Who was the cleverest race car driver of all time and why?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The more and more I think about this question to myself, the more I think that I have three potential candidates for the answer:

  1. Alain Prost. Faced extremely stiff competition and was not the fastest of them by any means (in terms of “pure natural driving ability”) but still managed to win four world championships.

  2. Alan Jones. Okay he only won one world championship but for me a lot of the way he bullied and intimidated his opponents on-and-off the track (particularly Carlos Reutermann) got him race wins.

  3. Ayrton Senna. Jury is still out on this one but I can’t help but think that considering everyone always mentioned how meticulous he was when it came to car setup that it was more than just his out-and-out skill that won him races.

I have missed out M.Schumacher just because I think his strategist (Ross Brawn) is a moron and I think the only reason Brawn’s strategies work at all is because Michael has the uncanny habit of driving brilliantly at critical times.

In my answer I have only included F1 drivers. I think this is because at the end of the day, it’s the most technically advanced type of motor car racing available. You can use any type of racing (Indy, Stock car or rally) in your answer, but tell me why you chose that particular driver.

I mean cleverness in terms of everything; ability to set-up car, racing strategy, understanding machine + physics, even marketing + self-promotion.

So who does your vote go to and why?

2

Nicki Lauda.

Came back from a hideous crash that almost killed him, and was just as aggressive and fast in his first races. He was a machine, and remained cool even in the midst of a fierce rivalry with Alain Prost. He may also have set a record related to number of races won. I’m too lazy to look it up. It didn’t stand long, though.

Marcus Gronholm (World Rally).

Another icy-cool machine. Stays cool even when reporters ask him the same silly questions every single stage.

“What will you do now that you’re in (random position)?”

[Paraphrase] I’ll drive fast and be careful, dummy.[/Paraphrase]

3

On ability to set up car, race strategy and intuitive skill (being able to see the track), I’d vote for the late Dale Ernhardt, the late Mark Donahue and the still kicking Mario Andretti.

Dale Ernhardt is a pure NASCAR guy, but could make the car do things and go places that ordinary drivers couldn’t. He was best on super speedways which required some of the trickier set ups and most driver-team coordination for in race changes.

Mark Donahue could drive any car on any course and beat any one in his day. Of course, he didn’t get across the pond much.

Mario Andretti could do just about the same thing and always was on top of strategy. He’s one of the only drivers (besides Donahue) to totally dominate racing in the US (excepting drag racing).

For marketing and self-promotion, the NASCAR guys win hands down.

4

You have to consider Dale Earnhardt, not only as a 7 time Winston Cup Champion, but as a businessman as well. He had the foresight to copyright his own signature, he was one of the first to use specialty paint schemes, (both of which paid off in spades in the die-cast and memorabilia market), and he knew how to work over his sponsors. One example is Perdue Farms Chickens. Somehow, he managed to get them to sign on as a sponsor, and then he raised chickens, selling them back to Perdue! He got paid coming and going. That’s pretty clever.

5

Cleverest? How 'bout Andrea de Cheseris? How he managed to stay in F1 despite a complete and total lack of driving skill and acumen behind the wheel of a car is a mystery to me! Pretty damn clever, that trick! :smiley:

Seriously, now.

I would vote for Lauda, Prost and Schumacher in F1. Second on Gronholm in Rally.

Prost was simply amazing with his ability to win races with what seemed like minimal effort. He made it look too easy sometimes.

Actual headline: “Church ends probe of Gay Bishop”

6

Anyone remember Keke Rossberg? God, he was fun to watch. He was out of shape on the feathery edge of control even while sitting on the grid.

Of course, when it comes to clever, that kid from Japan wins hands down: Remote control mechanical bird from the hood, jumping pistons could throw the car through the air, big, fricken’ saws extended from the front…

And he always won the race with a little kid and monkey stowed away in the trunk. Damn.

7

I watched Nikki Lauda at Osterreichring in 1977. Ok, I was 4 years old and actually slept through most of the race, but I do have a little pennant to prove I was there. Lauda was awesome (finished 2nd on the way to a series championship) and the Austrians worshiped him. When I was awake, I was actually cheering for Mario Andretti until his car broke.

This site has great stats and race write ups for F1…

8

Speed Racer and Racer X. The two best drivers I’ver ever seen, anywhere, anytime.

9

Speed Racer and Racer X. The two best drivers I’ver ever seen, anywhere, anytime.

10

I’ll go with Earnhardt too. Best race car driver in NASCAR history, and even Petty admitted that. As for marketing and image control, none have done it better. (Admittedly, Teresa may have more to do with this than we think) The man drove through the grass at about 160 to block a guy and never let off the gas. He blew a tire in turn 3 (?) at Daytona and didn’t spin out. Everybody swears he could “see air”. I’m lucky to have seen him race.

Don’t know much about those other guys, I don’t pay attention to the “pointy” cars :smiley:

11

Another vote for Prost here

12

Juan Fangio.

He drove at a time when your most used suit was black, brakes, tyres, circuit crash protection were rudimentary.

Crowd safety consisted of a single rope cordon at the edge of the track.

Driver aids, none whatsoever, the most sophisticated instrument was a stopwatch, no datalogging or two way communications, no engine management, no aerodynamic wings, fuel that was probably best kept in the deep freeze.

He drove at a time when the Nurburgring was the full circuit enclosing four villages, same with the Hungaroring.These circuits have been chopped to a small portion of the monsters they were, but they were the most challenging circuits ever, too challenging, and he was their master.

Even so, he was quite prepared to swap teams when necessary,he won 5 world titles, and won 6 races out of eight in one winning year.He knew what made a car work and who could make it work.

Add to all that, he also competed in 12 hour races and LeMans, it’s a scope that modern drivers do not cover.

The thing that stands out above all, though, his conduct.

He had time for his fans, he would pass on tips to others, he was a real gentleman off the track, not like the driving divas he would meet regularly a breed that still exists plenty today ( think Jacques Villeneuve or Eddy Irvine)

A man with real class, he retired suddenly with nothing left to prove there was no point in risking his neck any longer, the competition just was not up to his standards.

Think of that famous incident at Monaco, where here suddenly started braking well before a corner, enough to be able to avoid a crash that had just ocurred on the other side.
Not ESP, he was used to seeing a white flash as he blasted past the crowds, when he could no see the blur of the crowds teeth he knew they were not watching him, but were distracted by something else, and that was good enough reason to slow down.

In one of those vibration laden cars of the day he still found time to gauge the crowd reaction and assess what it meant, whilst on the entry to a corner braking hard!

31 Podium finishes in 51 races and that includes 12 retirements, I would like to see any other F1 driver come anything like close to these percentages.

13

I don’t follow Formula 1, but here’s my take, confined to NASCAR and Indy:

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was the master of maneuvering on most NASCAR courses. Any thoughts on why he chose to stick with NASCAR, though? It’s always baffled me.

Um, what? I adore Mario, but you can’t really say that he dominated U.S. racing, with his first, last and only Indy 5 win being 1969. Yes, it was the fault of his machine, and not his driving, but still… Sure, he’s a great driver, but one would think he’d get his car across the finish line a few more times than he actually did. Nope, it always blew up/petered out/died before he got close to the final lap. So all-around clever, nope.

I’ll toss A.J. Foyt out there… 4-time Indy winner, and an oft-touted possibility for the next president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was clever enough to get in good with the Hulmans, who run the show at the IMS, and he made one heck of a comeback after getting his legs demolished in that horrible crash. He was a ballsy driver, a risk-taker, and he (almost) always managed to walk away unscathed.

14

I’ll throw another vote in for Earnhardt.

He was smart, savvy, tough and had balls an elephant would be jealous of.

Bruce_Daddy, I am also lucky to have seen him race, the last time he ever did.

15

De Cesaris did score nine World Championship points in 1993 for Jordan, which is more than most F1 drivers ever hit in a season, if you think about it.

My vote goes to Ayrton Senna… no-one ever had the knack for qualifying he did. Nobody else could ever pinpoint that moment when the track would be clear enough for one perfect lap. That and the fact that he’d already won three world championships when he was killed at the peak of his skills are enough for me.

Incidentally, I was walking across International Speedway Boulevard (the road that runs right past the racetrack) at the end of the 500 when Earnhardt’s ambulance flashed by me and came about three feet from joining him in it. I didn’t have a clue he was in there (I’d left the stands about 18 laps from the end) until a friend who was still there called to ask if I’d seen it go past as I was walking across. Tragic.

16

Incidentally, Senna still holds the record for most F1 pole positions, despite the fact that nobody has even tried to compete with Ferrari for three years…

17

Wow, tough to pick just one, so I have to throw in a couple names nobody’s mentioned yet.

Dan Gurney. Won as a driver in Indy cars, NASCAR, Formula 1 and sports cars. Only victory (in the modern era) for an American driver in an American car (1967 Belgian GP). His Eagle chassis dominated Indy cars for several years. Won 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, and started the tradition of spraying champagne from the podium.

Jack Brabham. Only Formula 1 driver to win the World Championship in a car of his own construction. Won three titles as a driver, two as a constructor (including both titles in 1966).

18

This is very difficult.

I won’t name any NASCAR drivers. Reasons? For one, I don’t know a lot about the sport. But more importantly, I don’t consider it the pinacle of motor racing. I’m sure a guy like Earnhard was a great driver, but I’m pretty sure he would have been outclassed in F1. Indycar/CART is something that comes closer, but it’s obviously less physical than F1 - you don’t see 50 year old men running competitively in an F1 car. Not saying it makes Indy drivers bad, per se: some are quite brilliant. But on the whole, it’s not on par with F1.

Rally driving is another discipline altogether. I think the driving skill is on par with that of the best F1 drivers, but strategically, it’s a completely different sport.

We’re basically left with F1, then.

What’s a clever driver? To me, it means being able to get that pole from out of nowhere. To make that passing manoeuver on the final corner, without losing it all. To pit at the right time, outwitting your opponent. To intimidate without running your competition off the road. To use dirty tricks if necessary, and get away with it. Racing can be war, after all.

Alan Jones? Keke Rosberg? Surely, you jest. Two of the most unworthy champions in F1 history, bearers of the crown just because they were in the right car at the right time. You might as well name Nigel Mansell or Damon Hill. Rosberg didn’t even win a single race in his championship year, and it took Gilles Villeneuve’s fatal crash and Didies Pironi’s near-fatal one to hand him the title. Feh.

Three drivers can compete for the title of “cleverest racer”. Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna da Silva, and Michael Schumacher.

We need to do this by losing the ones with the most “defects”. Prost sucked in the wet, and made horrible strategic mistakes. Moreover, he was often outpsyched by a certain Brazilian team mate. He doesn’t win the title.

Senna. Is there anyone who doesn’t love Senna? Still, his hotheadedness got the better of him at times. Suzuka 1989, anyone? His ability to set a car up for a race and a pole is unmatched - but he wasn’t the cleverest guy on the track. Not of all time.

Leaves us with one man. Michael Schumacher. You don’t win 5 world titles by sitting on your ass these days, folks. Schumacher is a strategist, a full-blown engineer that understands how the car works, a brutal dogfighter that won’t refrain from a dirty punch if needed, and he intimidates his competitor drivers so much they move out of the way at the sight of a red dot in the rear view mirror.

He wins, hands down.

Honourable mention to Juan Manuel Fangio, but I feel that the level of competition back in the day can’t be compared to now. He was awesome, but the man at the back of the grid wasn’t 1.9 seconds off his pace, but 19. Different times.

19

I actually didn’t nominate Rosberg, I was just reminiscing on his driving style.

20

Oh. Well, his style sucked, too. :stuck_out_tongue:

Can’t believe this thread has so few responses! Aren’t there any more racing fans out there?