Guys and girls who race cars tend to have mucho grande egos. It’s the nature of the business. Great racers never exist in a vacuum by themselves, so it’s inevitable that every great one will have a rival, every bit their equal to match wits and skills with. This Top 11 takes into account some rivalries that existed far outside the typical “driver vs. driver” realm.

The Top 11 Greatest Racing Rivalries

11) Tony Christian vs. Pat Musi: Take two of the most outspoken, brash, smash mouth drag racers, place them in iconic machinery and set them loose across America in the halcyon days of  Fastest Street Car Racing and you’ve got magic. It was weekly jabs and jibes on Horsepower TV, combined with some pure trash talking in the print media that led these two ex-Pro Stock racers to resurrect themselves and their respective careers.

10) Don ‘Snake” Prudhomme vs. Tom “Mongoose” McEwen: Although somewhat contrived, this pair is still talked about by drag racing fans the world over today. Hot Wheels backed the pair in their match racing exploits from coast to coast. They sold a zillion cars and they made some serious cake. After the Hot Wheels deal died off the two would find themselves in the finals of the US Nationals in 1978. McEwen had recently lost a son to sickness and was racing with a heavy heart. He met Prudhomme, who threw the kitchen sink at him, but fell short. It remains one of the greatest final round runs in the history of the NHRA due to the emotions involved. There is now a movie being made about this pair and their rivalry.

9) Don Garlits vs. Shirley Muldowney: Garlits signed Shirley’s license when she was cleared to drive a Fuel car. Shortly after, the happy feeling ended for several decades. Through the ‘70s there was not a more popular pair of foes as “the old man” and “Cha Cha.” Although bitter rivals for decades that both harbored hard feelings, the pair have mellowed in their elder years and can now hold a conversation without ending in near fisticuffs.

8.) Moss vs. Fangio: Juan Manuel Fangio is still regarded as one of the greatest racers to ever saw at the wheel of a race car. Stirling Moss is not too far behind Fangio in the praise and skill column. These two raced all over the world against one another as gentlemen. When Fangio retired, Moss was the guy to beat.

7) Yunick vs. the NASCAR Tech inspectors: Boy we wish we could have see some of this stuff happen first hand, we know the stories of Smokey Yunick trying to send cars through with his noted “tweaks” that may or may not have been deemed explicitly illegal in the rule book.

6) Ford vs. Chevy: A battle nearly as old as time itself. Until one of these companies is in the ground, the argument will never be settled.

5) Gordon vs. Earnhardt: A match that even the greatest PR guy could not have seen coming. Earnhardt as the grizzled old veteran, his car cloaked in black, his racing history was nothing but stock cars on every level. Gordon on the other hand was a young kid who grew up racing karts and whatever else he could get his hands on was the anti-Intimidator. Hell, his car was painted with a rainbow scheme. On paper it looked like Gordon was doomed. This rivalry brought a lot of people into the sport and helped NASCAR grow.

4) Garlits vs. Wally Parks: Two men who needed the other to succeed but were not exactly chummy, to the point that Garlits staged his own big professional drag meets up against Indy for a few seasons in the early ‘70s. Parks was always a polite taskmaster an old school “my way or the highway” type guy with loads of tact. The pair tangled more often than most of us will ever know.

3) Mustang vs. Camaro: Road course, drag strip, auto cross, street races, and any where else that cars can compete, these two have locked horns and will continue to until we run out of oil to refine into gasoline.

2) Breedlove vs. Arfons: The Land Speed battle that these two slugged each other around during in the years 1964 and 1965 is one that will never be repeated or duplicated. The best part of this rivalry is that it’s nearly impossible to pick out the “bad guy.” Both of these fellows are heroes.

1) Foyt vs. Andretti: These two guys saw each other in Indy Cars, Stock Cars, Trans-Am cars, and they probably raced toilet paper rolls when the Charmin got low. They are recognized as the number one and two best American race car drivers ever and both are duly qualified. Why is this the best? Andretti admitted that he is still uncomfortable feelings being in the same room as Foyt not too long ago. Now, that’s a rivalry!