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Originally Posted by D-Type
I said 'Several' NASCAR drivers simply because I don't follow the series and don't know enough to about them to differentiate between 'great' and 'legendary'. Also the NASCAR publicity machine focuses on drivers and creates 'instant legends'.
I put Jim Clark in the non-legends to emphasise the difference I was trying to draw between 'great' and 'legendary'. He, Stewart and Piquet appear on anybody's list of 'greats' but I feel none has that special extra 'something' to be a legend.
Curiously, from an Indianapolis perspective Jim Clark is a legend because he stands out. His quiet unassuming manner was a contrast with the brash American driver stereotype; he came in a 'funny' foreign car - and won; he spun the car, caught the spin and carried on, which was something you just couldn't do in a traditional Indianapolis roadster - if you spun you either went into the wall or spun down into the infield- so they talked about it and effectively said 'wow!'
You don't have to be a 'great' to qualify as a legend. Pierre Levegh qualifies for his 1952 Le Mans drive coupled with his tragic death.
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O.K. I understand; I was hoping to tease a few NASCAR names out of you!
From my dictionary, I learn that one of the defintions of 'legend' is ' person, act, or thing that inspires legends'! And 'legendary' is 'celebrated as if in a legend, very famous'. On that basis, I would have thought Clark fills that criteria. I take your point about Levegh though; makes me wonder whether legend is the right word to be using, since it seems that even in the context of motor racing we have different understandings of its meaning.
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Originally Posted by PeterMorley
Calling these people legends is always going to be controversial - most legends are mythical, I think it should really be a question about outstanding talents in any period (e.g. the dominant sports people of their times - Fangio, Clark, Senna etc all tended to stand out because of their consistant good results, as Schumacher does now (but I still feel his situation is far more condusive to that than it has been for other people) and as did people like Mohammed Ali in other fields).
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Yes, would tend to agree with that. As we have said before on similar threads, it's an impossible task to compare drivers from different periods but we always generate a lot of discussion and fun trying!