New stars stake claims in Indy, Monaco

Two of the world's four biggest races took place Sunday and it was no blood on victory lane.

Scott Dixon of New Zealand's first Indianapolis 500 win puts him at No. 150 on my list of all-time greatest race car driver. Earlier in the day, Lewis Hamilton of the United Kingdom claimed his first Grand Prix of Monaco. Hamilton is well down on the list at No. 181. Both, though, have a lot of years plus the backing to make run up my standings.

There was a little movement in the all-time top 100. Fernando Alonso took 10th in Monaco, but the points did not move him up. Helio Castroneves finished fourth at Indianapolis and pushed him up four spots.

Finally, Rubens Barichello, who first claimed a top 10 at Monaco in 1993, finished sixth. Barichello has never won at Monaco or claimed a Formula One title, still the years of top finishes moved him into the top 100, bumping NASCAR star Geoff Bodine from the top 100.

Here is the updated top 100:

Pole pos. Racer Country Years Total
1. A.J. Foyt, United States, 1959-1992, 87.69
2. Graham Hill, United Kingdom, 1958-1974, 81.65
3. Richard Petty, United States, 1960-1987, 79.77
4. Michael Schumacher, Germany, 1992-2006, 77.35
5. Jacky Ickx, Belgium, 1968-1985, 70.78
6. Ayrton Senna, Brazil, 1984-1993, 69.98
7. Alain Prost, France, 1982-1993, 67.12
8. Derek Bell, United Kingdom, 1972-1996, 65.14
9. Phil Hill, United States, 1958-1964, 64.37
10. Tom Kristensen, Denmark, 1997-2006, 63.84

11. Al Unser, United States, 1965-1992, 62.05
12. Cale Yarborough, United States, 1965-1987, 60.72
13. Jackie Stewart, United Kingdom, 1965-1973, 58.59
14. Frank Biela, Germany, 1999-2007, 58.20
15. Emanuele Pirro, Italy, 1991-2007, 57.18
16. Rick Mears, United States, 1979-1991, 56.93
17. Stirling Moss, United Kingdom, 1953-1961, 56.17
18. Bobby Allison, United States, 1968-1988, 54.53
19. Wilbur Shaw, United States, 1927-1940, 54.29
20. Olivier Gendebien, Germany, 1955-1962, 53.95

21. Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazil, 1971-1994, 53.34
22. Lou Meyer, United States, 1928-1937, 52.44
23. Henri Pescarolo, France, 1970-1999, 52.06
24. Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentina, 1950-1957, 52.02
25. Mario Andretti, United States, 1965-1995, 52.00
26. Bobby Unser, United States, 1966-1981, 51.17
27. Yannick Dalmas, France, 1988-2002, 51.15
28. Maurice Trintignant, France, 1953-1961, 50.45
29. Johnny Rutherford, United States, 1963-1986, 48.88
30. Mauri Rose, United States, 1934-1950, 48.83

31. Marco Werner, Germany, 2002-2007, 48.63
32. Bruce McLaren, Australia, 1959-1969, 48.09
33. Jeff Gordon, United States, 1993-2007, 47.10
34. Dale Earnhardt, United States, 1979-2000, 46.54
35. Hurley Haywood, United States, 1973-1994, 46.33
36. Niki Lauda, Austria, 1974-1984, 45.87
37. Denny Hulme, Australia, 1965-1973, 45.63
38. Rodger Ward, United States, 1956-1964, 45.51
39. Jody Scheckter, South Africa, 1974-1979, 45.45
40. Hans Joachim Stuck, Germany, 1976-1996, 45.37

41. Al Holbert, United States, 1976-1987, 45.17
42. Dale Jarrett, United States, 1991-2006, 45.11
43. Al Unser Jr., United States, 1983-2003, 44.91
44. Bill Elliott, United States, 1978-2001, 43.53
45. Gordon Johncock, United States, 1965-1991, 43.33
46. Klaus Ludwig, Germany, 1979-1988, 43.31
47. Jim Clark, United Kingdom, 1959-1967, 43.12
48. Rinaldo Capello, Italy, 1999-2006, 42.51
49. Luigi Chinetti, Italy, 1932-1951, 42.08
50. Fernando Alonso, Spain, 2003-2008, 41.49

51. Tazio Nuvolari, Italy, 1932-1936, 39.99
52. David Coulthard, United Kingdom, 1995-2006, 39.00
53. David Pearson, United States, 1962-1984, 38.59
54. Tom Sneva, United States, 1976-1984, 38.58
55. Woolf Barnato, United Kingdom, 1928-1930, 38.40
56. Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia, 1999-2008, 38.39
57. Darrell Waltrip, United States, 1974-1997, 37.95
58. Sterling Marlin, United States, 1980-2005, 37.91
59. Tommy Milton, United States, 1920-1927, 37.29
60. Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, 1985-1998, 36.97

61. J.J. Lehto, Finland, 1992-2005, 36.85
61. Helio Castroneves, Brazil, 2001-2008, 36.85
63. Bobby Rahal, United States, 1981-1995, 35.49
64. Gijs van Lennap, Netherlands, 1971-1976, 35.35
65. Benny Parsons, United States, 1969-1987, 35.16
66. Michele Alboreto, Italy, 1981-2001, 34.82
67. Gerard Larrousse, France, 1969-1974, 34.73
68. Jimmy Bryan, United States, 1952-1958, 34.32
69. Dan Gurney, United States, 1959-1970, 34.32
70. Michael Waltrip, United States, 1990-2003, 34.15

71. Andre Rossignol, France, 1923-1928, 34.09
72. Andy Wallace, United Kingdom, 1988-2006, 33.71
72. Buddy Baker, United States, 1969-1988, 33.71
74. Ted Horn, United States, 1936-1948, 33.62
75. Jack Brabham, Australia, 1957-1970, 33.49
76. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, France, 1973-1980, 33.17
77. Nelson Piquet, Brazil, 1979-1996, 32.77
78. Jan Lammers, Netherlands, 1980-2005, 32.75
79. Raymond Sommer, France, 1932-1950, 32.53
80. Fred Lorenzen, United States, 1960-1971, 32.35

81. Jochen Rindt, Austria, 1965-1970, 32.31
82. Nigel Mansell, United Kingdom, 1982-1993, 32.24
83. Rudolf Caracciola, Germany, 1929-1939, 32.09
84. Lorenzo Bandini, Italy, 1962-1967, 32.01
85. Mika Hakkinen, Finland, 1994-2000, 31.95
86. Vern Schuppan, Australia, 1975-1984, 31.91
87. Ronnie Peterson, Sweden, 1970-1978, 31.17
88. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, 1993-2001, 31.07
89. Jim Rathmann, United States, 1952-1962, 31.07
90. Jimmy Murphy, United States, 1920-1924, 30.95

91. Jimmie Johnson, United States, 2003-2007, 30.89
92. Hans Herrman, Germany, 1958-1970, 30.88
93. Buddy Lazier, United States, 1996-2004, 30.81
94. Michael Andretti, United States, 1983-2006, 30.63
95. Paul Frere, Belgium, 1955-1960, 30.53
96. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, 1993-2008, 30.11
97. Mauro Baldi, Italy, 1983-2002, 30.01
98. Eddie Cheever, United States, 1981-2002, 29.96
99. Allan McNish, United Kingdom, 1998-2006, 29.87
100. Bob Wollek, France, 1977-1998, 29.82

Two to stop climbing all-time lists

Women's pro sports took a couple of hits this week with the announcement golfer Annika Sorenstam would retire at the end of the season and tennis star Justine Henin would put down her racket immediately.

Of the two, Henin is much more surprising. She was still ranked No. 1 and has clearly been the top player, winning three major titles in 2006 and 2007 and making the finals in three more.

There are some rumors that perhaps there is something else behind her retirement than burnout. We'll see. If it is just burnout, my guess is she'll be like Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis and make a comeback in a couple of years.

Sorenstam on the other hand has been talking about retiring for several years. She's 37 and quirky enough that I doubt we'll see her again after this year. When she announced the retirement many writers cast her as the greatest women's golfer ever. I still have her at No. 2 and the only way she can overtake Mickey Wright in my rankings is to win the last three majors.

I doubt that will happen, but I wouldn't put it past her to win two of the last three.

Here are the top 16 women's tennis players and top 10 women's golfers, to refresh your memory.

Tennis:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 1308.50
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 1215.50
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 953.50
4. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 684.00
5. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 675.00
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1979, 650.50
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 579.50
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2007, 503.00
9. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 449.00
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2007, 440.00
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 429.00
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 334.00
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 312.00
15. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 197.00
16. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 194.00

GOLF

Rank, Player, Years, Points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 150.19
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2008, 142.82
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 128.43
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 118.66
5 Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 117.39
6. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 112.83
7. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 107.39
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 99.77
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 97.69
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 94.56

Oscar wins and loses

When you've fought as many title fights and big names as Oscar De La Hoya, tune up fights do little good in my ranking. De La Hoya, as expected, waded through the harmless punches of Steve Forbes for a unanimous decision Saturday night. Most people keeping score gave Oscar all 12 rounds.

But since non-title fights are worth so little and De La Hoya was already ranked No. 53, he actually slipped a couple of percentage points to fall behind Pascual Perez.

Of course, De La Hoya can make all that up and more in his September rematch against Floyd Mayweather.

The 'new' rankings of No. 50 to No. 60.

Rank, fighter, years, country, points
50. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.315
51. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 51.251
52. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 51.021
53. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 50.932
54. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-07, U.S., 50.754
55. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 50.711
56. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 50.704
57. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 50.664
58. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 50.623
59. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 50.605
60. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 50.562