I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

34-66 might make an even more interesting list.

Jim

While 10 of his 11 races at the Speedway weren’t 500′s, his record at the track is quite good. 3 wins, only 1 DNF (it was for a mechanical failure), and finished within 10 minutes of the winner in 5 of his 8 non-wins (not a common feat in those days).

He retired at only 32 years old, after his only 500, so perhaps he could have done more. There are plenty of “what ifs” at Indy, but Harroun is one of the most interesting because he was so good at the track prior to the 500′s existence.

1: Andretti/Foyt/Mears
2: A. Unser/Vukovich/B. Unser
3: Rutherford/Ward/Shaw
4: Clark/Jones/Rose
5: Gurney/Fittipaldi/Montoya
6: Horn/Stewart/Johncock
7: Andretti/DePalma/Unser, Jr.
8: Rahal/Rathmann/Mansell
9: Hill/Meyer/Arnold
10: Castroneves/Mays/Bryan
11: Lockhart/DePaolo/Ruby

Row 1: Mario Andretti/A.J. Foyt/Rick Mears
Row 2: Al Unser/Bobby Unser/Bill Vukovich
Row 3: Johnny Rutherford/Wilbur Shaw/Rodger Ward
Row 4: Jim Clark/Parnelli Jones/Mauri Rose
Row 5: Emerson Fittipaldi/Dan Gurney/Juan Pablo Montoya
Row 6: Ted Horn/Gordon Johncock/Jackie Stewart
Row 7: Michael Andretti/Ralph DePalma/Al Unser, Jr.
Row 8: Nigel Mansell/Bobby Rahal/Jim Rathmann
Row 9: Billy Arnold/Graham Hill/Louis Meyer
Row 10: Jimmy Bryan/Hélio Castroneves/Rex Mays
Row 11: Pete DePaolo/Frank Lockhart/Lloyd Ruby

Here were my general biases in forming this list:

I admit I rated many of the early drivers at Indianapolis lower than they perhaps should have been (although I definitely did give credit to some I think deserve it). I don’t think the level of competition at the Speedway REALLY took off until the post-World War II period, so I listed many fewer such drivers than most would. I simply think the most competitive fields were generally from 1955-1995, so I had a bias against drivers who did nothing in this period, especially those who dominated against weak fields like Meyer and Castroneves did.

I did not strictly judge by success at the Speedway alone; I added some influence by what else the drivers did in their career. Should I rank Foyt over Andretti because he has the better Indy record, even though in my opinion Andretti is the better Indy driver? Ditto Montoya vs. Castroneves, Parnelli Jones and Dan Gurney vs. several multiple race winners? A versatile driver earns points for me greater than their Indy record alone.

Overall success (not only at Indy) matters to me, so Michael Andretti moves considerably up the list because he is the third winningest driver in American open wheel. Ditto Ted Horn with his three straight championships. See also Rahal, Montoya, etc… Drivers who came up short on the championships I tended to rate lower. Again, I think the 1955-1995 era was most competitive (and I’ll expand that to 2001 for CART) so drivers who won championships in this era I have more respect for.

I listed several F1 drivers who had very short careers at the Speedway but were still in my opinion far superior to the early race winners. Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell… All of these threatened to win in their rookie seasons (Mansell threatened to win in his FIRST OVAL START.) That’s more notable to me than winning two races out of twelve or something, even if Stewart and Mansell never won the race.

If I was going to STRICTLY rate on Indy without judging the rest of drivers’ careers, then I would leave most of the F1 drivers off and have a list similar to George’s. But I can’t do that. ‘Cause I can’t rate Al Unser, Jr. above Michael Andretti (they were basically equal), I can’t rate Castroneves above Montoya (Montoya is far superior), I can’t rate Foyt above Mario (Mario is superior). I can’t rate Indy specialists over F1 interlopers who made a bigger splash.