"Best" American Racer?

Mario would be at the top of my list, the man has won a race in ever race genre he has competed in.

I had the pleasure and privilege of working with Phil Hill doing photos on a NASCAR article he did back in the 80s, when I was with NMPA (National Motorsports Press Association). I've also had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Dan Gurney and talking to him on many occasions at VIR (Virginia International Raceway), both at the old track and the new one today. Gurney is ageless.

I also know and see Chris Economaki, whose health is not too good these days. Though never a driver, you will find no auto racing enthusiast the likes of Chris. Without him, NASCAR would have never had national exposure, much less global exposure. He is as fine a gentleman as anyone would ever meet and remembers every one's name. My father had a gift for that too, sadly I did not inherit it.

Caz
 
ME......1980 rookie of the year.....52 wins 1980-81,held track records at two tracks for over 5 years


pure talent.......:kilroy:

im only half joking....lol..stats are real..attitude is fake
 
Cazzie said:
Mario would be at the top of my list, the man has won a race in ever race genre he has competed in.
Caz
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I forgot Mario!
Must be the *Male Flu I'm enduring at the moment.
The one win that Mario always wanted but eluded him is Le Mans.

*Male Flu............. it would kill a woman.
:kilroy:
 
Mario is Italian... :kilroy:

And Gurney could have been bigger if it wasn't for his decision to run his own car with the unreliable Weslake engines!
 
Richard Petty. Won 200 races, 7 championships. The reason he has so many is because back in the early days of Nascar they would travel all over the East coast. On any one weekend they could go from a track in the Carolinas up north here to run one day Freeport speedway and the next at Islip then be back for another race down south after.

For open wheel I would have to say Aj Foyt. The man won in everything he drove. Plus he's won Indy 4 times, Daytona 500, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Lemans. Steve Kinser would be a close second.
 
I was a big fan of AJ on dirt, he was bloody good and my greatest memory of him was driving a Ford Quad Cam 'Indy' powered sprinter one night, unforgettable.
Then again, I loved those classic dirt cars, putting those hideous barn door 'wings' on them ruined the scene for me.
He was a very astute man, the only reason he 'won' Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans were his co-drivers and teams.
Daytona and Sebring he had the immortal Bob Wollek aka 'Monsieur Porsche' as the team leader, while at his Le Mans co-driver was Daniel Sexton Gurney.
Foyt was very wise in resisting the temptation to drive in Formula 1, unlike Bobby Unser who made a complete dick of himself.
But ........ I never thought of Foyt as a 'good bloke' (if I can use that term), his ego far outweighed his talent, but I still regard his drives in sprinters with great affection.
:applause:
 
Panther_99FS said:
Congrats to ya! :ernae:
What series?
Click to expand...
i drove in the "hobby stock" class in northern california..drove for points at the ernie purcell memorial speedway ( now closed) was a 1/4 mile measured on the outside wall,,,most tracks then were measured 10 feet up from the inside burm,,,CSRA rule,,(CSRA Central State Racing Assosiation)it had a tight dogleg infront of the grand stands and was high banks...not like bristol but id say 20degrees or more in the dogleg and turns 3/4,the back choot was about 15 degrees of banking....and it was fast..i had a 67 pontiac tempest bodied car,it sat on a 64 GTO chassis the first season...it had a 389 in it with the tri-power carbs,but the rules wher changed in 1980 to a single 2 barrel,my sponcer at the funeral home had a 950 CFM 2 barrel custom make for me out of a 650 2barrel then scooted....the night i set the first trck record i qualified 3rd in the sprint car dash,,,the rest of the guys were like...wtf?...how did he do that?....

i also ran a few times at the placerville fairgrounds....they still run there the world of outlaws run the now and then and i ran at silver dollar speedway in chico cal,,,the WOO have a big race there every year asdwell
 
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