Comments on: Who’s Number One?

By: Dave Mc

Dave Mc — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:53:31 +0000

I never thought much of the tradition.
What would it be for NASCAR to have somebody like Richard Petty not be #43?
It’s worth giving them the option to carry the number,
but I would more prefer that the drivers earn permanent numbers of their choice.
Should Tony Kanaan, as a championship winner, not be allowed to carry the #11 to KV if he chooses to?

In the “land of brand”, a new way would probably be better for the sport.

By: NaBUru38

NaBUru38 — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:45:47 +0000

I like defending champions that use the number 1. It’s an honor to achieve it, drivers should be proud of carrying it.

I don’t think that merchandising has anything to do with champions not using the number 1. On the contrary, keeping numbers means that merchandising doesn’t get outdated. F1 change numbers nearly every year, so they sell new merchandising to the fans every season.

Driver numbers work better in championships where drivers can race fore decades, like stock car racing and touring car racing. I wouldn’t do that in open-wheel racing. However, I do like IndyCar teams keep their numbers season after season.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 04:22:19 +0000

I’d love to see the champion use the #1 again. Both Chip (with Zanardi) and Roger (with de Ferran) won repeat championships with the #1 in CART.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the elimination of leading zeroes, either.

I’d at least hope to never see the ridiculousness that was Alex Lloyd’s #40202 car from the 2009 Homestead race…

By: Pat W

Pat W — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:11:53 +0000

The champion should race the #1 unless their own driver number ‘brand’ is so big it would be a backward step. As Steve said, Valentino Rossi with 46. There’s probably nobody else in MotoGP who could get away with it though no doubt some may try.
Frankly there is no such driver in IndyCar at present, in my humble opinion – there may well be in terms of talent, but not in terms of being linked to a specific number.
Also no race should be able to run a different numbering system to the rest of the year, even if that race is the Indy 500. If you (the series) are going to make a big deal about race numbers you can’t then change them for your biggest race.

While we’re making these changes let’s drop the leading zeroes from race numbers.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:00:26 +0000

I don’t care about numerals on engine covers or rear wing end plates. Shouldn’t be important. But I understand that George is an amateur historian and student (and teacher?) of the sport.
I’ll echo the call to scrap that ‘extraterrestrial alien-on-a-unicycle’ trophy that’s sickening to look at and NOT befitting North America’s top open-wheel racing series.
I hope that Mr. Bernard reads Oilpressure by now.

By: Steve K

Steve K — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:38:31 +0000

Puff piece? No. Just a winter piece. F1 uses the number system in which they give #1 to the World Champion and then use owners points all the way to the last number (25 now) but skip 13. The numbers change each year because if this (Though I bet Sebastian Vettel will still manage to be #1.

On the other hand IndyCar and NASCAR allow you to use numbers as an identity. It works well in NASCAR as we all think of certain drivers when we here 3, 24, 43, or 48. We also think of certain teams when we hear 21. IndyCar has too much driver movement from year to year for this to be as effective. At the same time we all know Penske’s 3 and Ganassi’s 9 and 10. So maybe indycar’s number identity is growing as is the sport.

Moto #46: Rossi. And I dont even follow Moto GP.

By: redcar

redcar — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:12:00 +0000

It’s a neat tradition. And I have heard, but don’t really buy the merchandising excuse as being that big a deal unless you’re selling last years t-shirts. As long as we’re talking about the championship–could they please change that unicycle trophy?

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:06:09 +0000

Another well written column George! I can talk about these things all day long and with May just days away I am getting pretty excited about Indianapolis. I was disappointed when Hornish didn’t use #1 and I have always thought of it as an honor. Foyt, by the way, enjoyed using it when he earned it. With that said, an argument could be that the regular number is tied to the driver for marketing and merchandising reasons particularly in NASCAR, but I don’t buy it. I would think that a sponsor would enjoy having their driver win the honor AND it is just added merchandise to sell to the followers of the driver who would like to commemorate the championship. Ganassi does commemorate both the championship and the Indy win on his merchandise.