The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Time?
 

I have several in mind for the greatest all-time drivers in the Indy 500.

You can have your voice heard.

Link: http://www.thegreatest33.com/

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Donohue 30th? No Vukovich, Rose or Shaw? Bettenhausen twice... Idk if I'd agree with that list

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Greg Moore, Cristiano da Matta and Alex Zanardi never raced in the 500 not sure how anyone could include them in the "Greatest 33".

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

That was my first thought too. Great drivers, but you can’t be the greatest at the Speedway if you never raced there.

Sorry aussie, but I disagree with about 95% of your list. First, 4 time winners have to be on the front row, put Foyt, Unser, and Mears in whatever order you want. Remember, this is the greatest at the SPEEDWAY, not greatest careers. No JR, 3 time winner. No Johncock, 2 time winner. Sneva had 1 win and broke the 200 mph barrier. Will Power has run the race 3 times. He’s the 17th greatest of 732 drivers? Bourdais, 2 times, 13th best? Come on. Roberto Moreno? Nothing to say on that, that’s just comical. I think you need to be a little more objective in your list. It’s not supposed to be your personal favorite list of drivers. Also, this race has been run for 100 years. About 95% of the drivers drove in the recent 50 year period. Pretty sure 3 time winners Wilber Shaw, Louie Meyer, and Mauri Rose belong. I know this is an opinion thing, but you might want to look at some history.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

A.J. Foyt, Bill Vukovich, Rick Mears
Al Unser, Helio Castroneves, Parnelli Jones
Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Rodger Ward
Louie Meyer,Ted Horn, Jim Clark
Tommy Milton, Wibur Shaw, Al Unser Jr,
Emerson Fittipaldi, Ralph DePalma, Tom Sneva,
Johnny Rutherford, Lloyd Ruby,Dario Franchitti,
Mauri Rose,Gordon Johncock, Michael Andretti,
Dan Gurney, Bill Holland, Jim Rathman
Bobby Rahal, Mark Donohue,Tony Bettenhausen
Jimmy Bryan, Jimmy Murphy, Dan Wheldon

http://johnsonindy500.trackforum.com/

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

How about Rich Vogler taking out a car that he had never driven and knocking my favorite driver Gordy Johncock at the bell on bump day. And this wasn't the only time he put sub-par cars in the show on bump day when it was a true bump day with 10 or so cars trying to make the show.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

I could see Luyendyk being somewhere on the list, but who the heck do you bump to make room for him?

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Not a complete list by any means but IMO (in no particular order)-

Gary B. & his dad
Vogler
Sweikert
Jimmy Bryan
Sam Hanks
Al Unser
Wilbur Shaw
Rickenbacker
Mauri Rose
Ted Horn
A.J.
Lloyd Ruby
Johnnie & Johnny Parsons
Parnelli
Troy Ruttman
Vuky
Helio
Sachs
Ward
Jim Rathmann (he won the first 500 I was at in 1960)
Dario
George Snider
Roger McCluskey
Mel Kenyon

I'll come back and add as I think of more.

Sorry, no love from me for Mario or Michael.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

:5::10:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Not the point of the poll. Still don't agree with your list regardless. Roberto Moreno is the best Roberto Moreno that ever drove. That's about all I will give you on him. There's about 10 other guys I would remove too.

My list:

Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser
Wiber Shaw, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser
Bill Vukovich, Ralph DePalma, Helio Castroneves
Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Louie Meyer
Parnelli Jones, Mauri Rose, Gordy Johncock
Roger Ward, Al Unser, Jr., Jim Clark
Dario Franchitti, Tom Sneva, Billy Arnold
Arie Luyenkyk, Bill Holland, Mark Donohue
Dan Wheldon, Bobby Rahal, Tommy Milton
Jimmy Bryan, Mike Andretti, Rex Mays
Ted Horn, Lloyd Ruby, Gary Bettenhausen

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Would never put Fittipaldi on the list he refuse the milk for his own oj commercial ! Maybe thats why the wall grab him the next year.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Is that Wiber Shaw any relation to Wilbur? Just kidding! Wilbur Shaw was one of my favorites. I enjoyed his automobile road tests in Popular Science magazine and "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines" was one of the first racing books I bought. Sadly, he died in a plane crash on Oct. 30, 1954 near Decatur, IN on his way back from testing the 1955 Chrysler. I am surprised that his hometown of Shelbyville, IN does not have any recognition of him, such as a plaque denoting that as his hometown.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Shaw's book is one of the best I have ever read. I urge anybody that hasn't read it to do so.

Speaking of driver's hometowns, I just recently found out that Ted Horn was born in my hometown of Cincinnati. Cool.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

My list would be different, because I wouldn't include anyone who didn't drive a front-engined car. :-)

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

I have a book written by Russ Catlin titled "The Life of Ted Horn". I bought it around 1970 from a book vendor in northwestern Illinois who was selling out. I bought every book he had left. They were primarily Floyd Clymer publications, including many Indy 500 yearbooks. There were many interesting books in that collection. FYI, Ted Horn was born Eylard Theodore Horn.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Ron, his name was Stanley Hegberg. He lived outside of Chicago and sold Clymer books for years. I bought many 500 yearbooks from Mr. Hegberg over the years.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Vukie,

Yes, that was his name. I'm glad you reminded me, because it had slipped from my memory.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

:14: :14:


That is some crazy Aussie logic..........:10:

First you try to include guys who never drove at The Speedway, in a list of the best to ever drive in the Indy 500. Then you try to include some clowns, in your personal list of the best to ever drive in American openwheel competition!?!?

Ask an AMERICAN who they would include in a 'list of the best to ever drive in American openwheel competition', and you would hear or see, names of men who've raced and won at places like Winchester, Ascot, the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Knoxville, Belleville, Eldora, and so on.

But you want to include Sebastien Bourdais, Cristiano da Matta, Alex Zanardi, etc in that list...are you serious? :34:

Greatest (33) at Indy "500" of All Time!!...
 

Huh!!....What about Danny...Spin n' Win who??.....Sullivan......
______________
Brucer':32:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Let's not start this re-hashing of Tony George is the devil ***** again. Just pick 33 INDY 500 drivers.

This "split" ended three years ago. Done. Over. Accept it and move on. We around here like the distant past. You like the recent past.

We around here love our Saturday night short track heroes. Zanardi and Da Matta do not fit into that mold.

I think the average age of posters on IOW is at least double your age. Just so you know what era our thoughts and feelings are coming from.

You have to remember where you are posting. This is not a website called wineandcheeseracing.com.:10:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

:goodone:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Aussie Stop it! You have got my sides hurting from laughing so hard! I got to ask what are you smokeing? Those three possibly INDY STARS LOL ! If they could have been Brickyard stars then I should run for pope next year :10:

---------- Post added at 05:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:14 PM ----------

Wine and cheese racing Isn"t that where the driver ahead points to where he wants you to pass him. Can you picture the Demon pointing for Jon ? LOL :8:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

How about Johnnie Parsons? Jim Hurtubise never won, but was fun to watch.:)

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Whaa whaa frickin whaa.............

In this country, those names=also rans. They were never stars here. They never 'paid their dues' -here-.

This country's open wheel stars paid their dues with a driveshaft running between their legs.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

L meyer w shaw t horn m rose b holland a cross s hanks d nalon t ruttman b vukovich j mcgrath c stevenson j bryan j rathman e sach r ward p jones aj foyt j rutherford l ruby j mcelreath j hurtubise g johncock g bettenhausen r mears a unser b unser a unser jr mario andretti d & p carter m kenyon r mcluske

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

I'd have to agree, those names might be found in the isle marked "Imported Wine"!:5:

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

My list of the 33 greatest Indy 500 drivers of all time
Row 1. Foyt, Unser Sr., Mears
Row 2. Mario Andretti, Ralph Depalma, Jim Clark
Row 3. Roger Ward, Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw
Row 4. Bobby Unser, Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi
Row 5. Maurice Rose, Johnny Parsons, Bill Vukovich
Row 6. Sam Hanks, Jim Bryan, Graham Hill
Row 7. Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Johncock, Mark Donohue
Row 8. Tom Sneva, Helio Castroneves, Tony Stewart
Row 9. Tommy Milton, Parnelli Jones, Juan Montoya
Row 10. Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Jacques Villeneuve
Row 11. Dario Franchitti, Lloyd Ruby, Jackie Stewart

I know I've left off some good drivers and maybe included a couple that are on the bubble either way.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Row 1
Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser

Row 2
Wilbur Shaw, Bobby Unser, Louis Meyer

Row 3
Bill Vukovich, Johnny Rutherford, Emerson Fittipaldi

Row 4
Maury Rose, Helio Castroneves, Mario Andretti

Row 5
Ralph DePalma, Parnelli Jones, Gordon Johncock

Row 6
Tommy Milton, Roger Ward, Arie Luyendyk

Row 7
Dario Franchitti, Bill Holland, Jim Clark

Row 8
Rex Mays, Billy Arnold, Michael Andretti

Row 9
Dan Weldon, Tom Sneva, Jimmy Bryan

Row 10
Al Unser, Jr., Mark Donahue, Jimmy Murphy

Row 11
Scott Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jim Rathman

Picking the last ten was a lot tougher than the first.

Jerry

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

My turn- I'll try to do them in order on the first ten, after that it will be in no particular order (11-33)


1. Bill Vukovich Sr. - Go back and read up on his short career at indy, and look at the promise. He really could have won the race 4 times in a row!

2. A J Foyt- 4 wins, but it took 20 years, and a lot more support for to do it.

3. Mario Andretti- 1 win, but what sheer diversity he had! The only man to ever go from jalopies to formula one, by earning it the old way.

4. Al Unser sr.

5. Bobby Unser
6. Rick Mears
7. Johnny Rutherford
8. Parnelli Jones
9. Mauri Rose
10. Louie Meyer


and the rest-

Al Unser jr, Emmerson Fittipaldi, Gordon Johncock, Lloyd Ruby, Jimmy Clark, Eddie Sachs, Rodger Ward, Jimmy Bryan, Johnny Parsons, Tony Bettenhausen, Wilber Shaw, Ray Harroun, Tom Sneva, Troy Ruttman, Jim Rathman, Mark Donahue, Pat Flaherty (when he was mad), Micheal Andretti, Graham Hill, Tony Stewart(yes tony!), Gary Bettenhausen, Jim Hurtubise, Fred Frame.


This is the list I'm up to so far and as always, subject to change............

I base my list on level of difficulty of the times, skill diversity, speed records, win numbers in the 500, or the sheer ability to do it (Tony Stewart could have won both the 500 and the Brickyard 400).

As you can tell, I favor the front engine drivers the most, BECAUSE I'M AN AMERICAN AND WE DRIVE FRONT ENGINE CARS.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

my favorite memory of indy since they went to rear-engined cars was
the interview with bob kinser on pit lane when steve was running there.
PRICELESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

This is tough and I'll give it a shot.

row 1, Foyt, Al Unser Sr, Bobby Unser, this is because they won a lot and drove both front and rear engine.

row 2 Rutherford, Meyer, Shaw

row 3 , Vuky Sr., Rose, Mears, I put Mears here because the car was as important as the driver if not more so. When the guys in front of him won, the driver could manhandle the car.

row 4,Rose, Jimmy Bryan, , Tommy Milton

row 5, Frank Lockhart,Parnelli Jones, Jimmy Clark

row 6, Mario Andretti, Ralph Depalma,Al Unser Jr.

Row 7, Donahue, Gordon Johncock,Castrneves

Row 8, Ted Horn ,Rex Mays,Lloyd Ruby; these guys never won but were always up front.

Row 9, Bob Sweikart, Tom Sneva, Arie Luyendyk

row 10 Tony Bettenhausen, Gary Bettenhausen, Sam Hanks

Row 11, Graham Hill, Franchitti, Ray Keech

alternate, George ''Ziggy" Snider, nobody could put a car in the show with less laps then Ziggy.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

Maybe we should include Jeff Gordon too. After all he was an open wheel star and would have been a brickyard star too if the illustrious "visionary" car owners of the day didn't give him the bums rush. How about PHil Hill, Ayrton Senna, Dick Gaines, Brian Redman...all great open wheelers.

AJ Foyt, Bill Vukovich, Rick Mears
Al Unser Sr., Wilbur Shaw, Ralph DePalma
Ted Horn, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser
Mauri Rose, Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock
Parnelli Jones, Jimmy Bryan, Louie Meyer
Jimmy Clark, Arie Luyendyk, Rodger Ward
Tommy Milton, Bill Holland, Duke Nalon
Mark Donohue, Gary Bettenhausen, Bob Sweikart
Sam Hanks, Helio Castroneves, Lloyd Ruby
Tony Bettenhausen, Bill Cummings, Johnnie Parsons
Jim Rathmann, Troy Ruttman, Rex Mays

Alternates:
Al Unser Jr. Floyd Roberts, Emerson Fitipaldi

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

All of the drivers who ever strapped into the mighty Novi!
Ralph Hepburn, Cliff Bergere, Duke Nalon, Jimmie Davies, Bill Cheesbourg, among many others already listed.

Ok, all of you talking about Stan Hegberg....he was my grandfather. He passed away in Sep 1995. My mom still has a lot of his old books.
I'm a daughter of his youngest daughter, Debbie.
Thanks for all the nice stuff you said about him.
We all miss him a lot.
Jennifer

Posted via Mobile Device

If anyone still wants to know, Stanley Hegberg, who sold books at the Indy 500 race and the Chicago auto show...was my maternal grandfather, my mom's father. He was born in 1906, and passed away in Sept 1995. His son and daughter survive him in addition to 11 grandchildren +. My uncle Bob Hegberg is going to be 90 yrs old in March 2023, and my mom is going to be 82 yrs old.
We all live in Oak Park, (my mom, who has auto books of my grandfather's if anyone is still interested. We live in Park Ridge, siblings are in Chicago and Riverside.
Sincerely, Jennifer Heer heersred@outlook.com

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Time?
 

At the 1965 Rex Mays 100 Indy Car race at Milwaukee, I purchased my first Clymer 500 yearbook from Stan. I would always purchase my 500 yearbooks from Stan at either at the Rex Mays race or the Chicago Auto Show. Sadly, I lost my entire collection of yearbooks and 500 programs a few years ago. Slowly I'm rebuilding my Floyd Clymer 500 yearbook collection.

I just found this great lists. Now I am thinking about this. I really think we lost the overall big picture.
I think a few things we forget. For my immediate thoughts are guys that ran the 500 in T-shirts. And also guys that ran the 500 and the next weekend ran Milwaukee. So now I will start, I think.

Lynn

Sorry if I missed it bit would love to hear Donald Davidson list the top 33. He speaks the gospel when it comes to Indy.

Re: The Greatest 33 @ the Indy 500 of All Tim
 

:deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:

How can I delete this? I thought at first that this was a new thread, now I see that it's over a decade old...

I must really be getting old, I remember about 90% of these people, Rex May's was my favorite I reckon, his deal about the seat belt ended up causing his demise, ran into Will Shaw, Wilbur's son, at Shelbyville a few years back, nice guy, like his Dad, I am 85 going on 21, but my memory is still pretty good, I was on the phone with Gary Schroeder's wife one day, and had just read where he had won a race, and asked her how old he was, and she said "Old enough to drive ", guess I got my answer!