who has been the best ever racing driver?

Answer 1

The King Richard Petty

Answer 2

On four wheels, possibly Tazio Nuvolari or Juan Manuel Fangio; both competed at a time when the cars were difficult to drive, racing was incredibly dangerous and a safe track was an afterthought.
Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt were excellent drivers, but both raced when the equipment was much safer. Foyt never raced an F1 car (he once called them funny little foreign cars) and never experienced the daunting (old) Nurburgring.
Giacomo Agostini may have been the best ever on two wheels.
Many of the answers you'll get are from kids who haven't experienced anything earlier than the Michael Schumacher era.

Answer 3

Bloody Hell that's an open ended question, depending what formula! Schumacher (Michael), most recently, but going back I guess Jim Clark, Mario Andretti, Gilles Villeneuve, Juan Manuel Fangio (f1)
I remember as a kid watching a Nascar race, and won by no 43, was it a Petty? Wasn't shown much over here (uk) those days, excuse the ignorance, and of course Dale Earnhardt. Indycar/Champcar Mario again, and Emmo.
Barry Sheene & Carl Fogarty on Bikes,
Denny Hulme for just about everything, even in death he thought of the others, braking against the wall at Bathhurst...

I dunno - maybe should just say to all the ones who survived, they were the best, those that didn't are the bravest.

Answer 4

Equally best were Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. They beat each other AND drivers like Nelson Piquet (twice WDC) and Nigel Mansell (once WDC) for their collective seven WDCs.

If Prost or Senna didn't have the competition that they faced, either could have won 8-10 titles and nobody would care about Cheatmacher's inflated statistics. Prost and Senna were the greatest because they BEAT the greatest.

Scumbagger lost when he had equal competition (Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Alonso), and he lost TWICE when he had a superior car (1999) or the FIA was helping him win by crippling the Renault in 2006. Alonso won in 2006 with all the disadvantages he had, and Hakkinen won in 1999 with the second best car. Only the greatest drivers ever did that, including Prost and Senna.


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Answer 5

Look at the record books and you will see Mario Andretti's name in more types of cars from Formula 1 to Nascar. Andretti is the undisputed king of race car drivers with A.J. Foyt a close second. Record books don't lie. Andretti has more wins and more championships than probably any one else on the planet, but I do think the 24 hrs of Le Mans is one trophy he missed out on that Foyt got.

Answer 6

1. David Pearson
2. Mario Andretti
3. Richard Petty
4. Dale Earnhardt

Answer 7

It has to be the greatest touring car driver of all time. Peter Brock, 10 time winner at Bathurst, Winner at Spa, A true champion

Answer 8

While not totally familiar with all types of racing, AJ Foyt seems to have had the most success in more than one type of racing. In addition to his Indy car success, he won 7 NASCAR races. IROC is more for show than substinence.

Answer 9

David Pearson! How could he not make a top 10 list?! I'd have Schumacher, Senna, Richard Petty and maybe even Cale Yarborough up there too.

Answer 10

Without a shadow of a doubt the great Juan Manuel Fangio. 5 times F1 champion, surviving a near-fatal crash, winning the titles in 4 different teams, in cars that could be lethal every time you hit the throttle (no safety cages, no survival cells, thin tires, no seat belts...)... now that's greatness.