The team of David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, Darren Law and former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice held off a team led by Juan Pablo Montoya to win the 24 Hours at Daytona, which kicks off the major auto races of 2009.
None of those four drivers are near my top 100 listing of the greatest drivers worldwide -- Montoya is -- so from that standpoint my rankings are unchanged.
But, as you'll see when I roll out the newest rankings, there were major changes to the top 100. I reset the rankings after long thoughts about the winning point totals for the 24 Hours at Le Mans.
The Le Mans race remains one of the most prestigious in the world, but it is also the one where superior technology and deep pockets plays the largest role. Plus, each member of the winning team, regardless of whether he drove one lap or 100 laps, received 20 points.
My top 100 was loaded with endurance racers. Danish driver Tom Kristensen obviously is a top talent, but even with eight wins in Le Mans no one seriously considers him one of the top drivers in the world.
So I lowered the winning points to 15 for Le Mans victories. I left the rest unchanged, 9 points for second, 8 for third ... at least for now.
Just that change dropped several endurance drivers down the rankings.
With the Daytona 500 on the horizon, here is my updated list of the world's greatest race car drivers:
Pole pos., Racer, Country, Years, Total
1. A.J. Foyt, United States, 1959-1992, 84.49
2. Graham Hill, United Kingdom, 1958-1974, 80.95
3. Richard Petty, United States, 1960-1987, 79.77
4. Michael Schumacher, Germany, 1992-2006, 77.35
5. Ayrton Senna, Brazil, 1984-1993, 69.98
6. Alain Prost, France, 1982-1993, 67.12
7. Al Unser, United States, 1965-1992, 62.05
8. Cale Yarborough, United States, 1965-1987, 60.72
9. Jackie Stewart, United Kingdom, 1965-1973, 58.59
10. Rick Mears, United States, 1979-1991, 56.93
11. Jacky Ickx, Belgium, 1968-1985, 56.58
12. Stirling Moss, United Kingdom, 1953-1961, 56.17
13. Phil Hill, United States, 1958-1964, 54.77
14. Bobby Allison, United States, 1968-1988, 54.53
15. Wilbur Shaw, United States, 1927-1940, 54.29
16. Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazil, 1971-1994, 53.34
17. Lou Meyer, United States, 1928-1937, 52.44
18. Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentina, 1950-1957, 52.02
19. Mario Andretti, United States, 1965-1995, 52.00
20. Bobby Unser, United States, 1966-1981, 51.17
21. Tom Kristensen, Denmark, 1997-2008, 51.04
22. Derek Bell, United Kingdom, 1972-1996, 50.94
23. Johnny Rutherford, United States, 1963-1986, 48.88
24. Mauri Rose, United States, 1934-1950, 48.83
25. Maurice Trintignant, France, 1953-1961, 47.25
26. Jeff Gordon, United States, 1993-2007, 47.10
27. Dale Earnhardt, United States, 1979-2000, 46.54
28. Frank Biela, Germany, 1999-2007, 46.23
29. Niki Lauda, Austria, 1974-1984, 45.87
30. Denny Hulme, Australia, 1965-1973, 45.63
31. Rodger Ward, United States, 1956-1964, 45.51
32. Jody Scheckter, South Africa, 1974-1979, 45.45
33. Dale Jarrett, United States, 1991-2006, 45.11
34. Al Unser Jr., United States, 1983-2003, 44.91
35. Bruce McLaren, Australia, 1959-1969, 44.89
36. Emanuele Pirro, Italy, 1991-2007, 44.71
37. Bill Elliott, United States, 1978-2001, 43.53
38. Gordon Johncock, United States, 1965-1991, 43.33
39. Jim Clark, United Kingdom, 1959-1967, 43.12
40. Olivier Gendebien, Germany, 1955-1962, 42.81
41. Fernando Alonso, Spain, 2003-2008, 41.49
42. Henri Pescarolo, France, 1970-1999, 40.93
43. Rinaldo Capello, Italy, 1999-2006, 40.71
44. Yannick Dalmas, France, 1988-2002, 40.01
45. Marco Werner, Germany, 2002-2007, 39.73
46. David Coulthard, United Kingdom, 1995-2006, 39.00
47. Hans Joachim Stuck, Germany, 1976-1996, 38.97
48. David Pearson, United States, 1962-1984, 38.59
49. Tom Sneva, United States, 1976-1984, 38.58
50. Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia, 1999-2008, 38.39
51. Darrell Waltrip, United States, 1974-1997, 37.95
52. Sterling Marlin, United States, 1980-2005, 37.91
53. Tommy Milton, United States, 1920-1927, 37.29
54. Helio Castroneves, Brazil, 2001-2006, 37.16
55. Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, 1985-1998, 36.97
56. Tazio Nuvolari, Italy, 1932-1936, 36.79
57. Hurley Haywood, United States, 1973-1994, 36.56
58. Al Holbert, United States, 1976-1987, 35.57
59. Bobby Rahal, United States, 1981-1995, 35.49
60. Benny Parsons, United States, 1969-1987, 35.16
61. Jimmy Bryan, United States, 1952-1958, 34.32
62. Michael Waltrip, United States, 1990-2003, 34.15
63. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, 1993-2008, 33.83
64. Klaus Ludwig, Germany, 1979-1988, 33.71
65. Buddy Baker, United States, 1969-1988, 33.71
66. Ted Horn, United States, 1936-1948, 33.62
67. Jack Brabham, Australia, 1957-1970, 33.49
68. Allan McNish, United Kingdom, 1998-2006, 33.27
69. Nelson Piquet, Brazil, 1979-1996, 32.77
70. Luigi Chinetti, Italy, 1932-1951, 32.48
71. Jimmie Johnson, United States, 2003-2008, 32.43
72. Fred Lorenzen, United States, 1960-1971, 32.35
73. Nigel Mansell, United Kingdom, 1982-1993, 32.24
74. Rudolf Caracciola, Germany, 1929-1939, 32.09
75. Mika Hakkinen, Finland, 1994-2000, 31.95
76. Michele Alboreto, Italy, 1981-2001, 31.62
77. Ronnie Peterson, Sweden, 1970-1978, 31.17
78. Dan Gurney, United States, 1959-1970, 31.12
79. Jim Rathmann, United States, 1952-1962, 31.07
80. Jimmy Murphy, United States, 1920-1924, 30.95
81. Buddy Lazier, United States, 1996-2004, 30.81
82. Michael Andretti, United States, 1983-2006,30.63
83. Andy Wallace, United Kingdom, 1988-2006, 30.51
84. J.J. Lehto, Finland, 1992-2005, 30.45
85. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, 1993-2007, 30.11
86. Eddie Cheever, United States, 1981-2002, 29.96
87. Bob Wollek, France, 1977-1998, 29.82
88. Geoff Bodine, United States, 1984-2000, 29.71
89. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, 2001-2007, 29.69
90. Jan Lammers, Netherlands, 1980-2005, 29.55
91. Jochen Rindt, Austria, 1965-1970, 29.11
92. Gijs van Lennap, Netherlands, 1971-1976, 28.95
93. Lorenzo Bandini, Italy, 1962-1967, 28.81
94. Woolf Barnato, United Kingdom, 1928-1930, 28.80
95. Vern Schuppan, Australia, 1975-1984, 28.71
96. Sam Hanks, United States, 1952-1957, 28.69
97. Eddie Irvine, United Kingdom, 1992-2002, 28.35
98. Gerard Larrousse, France, 1969-1974, 28.33
99. Louis Chiron, France, 1929-1955, 28.28
100. Carlos Reutemann, Argentina, 1975-1981, 27.72
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