All-Time Favorite Driver?

[JohnSSC]

But I AM serious about Ongais. Truly quick, like no one I have seen before or since. Watching him at Mid-Ohio in the Camel GT peddling a Porsche 935 (in the days when there were no computers and such to help deal with turbo lag) he was just a pleasure to watch.

[chunterer]

Greg Moore was possibly one of the greatest natural talents I ever knew of from North America, possibly right up there with Gilles in terms of skill and reflexes and it was a huge loss when he died.

Could he have made it in F1?

Zanardi's antics were superb PR for CART in the mid 90's and Montoya continued where he left off with superb displays of bravery and the 'omg how did he manage that' sort of driving.

[gomick]

Sure was a good car back in the day that Reynard Honda in Target colours...

[m355y]

Jimmy Vasser. I like an underdog and he fit the bill - fast but not superfast, good racer, nice guy. Under the radar for few years then a big success almost out of nowhere in 1996. After that he clearly didn't quite have the outright speed to match up to Zanardi or Montoya, I really felt for him particularly in 1999 when he seemed to be completely beaten and down in the dumps all season. So his little revival in 2000 and 2001 seemed like a great end to the story.

Remember when he finally won again, at Houston in 2000. I taped the race on channel 5 then made a point of watching it when other people were around in th hope they'd be as excited about it as I was. They weren't. But I was thrilled he was a winner again.

I see so many parallels between him and Nicky Hayden in MotoGp in terms of their respective careers, oddly.

[formerf1champ]

Originally Posted by m355y

Remember when he finally won again, at Houston in 2000. I taped the race on channel 5 then made a point of watching it when other people were around in th hope they'd be as excited about it as I was. They weren't. But I was thrilled he was a winner again.

Lol, man I feel for you. You just want people to notice!

Originally Posted by m355y

I see so many parallels between him and Nicky Hayden in MotoGp in terms of their respective careers, oddly.

I would be quietly insulted, if I were Jimmy, to read this.

[JHamilton]

Bobby Rahal

[kurski]

Me the best of all time is Paul Tracy. I liked also the CART/Champ Car drivers Jacques Villeneuve, Greg Moore and AJ Allmendinger. My Favorite team was Kool Green and Forsythe Racing.

[Boiler_81]

AJ Foyt Jr back in the day, My first race was #4 for AJ.

In the current day, it is TK. Sunday was the first time since 77 that I stuck around for the winning driver to come around in the pace car.

[Mekola]

I have no specific driver for all-time favourite, but I think Zanardi could be one of them. About teams, Della Penna and his efforts to be in about four years of CART made his as team favourite.

[Lazyking]

Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr.. those were the two guys I liked watching growing up.

[stevebrown]

Bobby Rahal Met him at Goodwood one year and was really friendly. Met him again at Brands Hatch the following year & he remembered me! It was the baseball cap I was wearing.

Adrian Fernandez Again another meeting. I was marshalling at the Champcar meeting at Brands on pit entry. It was a FFord race and as the cars went off on the warm up, we were joined by him & his team who were looking after his nephew in the FF. He stayed with us for the whole race chatting away about racing here when he was younger & how much he enjoyed being back.

Gil de Ferran Used to watch him race in the UK and followed his career. My favourite moment was being in the stands at Rockingham (UK) and him winning on the last corner

[rwintle]

Came to this much later than the rest of you (although I was at the rain-soaked Toronto race in 1990 when Al Jr. won). In the recent years I've gotten back into IndyCar I have been impressed with how easy with the fans Oriol Servia is, and I really like Simona (she was lightning-fast in Atlantics, might have taken the championship had she not had a big crash at Mosport that year). Ask me again in ten years and my answer might be Hinchcliffe. Big Simon Pagenaud fan too, but mostly based on his ALMS days. Pagenaud + De Ferran, what a team.

[Duffacus]

I’ve not posted on here for a long time, although I do browse occasionally and this thread has certainly stirred some emotions! I’m an 80’s child, so many of my memories are pretty recent.

Being a Brit, the underdog spirit always appealed to me, which is why I’ve always rooted for Dale Coyne Racing. I actually enjoyed the revolving door they once were. Even though this was more down to survival, I thought it was great to see many a different driver given a go. More recently, I think it’s delightful to see what they’ve achieved over the last few years. Fully deserved.

And Coyne is where I came across my first favourite driver of mention – Memo Gidley. Out of all the Coyne drivers, he stuck out for me the most, perhaps due to his outrageously cool name at first, but then also as a sub driver too, having a go in whatever he could. I was pleased to see him get a good run out at Ganassi, although his results ended up being somewhat erratic by seasons end. Still an old favourite though, and he had an ace helmet design too.

Secondly, and the original super sub, for me at least – Roberto Moreno. Obviously his 2000 season was the stand out, but his general all-round friendly nature really appealed to me, and he became a firm favourite. I always remember his being the first name I would search for in AUTOSPORT magazine’s list of results. Again like Gidley, it was great to see him have a real crack at it with a top team like Patrick.

It wasn’t just the underdogs I favoured though. Many top drivers have been mentioned so far, but one of my favourite top liners was Kenny Brack. I think he was first endeared to me when he went the opposite way to most, leaving the IRL and joining CART, and then showed his quality with fantastically consistent results in his first two years there. Almost winning at Rockingham (UK) in 2000, carrying that fine-looking Shell livery, is a particular memory that stands out. Boy, having the chance to see those cars up close was something I’ll never forget…

[Peat]

For me it was Greg Moore.

As above, a child of the 80's, I only really became aware of Indycar/CART around 96. Greg was the first 'personality' that i really clicked with and thus he was the guy i cheered for.

There was a certain irony that the first time i got to see a race LIVE on TV (While on a family holiday in the states) was Fontana 1999. I was utterly distraught. I will never forget him and have run the fabled #99 on my karts/cars whenever i have had the opportunity.

[00steven]

Dario Franchitti
Greg Moore
Will Power
Zanardi
Mears
JPM
Wheldon