A few weeks ago I posted the ultimate NASCAR race, grids 1 through 43.
Richard Petty took the top spot naturally, but of course a NASCAR ranking wouldn't include two of the biggest names in U.S. auto racing -- A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
Both Foyt and Andretti won Daytona 500s but spent the vast majority of the careers in open-wheel racing, chasing titles world wide.
So I started thinking about how to rank racers in Indy Car with NASCAR and Formula One. Even with the explosion of NASCAR in the U.S., the Formula One series title remains the most coveted in the world.
On the other hand, U.S. open wheel actually has the longest running series championship if you trace Champ Car -- which thankfully merged with the Indy Racing League to hopefully save open-wheel in the U.S. -- all the way back. It's evolved from the AAA series that actually was going on before the Indianapolis race became a 500-miler, to USAC, to CART and finally to Champ Car/IRL.
But the series title meant little. When people look at A.J. Foyt's career, they mention the four Indy 500 wins, the Daytona 500 and his 24 Hours of LeMans wins. Very few rank his six USAC series titles among his greatest accomplishments.
So the series titles aren't of equal stature and drivers can't drive more than one circuit a year, so you don't see the best worldwide squaring off.
Where you do occasionally see the best going head-to-head is in the most historic races. Doing a little research I found that Formula One's Grand Prix of Monaco, endurance racing's 24 Hours of LeMans and the Indianapolis 500 are considered the Triple Crown of Auto Racing.
For my rankings, though, I'm adding a fourth to the list -- the Daytona 500. Although it doesn't have the history as the other three, the first Daytona 500 was in 1959 -- it has surpassed the Indy 500 as the top race in the U.S., again thanks to NASCAR's growth.
So I based my rankings on golf, which centers around the four majors for men and women. The winning driver of the above four races received 20 points, with second place worth nine, third place eight and on down to 10th place receiving a point.
I didn't totally disregard season-long results. The Formula One title is the most prestigious in the world. Winning it is worth six bonus points, second in the series gets three, third is worth two and fourth place earns a point.
NASCAR, even though it hasn't been around as long, has long been considered a more prestigious series than open-wheel in the U.S. The fact that Dale Earnhardt won seven Winston Cups is central to his reputation. So the Grand National/Winston/Nextel Cup is worth five points to the winner, two to second and third gets a point.
The various open-wheel series championships were worth four points to the winner and one point to second place. During the Champ/IRL split, though, the winner of each series received two points.
Endurance racing has had just a handful of season series even worth mentioning. Truthfully, beyond LeMans, the 12 hour at Sebring and 24 hours at Daytona races are bigger than any series. The winners of those races each year received two points.
A few points for the ranking:
* It was tilted ever so slightly toward Formula One. A Monaco Grand Prix win and Formula One series title is worth 26 points. A Daytona 500 and Nextel Cup championship is worth 25. An Indy 500 and AAA/USAC/CART/IRL at most was worth 24 and if you swept the endurance "Triple Crown" of LeMans, Sebring and Daytona, that was worth 24 points.
* Endurance racers had a slight advantage overall. Because of the length of the races, teams use between two and four drivers. That means there's a lot more points available each year to endurance racers. You could win as many points being the No. 4 driver at LeMans as being the lone winner at Monaco.
* One-series wonders had to really, really dominate to get near the top. This really limits NASCAR drivers because that series is so full very, very few over the years have ventured outside NASCAR. You'll see what I mean as the standings unfold.
* Modern drivers have an advantage because safety equipment is so much better. Who knows what a guy like Bill Vukovich would have accomplished if he hadn't been killed dominating the Indy 500 after winning two straight in the 1950s?
I'll release the top 100 over the next four nights. In reverse order, here are the No. 100 down to No. 76 greatest auto racers worldwide.
Rank, racer, country, years, points
100. Geoff Bodine, United States, 1984-2000, 29.71
99. Bob Wollek, France, 1977-1998, 29.82
98. Allan McNish, United Kingdom, 1998-2006, 29.87
97. Eddie Cheever, United States, 1981-2002, 29.96
96. Mauro Baldi, Italy, 1983-2002, 30.01
95. Paul Frere, Belgium, 1955-1960, 30.53
94. Michael Andretti, United States, 1983-2006, 30.63
93. Buddy Lazier, United States, 1996-2004, 30.81
92. Hans Herrman, Germany, 1958-1970, 30.88
91. Jimmie Johnson, United States, 2003-2007, 30.89
90. Jimmy Murphy, United States, 1920-1924, 30.95
89. Jim Rathmann, United States, 1952-1962, 31.07
88. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, 1993-2001, 31.07
87. Ronnie Peterson, Sweden, 1970-1978, 31.17
86. Vern Schuppan, Australia, 1975-1984, 31.91
85. Mika Hakkinen, Finland, 1994-2000, 31.95
84. Lorenzo Bandini, Italy, 1962-1967, 32.01
83. Rudolf Caracciola, Germany, 1929-1939, 32.09
82. Nigel Mansell, United Kingdom, 1982-1993, 32.24
81. Jochen Rindt, Austria, 1965-1970, 32.31
80. Fred Lorenzen, United States, 1960-1971, 32.35
79. Raymond Sommer, France, 1932-1950, 32.53
78. Jan Lammers, Netherlands, 1980-2005, 32.75
77. Nelson Piquet, Brazil, 1979-1996, 32.77
76. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, France, 1973-1980, 33.17
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