Best personality in V8 Supercars?

[TheMan]

Take wins or Championships away. Rate the drivers in order, your top ten personalities in V8 Supercar racing today. Be them nice people or A*******s who are the best presnteddrivers of today. My pick are:\

Ambrose
Ingall
Lowndes
Murphy
Richards (Steve)
Bowe
Tander
Morris
Ellery
Skaife

Aren`t I good 5 Holden drivers and 5 Ford drivers. Ambrose is still King though.

[Hunka]

Ingall/Ambrose
Lowndes
Murphy
Jones Brothers
Tander
Johnson (Steve)
Bowe
Larkham
McConville

Skaife comes accross as a big-headed a$$***e, he could learn alot from Brock.

[ford boy]

My pick are
1 Ambrose ( by a mile )
2 Lowndes
3 Ingall
4 Seton
5 Bowe
6 S Richards
7 Bargs
8 Tander
9 Jones
10 Skaife

7 Fords for me

[Mattracer]

But personalities and their appeal are influenced heaviliy by the success and kudos race wins and stats bring and the make they represent.

eg, Ambrose hasn't been round the block too many times yet but he has massive appeal but then he's the man of the moment and the car/team is very good.

How much of that is influenced by the car he drives, the team he drives for and the fact that he should win the Championship and Bathurst in the one year and end a long drought for Ford on the circuit and the showroom floor?

[Mattracer]

barren years for drivers reveal their personalites and traits better. Lowndes hasn't had a great couple of years but his sunny disposition and posoyive outlook still endears him to many. Ingall has been in the shade at SBR a bit but his extroverted nature and willingness to speak his mind has kept many amused and entertained.

[Lyris]

I'm not a fan of man of the moment stuff, I believe that only time can tell, just who the true legends (NOT Champions, legends) are.

Brock springs to mind immediatley when talking about legends of the sport, but this thread is about current drivers.

For my mind Lowndes would have to be my pick for the best of the best. He's a natural talent, and has this great/genious habbit of making it look like he's just out for a Sunday drive.

Ambrose is another one of those freaks behind the wheel. I know he hasn't been around for that long, but he appears to have the same wierd characteristic that Lowndes has...... Makes me wonder what Lowndes would do in an SBR vehicle....

Rick Kelly, is another that I've seen that has the ability to do more with the car than should rightly be possible. Although he hasn't exactly been brilliant this year, he did a pretty handy job in the 5th TWR car last year.

His big brother Toddler, doesn't do a bad job either, though I'm not so sure he's got that same magic. (I'll keep watching him anyway maybe he'll shine).

Steven Richards, seems to have a fair bit of his father in him, and I have a feeling will be round for a long while in this championship.

Russell Ingall, has earned his kudos too. Three (???) times the bridemaide is nothing to be laughed at, and had he not had Ambrose as a team mate this year, maybe he would have looked an awful lot more shiny.

While we're on the subject of SBR drivers, Winterbottom..... I think this boy is going to be magic in a few years. He's already shown plenty of brilliance in the Konica Series this year, and given time in the main game, I think he'll fight it out with the best of them.

The Dumb and Dumber twins, in Murphy and Bright, have a little admiration from me too. Even though they volunteered (anyone want to explain that one to me???) to run second and thrid fiddle to Skaife, they are solid drivers.

And Last, but I'm sure not least Skaife (for his driving ability alone) has earned at least some respect from me.

So how's that list look: (in ranking)

Craig Lowndes
Marcos Ambrose
Rick Kelly
Mark Skaife
Mark Winterbottom
Russel Ingall
Steven Richards
Todd Kelly
Greg Murphy
Jason Bright


4 Ford Driver (and the top 2 go to Ford) and 6 Holden Drivers, hmmm wierd considering just how much I love Holden. :confused:

BTW, this is a who's got the talent thing, there are still some drivers on this list I'd just love to remove purely based on them being (IMHO) a_holes

[RRR]

My pick for V8 Supercars Personality of the Year ... GTRMagic – hands down.

[mjt57]

Originally posted by RRR
My pick for V8 Supercars Personality of the Year ... GTRMagic – hands down.

One has to ask the question, then - who is that man behind the GTR mask???

[mjt57]

Originally posted by Lyris
Brock springs to mind immediatley when talking about legends of the sport, but this thread is about current drivers.

I presume then, you've never seen Brock when things weren't going his way. He had the reputation of being somewhat nasty, especially to the mechanics to whom he refered to as "mules", which they resented. And his offhanded treatment of "Slug" (JH).

As a public figure, he has the charisma. But as a motorsport fan, who grew up on a diet of Brock and Moffatt, and who thought that HDT Commodores were the Beez Kneez, I can think of drivers other than Brock who I'd like to have a beer with. Murphy, Lowndes, and most of the Super Touring crew, when it was at its peak to name a few.

[RRR]

Originally posted by mjt57
One has to ask the question, then - who is that man behind the GTR mask???

Dude, your off the pace. He's a minor celebrity now. Check out Ozemail Racing's website to SEE the man ...

[Onlooker]

Originally posted by RRR
My pick for V8 Supercars Personality of the Year ... GTRMagic – hands down.

Took the words straight out of my mouth.

[TheMan]

Do you think Brad Jones thinks that GTR is personality of the year. HA hA

[Onlooker]

Maybe GTR will give him a few tips at Sandown and the team will have another "best result for 2003"

[Lyris]

yuck, you've got to be kidding, actually helping Bradley do anything.

And I can't believe that I forgot to add GTR to the list :confused:

[TheMan]

Woooops, seing as he is in here and has probably read this, I forgot to add Simon Wills to my list. There I will take out Skaife and slot you in at number ten Simon.

Ambrose
Ingall
Lowndes
Murphy
Richards (Steve)
Bowe
Tander
Ellery
Wills
Radisich

Changed my mind. I knocked Morris out and put Radisich in. Simon you move to number 9. 6 Fords and 4 Holdens now.

[simon wills]

Hey no worries The Man. I Like just sitting back and keeping quiet, so I know I'm no 'big personality'. I learnt from making a few mistakes in England by being too vocal

[NicBedford]

I have declared my interest I am a Dude fan at least he is original with his cool hats and hibiscus and he really doesn't give a hoot what anyone thinks but he always has time to talk to the officials I remember one time he came to the post race BBQ at Oran Park to thank us all for helping him after the big start line shunt when he nearly burnt to death

[Archer]

Ive spoken to a lot of drivers at the Clipsal 500, a very hard place to get to them, they are mobbed down here! Suprisingly Skaife was very, very approchable (once you got to the front of the mob) he didnt treat me and my girlfriend like items on a production line and move on to the next one. He was quite hospitible and polite. Im starting to think its how you approch him? If you are polite to him, he will usually return the favor, same goes for LP, cracker of a lad.

anyway...

Ingall
Lowndes
Ambrose
Perkins
Skaife
Bargs
Wills
R Kelly
Dumbrell
Bright

[Mattracer]

LP is a friendly guy. I was waiting patiently in a shopping centre autograph queue for the '95 Great Race book to be signed, and this is only a few years back so it was perhaps odd that I would have a '95 book to be signed perhaps 5-6 years later. He looked at me in a friendly way and almost admiringly said something like how long have you been waiting for? I was so surprised at the attention of an icon like that actually speaking to me that I couldn't think of a comeback until I realised later what he meant. He does look after the people who come to see him. He also commented once that the '97 book was so small as I lined up to have that one signed.

I think it's correct to say that if you are pleasant and chatty, they will always be nice to you. Why would they not be?

[RRR]

Depens what mood they are in Mattracer. I've tried to talk to Dick Johnson a few times, and to be honest, he didn't want to have a bar of me.
I grew up with DJ posters on wall at home and absolutely idolised the man since I was 2 years old, but when I got the chance to talk to him, he wasn't interested. I was a little disappointed, and I expected more from an icon.

[mjt57]

Originally posted by RRR
Dude, your off the pace. He's a minor celebrity now. Check out Ozemail Racing's website to SEE the man ...

Hmm. Just scoured through a dozen pages of photos. None of them are labelled. Could GTR be that fellow on the last page, the rather tall chap standing in the pit garage with Jones (racing overalls around his waist)?

[mjt57]

Originally posted by Mattracer
I think it's correct to say that if you are pleasant and chatty, they will always be nice to you. Why would they not be?

All celebrities are different. I've met some nice ones and some real prima donnas. For example - a local nightclub had a night with the lead singer of The Angels, Bernard "Doc" Neeson and Angry Anderson. Afterwards, up at the bar, they were having a few drinks. People were coming up, congratulating them on a good show, etc. A few asked for autographs. Anderson was a nice as pie. Neeson, however, responded, "Why can't you all **** off?"

In that one instant, it ruined the night for me, as far as Neeson's performance went. My first impressions was that Anderson, what with his "Angy" nickname and being covered in tatts, would've been a nasty pasty. But not, he was a nice guy.

I've personally met a few race drivers. A couple of them, who've been mentioned in this thread, I wouldn't **** on if they were on fire. Others were really nice. In 1996, I was staying at PI during the weekend of a Super Tourers round there. A mate, at the time was the head copper of Cowes, so I got to get into the pits, media area, etc. That night in the Isle of Wight, most of the drivers were there, and they had a competition on the "Daytona" video driving games. Jum, Murph and Morris were really nice. The others were great too, even Brock, who my mate's 6 yo son beat on the video game (dunno how hard Brock was trying, but Murph was taking on all comers).

The thing is, you have to remember, all top level race drivers come with big egos as standard equipment. They have to, in order to believe in themselves, and to truly believe that they can beat the next guy. And when it comes to securing a drive at the cost of another fellow, there's no sympathy lost. It's understandable too. What person in his right mind will willing give up a job to another person?

I s'pose that what really counts is that the drivers do make themselves available. I'd hate to see F1 type prima donnas on the V8 circus...

[Mattracer]

Originally posted by RRR
I've tried to talk to Dick Johnson a few times, and to be honest, he didn't want to have a bar of me.

I bailed up Dick Johnson in the paddock at Lakeside in the early nineties and I'm sure I picked a bad time- he looked like he was late for something and my Shell cap was the last thing he wanted to see but he did sign it anyway. I mustn't have read that situation very well, but on other occasions, he was great.

[Hobo high]

Everyone has a good and bad story .I saw LP be an 100% ******** to a little kid last year at bathurst - i was absolutely disgusted. I have seen skaife tell people to come earlier next time when time had expired and left 20 people disappointed .I have met lowndes and brock and have found em to be great people .Craig especially ,one on one ,is very genuine person! What a shame Skaife wormed his way into HRT!

[TerryK]

Originally posted by simon wills
Hey no worries The Man. I Like just sitting back and keeping quiet, so I know I'm no 'big personality'. I learnt from making a few mistakes in England by being too vocal

Hello & welcome Simon.......good to see a driver on here & even better using his real name & not hiding behind a alias.

Good luck & at least your team is running a true VY