Will Gordon surpass Petty and Earnhart to be the greatest driver ever and how soon?

Question

I personally can't stand the little rainbow tart.

Answer 1

No he will never live long enough to pass Petty, and as for Sr, he cant hold a candle to that greatest of drivers. Nascar wants him to be the new hero, hes a wimp

Answer 2

Don't like the rainbow tart either, however I think he all ready has. Back when Petty was racing, Petty had a car with a lot of power, and then he had the first winged car, and total advantage at the time, and over the years NASCAR has made the cars more and more similiar, and I think if you put Dale and Richard in todays car, Jeff Gordon is the better driver.

Dale was Great and So was Richard, but Jeff Gordon has won more than Dale, and done it for the most part, without putting his front bumper to the rear of another, and Petty...that was just a different time. The cars were so unequal, a lot of times races would finish with like 3-7 cars on the lead lap...

Answer 3

Hey Crapman......You cant stand the little rainbow tart? Really? I never would have guessed.


In wins? He already passed Dale and will probably end up in second place. No way he catches Petty. Of course petty drove in alot more races each year than Jeff can.

In Championships? Depends on how many times they change the championship. Under the old LONG time rules he already would have won 6.

So what makes the greatest driver ever? Wins? Championships? Winning percentage? Wins/Top 5's/Top 15's?

Lets face facts. He could win 250 races and have 10 Championships and you would still not agree he's the greatest.

Now go take a vicadin and calm the "F" down. Enjoy the rest of the season while "That little Tart" gets his 5th title!

Answer 4

Never. It's all in the stats.

Gordon: 81 wins, 62 poles with only 17 wins from the pole, average finish, 12.3 for an average net loss of 2.6 spots per race. Gordon spends most of his time backing up.

For comparison, R. Petty through a career over twice as long as Gordon's, still managed to average losing no more than 1.8 spots and won from the pole approximately 60 times out of 123 tries.

Earnhardt: 76 wins, 22 poles with 7 wins from the pole, average finish 11.1 for average net gain of 1.8 positions. Earnhardt spent most of his time going to the front.

From where I stand, Gordon holds the record for getting the least performance from the best equipment among NASCAR's elite.

Answer 5

The 200 wins are vrtiually untouchable, assuring Petty's place in history. You'd have to average 10 wins a year for 20 years- and not even Gordon could do that.
Gordon deserves a place AMONG the greats, but it'd be impossible to say one guy is the greatest. I think it does an injustice to great racers who died before they were finished. Who knows what Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, The Intimidator, or especially Davey Allison would have accomplished had their lives not ended too soon.

Answer 6

No...

However, Gordon has become one of NASCAR's greatest drivers to ever participate in the NC series. Gordon has broken countless records and continues to do so and it doesn't look as though he'll be stopping any time soon.

To win 7 Championships isn't out of reach for Gordon. However, he'll never win 200 races, so that might as well be put to rest, but then, Gordon can possibly be 2nd on the overall wins list by winning 105 to tie David Pearson, 106 to be 2nd on the wins list.

With 81 wins to his name, Gordon needs 4 more wins to be 3rd on the overall wins list. That in itself is a huge accomplishment and there's no doubt many drivers would like Gordon's resume for their own.

Petty, Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon's name will live on long after they're gone. New drivers will strive to become a Legend just like the 3 drivers listed. Some might succeed, while others will fail short of their dream.

Answer 7

Yes Gordon will one day be looked at as the greatest ever. First he has already passed Sr in everything that matters except putting people in the wall. Yes Jeff has wreck more than a few to win a race and has moved more than a few over to win a race but how did Sr get his nickname, that's all he did to win a race. So Jeff is already better than Sr. Petty on the other hand is a true gentleman of the sport and deserves his place at the top, but he use to run 4-5 or more races a week while Jeff runs 1. Look at the Numbers and if Jeff ran as many races as Petty he may be looking at 300 or 400 wins when he hangs up his boots. it is not easy to say he is better than him but in this case you can say Jeff is better than Sr and if circumstances where different he may have more wins than Petty so I think Jeff is the greatest driver that ever stepped into a car.

Answer 8

I think Jeff Gordon is the best driver in this era of drivers but no one will ever come close to Petty. Earnhardt was great he was driving & his record shows that but people who say negatives things about Gordon can say all they want but he is a great driver & his stats prove it. I have a lot of respect for Sr but answer this question. How many titles did Sr win after Gordon joined the NASCAR circuit?

Answer 9

I'm not sure that you can stick a "greatest ever" tag on any particular driver. Gordon probably deserves mention already with those guys, but I don't think he'll ever stand alone as the greatest.

Also, Gordon could win every race every week and he'd still have those to deny his greatness. He's just about as polarizing a figure as you'll ever see in auto racing - there's not much middle ground when it comes to the guy in the 24 car.

Answer 10

No one will ever pass the King. The name alone should tell you just how great he was. It is like Wayne Gretzky in Hockey. He is called the great one. There may be a someone that comes along with more talent but never will they get out of the shadow of the predecessor that revolutionized their sport.