qualifying and eliminations, etc, etc, although he didn’t build his cars, he’s the closest thing to Garlits I can think of.

    1. bob

      No kidding on the shit cars. I think you have to also take into consideration the skill and (luck) in surviving the most dangerous period in racing. Racing all kinds of different cars on different surfaces and the roll bar was your head.

      Ongias comes to mind as a guy that performed on the highest level in the most disciplines.

  2. Ted Guth

    Danny Ongais! Nitro front motor dragsters, nitro funny cars, Indy cars, IMSA GT (935 Porsche, Lola T-600), Formula 1, motorcycles. Although there are many racing heros who have successfully competed in various open wheel and sports cars here & overseas, and possibly matched the success of Danny, NONE of the have climbed into a nitro burning funny car and won national events!

    1. Ted Guth

      Oh, I almost forgot to mention the fact that at one time Danny Ongais and Mickey Thompson held 295 national and international speed and endurance records set at Bonneville Salt Flats.

  3. Pat Hollingsworth

    AJ Foyt, followed by Danny O. I have other favorites, but one must give credit where it is due. Each of these men could do well at everything and surpass most others while doing it. Kudos to all who tried to match \’em.

  4. Ronald D Huegli

    Mario Andretti….period. 50 years of competitive racing. Only American to have a World Championship. Only one to voted Driver of the Year, Driver of the Decade, Driver of the Quarter Century and Driver of the century! A winner in SEVEN different disciplines of motorsports. The only forms of racing that he hasn’y competed in is boats and planes.

  5. 69rrboy

    I agree with Mario being the best “all around” driver to ever put a helmet on but doesn’t him being born in Italy make him Italian not American?

    In any case, the 3 guys who could do it all who drove while I was living…him, Parnelli, and Donahue.

  6. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    Dan Gurney – apart from being a genius racing driver he was also at the forefront of technology and aerodynamics, played a vital part in the development of the GT40 and produced the most beautiful F1 car of all time. He worked with Harry Westlake in revolutionising the development of stock cylinder heads into race winners and has sadly been overshadowed by better known drivers.

  7. loufermi223

    #1 = A.J.

    Not the among the best, but certainly deserves a mention among them, is Richard Petty. No other driver completely dominated their sport as he did at times. 1967, won 27 of the 48 races, including a streak of 10 in row! As others noted, crappy tires, brakes, and suspension.

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