Ricky Craven said that...?

Question

RIcky Craven said that Jeff Gordon was the best he's ever raced against...and he's raced against Earnhardt, Petty, Gant, etc.

I'm not lying.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=rc-bestever101007&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I am a huge fan of Gordon, but even I would have to say that Petty is the best...that's just me. What about you?

Answer 1

Craven raced in the mid 90's to early 2000's when Jeff Gordon was at his peak. Petty and Gant were no longer the drivers they once were. Earnhardt was putting up good numbers those years but not as high as Gordon.

Answer 2

Look who said it.
A nobody or he would still be in there racing. He never impressed me one bit. His claim to fame is his side by side side ways across the line finish and sorry I don't remember the track, I want to say the rock. But I mainly remember him for the wrecks he caused. So it really doesn't matter what he said even if he;s right. It should be irrelevant.

I think that the three where the best in their era. The eras over lapped the equipment has changed tremendously each driver had a different team and the schedules with the amount of races they run and there are so many tracks today that are the same. In my book there are too many differences from driver to driver to try and compare and be fair about it.
I wonder if when Gordon came into the Winston series if he ended up with someone else other than Everham would he have gotten off to such a good start or not.
One year and I am going on memory Petty won I think 21 or 27 races.
I was always a Dale Sr fan. He was very good but just like anything it has so much to do with the team who's money are they spending to get to the top
Once again let me stress how big of a ZERO Craven is 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

you have to consider stats can be misleading.... in 1971, NASCAR races a lot more races..... under the old system Gordon has 6 championships........ so how do you compare Gordon and Petty today? If Gordon had raced as many races each season as Petty, Gordon might have 100+ wins already. Under the old system, Gordon already has 6 championships and could possibly have more than 7 at the end of his career. So who is the best???? Stats do not tell the whole truth. Gordon may have proven to be the best had he raced under the same conditions and rules.

Answer 4

It's really hard to compare drivers from different eras. The argument against Petty is that his equipment was head and shoulders above everybody else's and the year he won 27, there 48 races that. Different era. It becomes like the Babe Ruth- Hank Aaron- Barry Bonds argument in baseball.
No doubt Earnhardt scratched, bumped and clawed his way to the top. Earnhardt's presence transcended NASCAR's fan base and he, though dead is still a cult hero. In many ways, Eanrhardt was a very brilliant driver and businessman once he reaped the fruits of success
Gordon's the best of today by far, though there are other drivers who come close, though no consistently. The 80 wins are pretty staggering when you compare it to other drivers of today, none of whom even comes close, though some have driven almost as long.
This sounds like a cop-out but I just don't see how we'll ever be able to sort out a bona fide #1. Of course, it makes for great debate.

Answer 5

I saw that and just emailed him. I told Ricky that he forgot to even mention the best driver ever, David Pearson. I know there are arguments for several different drivers but nobody was a smarter racer than the Silver Fox. He didn't have to wreck you to win a race. He would outsmart and outdrive you at the end of the race after you thought he wasn't a factor in it. After that I would put Sr 2nd, Gordon 3rd and Petty 4th. I know Petty has the most wins by a long shot but many of his wins were against a much smaller field and they raced a lot more back then. Also, he had a huge, unfair advantage when he had his ridiculous 20 something win season (1967 I think) because nobody had an answer for the supersized Mopar engine that had just been introduced.

Answer 6

Ricky is expressing his personal experiences and didn't race against Petty or Gant in their prime. During Petty's and Gant's Era, they didn't have the equipment and testing that racing teams have today. It was more about the ability of the driver rather than the ability of the owner to gain big sponsorships. I have heard that in Petty's time it was 30% car and 70% driver and that today those percentages are reversed. I'd pick Petty too.

Answer 7

...Gordon is a good driver and nobody can take that from him. I really think the story is just his personal opinion and he is entitled to it. I think it is really hard to determine who is best when they all don't have equal equipment.

...HMS was ahead of everyone else with the COT at the beginning of this year. Had everyone else had a 7 post shakers and equal amounts of time to make sense of the numbers used with the shakers then this year would "possibly" not have been dominated by one racing organization the way it has been.

...As it is now that gap has closed somewhat. Gordon is a great driver but there is so much differences in the cars of Petty, Dale Sr, and Gordon's COT. I say you could never really make that comparison unless all factors were the same for each driver.

Answer 8

I would still have to say that Gordon is the best but you can't really compare drivers from different eras. but at the time that Craven was RACING Gordon was probably better then them all just because Petty's career was winding down and he was winning anymore. Remember he said raced against- if he had been racing when Petty was in his prime, there would be no doubt that Petty would have been the best he raced against.

Answer 9

Yeah well Craven hasn't been in NASCAR for awhile. How can he make that comparison about drivers he never raced against in their prime? That's a ridiculous statement. That's his opinion. NO ONE will match the #43 King. Closest was David Pearson.

Any driver that competed against Tim Richmond -that includes Petty-will tell you Richmond was perhaps the best driver ever.

Answer 10

jeff is the best driver in this day and age.... petty was awesome in his day and earnhardt was in another class also in his day racing is all different then years before gordon has gone through alot of the changes because he has been racing for so long and after all those changes and all the excellent drivers that are on the circuit now he is still in the hunt for the title so that makes him the best in this day and age