Actually for horse racing you would want a jockey.
So I asked my wife since she generally does not like watching sports and I thought she’d be a good test. 
Here are her answers:
Basketball: Michael Jordan
Baseball: Nothing (she locked up)
Hockey: Bobby Orr
Boxing: Mike Tyson
Golf: Tiger Woods
Football: Doug Flutie*
Tennis: Martina Navratalova
Soccer: Alexei Lalas followed quickly by Pele
- Gonna have to talk to her about this one. This is the kind of thing that should be disclosed before marriage.
Not necessarily. However, Jockey = Willie Shoemaker.
Re: Armstrong, while I think he is a big, stinky, greasy skid-mark on the sports world, I have to admit he probably deserves partial credit for professional cycling becoming more well-known in the US during the decade he was active and winning. I don’t recall the Tour de France being viewable stateside even on cable before his rise in popularity/notoriety. And who knows how long it would have taken to get a big international cycling event like the Tour of California started without cycling’s popularity growth and exposure in that same time frame.
I can understand why an average person in the US would first think of him if asked this question, and I would give that person a pass on not knowing Merckx. I would expect at least some Americans to think of Lemond, however (even if not “signature”).
I don’t know about that. The title and OP of the thread say “what” not “who”.
I don’t watch racing, so I wasn’t aware than Nascar and stock-car racing were the same thing. I thought stock-car was more of the straightaway, funny car type.
That’s probably country dependent. In the UK, the Secretariat equivalent is Red Rum.
…and down-under it would be Phar Lap.
:eek::eek::eek:
Important to remember that the best players are not always the most iconic.
Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are far better golfers, but I’d say Arnold Palmer is STILL a greater golf icon than either
I’d go with Senna, but it’s neck-and-neck with Schumacher.
I agree with most of the answers so far. So for a sport I didn’t see mentioned…
Diving: Greg Louganis
Thinking about football, that’s a tough one. Tom Brady is up there for sure, but the example upthread about mocking a friend for throwing a bad punch “Look at Muhammad Ali!” leads me in multiple directions. If I saw a buddy…
Awkwardly try to “tackle” someone: Look out, it’s Mean Joe Green
Try to throw something to a person and miss: Nice throw, Peyton Manning
Try to catch something and fail: Time to retire, Jerry Rice
For what it’s worth, Schumacher himself said it was Senna. I was a huge Senna fan and had to stop watching F1 for years after he died, but I would say Senna would have been the greatest, but wasn’t. I’m not sure it was Schumacher either, though; he was lucky to race in an era where there just weren’t any great drivers for him to compete with (not least because Senna was dead). Some very good ones, yes, but Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet were all gone when Schumacher began dominating the sport.
Still, Senna is the iconic figure of F1 because of his incredible success and his death, and the shadow he still casts.
For me, the greatest will always be Fangio. He had to compete with truly great opponents like Moss.
Indycars/CART don’t really count. When F1 drivers can show up and win the title in their rookie seasons, and journeyman F1 drivers become multiple champions, it just shows that the drivers aren’t as good.
I would have said Shergar, though admittedly not so much for racing-related fame.
Baseball-Ruth
Basketball-Jordan
Football-Walter Payton
Golf-Jack
Non-American Football-Pele
Tennis-Connors
Hockey-Gretzky
… Walter Payton? Not even in Chicago. He’s not the best of all time at his position, and he’s not the most famous Bear.
Sorry, I meant William Perry. The initials confused me.
He’s even less well known. He was good at his position but he’s mostly looked on as a comic figure at this point.
I dunno. In Chicago, I’d guess Walter Payton would be the iconic Chicago Bear. I know it would be for me, good ol’ Number 34. But I was also 10 during Superbowl 20 and idolized the '85 Bears. The only other name that would come to mind for me is Dick Butkus. ETA: :smack: Oh, and I guess Ditka. I’ll still pick Payton, though.
I know nothing about Formula One. I know who Schumacher is, never heard of Senna.
He’s been dead for 21 years (gosh, I can’t believe it’s been that long) so that shouldn’t be surprising.