After reading Ed Hinton’s 12-part series on who would make the field of the ultimate Indianapolis 500 (if you like open-wheel racing check it out here), I was inspired to construct a similar list for NASCAR. This is the final installment of a four part series that lists who would make the ultimate 43-car starting grid. If you missed part 1, click here. Part 2 of the ultimate line-up can be found here. Part 3 is here.
To spice it up a little bit, I tried to look at individual seasons as opposed to overall careers. For example, instead of simply plugging in Richard Petty, I am taking Petty from the year that I thought was his best. A driver could only qualify once for the list (this prevents five years of Jimmie Johnson from clogging up the ranks). In order to make it, a driver had to accomplish at least one of four things.
- Win the Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup Championship
- Win a bunch of races
- Have some form of cultural impact (in other words, does anyone remember them?)
- Have been the main character in a motion picture
Without further ado, here are the final 10 drivers to make the cut.
10. Bill Elliott, 1988, #9 Coors Ford
Elliott’s 1985 season is probably more famous (he won 11 races, and was the first driver to win the Winston Million, a special $1 million prize for winning three of the four crown jewel events), but Awesome Bill had a much more consistent season in 1988. He won six races and had an average finish of 6.6, which was good enough to beat Rusty Wallace by 24 points for the season championship.
9. Fireball Roberts, 1958, #22 Aiken-Mitchell Motor Company Chevrolet
Fireball never ran the full schedule during his NASCAR career, but going by the name Fireball automatically locked him in to a top-10 spot on this list. Roberts won six out of the ten races he entered in 1958. Sadly, he lost his life from of all things, burns caused by fire after a crash with Ned Jarrett at Charlotte.
8. Cale Yarborough, 1977, #11 Holly Farms Chevrolet
The only man to win three straight championships in the pre-Chase era, Yarborough was a force driving for Junior Johnson. 1977 was the second of those seasons. He won nine races (including the Daytona 500), and posted an amazing 4.5 average finish. For my money, he’s the most underrated driver in NASCAR history.
7. Jimmie Johnson, 2007, #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet
Unfairly miscast as the face of a sport that is in a severe decline, Johnson’s achievements have not generated enough praise. Part of it is to blame on the quirky Chase (under the pre-Chase scoring method, Johnson would only have two championships right now. Jeff Gordon would’ve won in 2007, Carl Edwards in 2008, and Kevin Harvick would’ve won last season). The other issue is fans inability to connect with him. Back before NASCAR tossed out the rulebook and said “have at it boys”, drivers were asked to be bland corporate pitchmen. Johnson filled that role better than anyone, which unfortunately for him, created a disconnect with fans that has been difficult for him to repair. With all that said, he still has won five straight championships under the current rules. I have a feeling that if we were still using the old points scoring system, Johnson and Chad Knaus would’ve figured out how to win at least three championships. 2007 was Johnson’s most impressive season. He won four straight races during the Chase to out duel Jeff Gordon for the title.
Now to satisfy all the anti-Jimmie people (myself included), here’s a video of Johnson slamming the wall at Indianapolis. Enjoy.
(SEMI-RELATED RANT ALERT: My favorite part of that video is Rusty Wallace saying on live television that Jimmie made a great decision getting out of a car that was on fire. It’s a good thing that Rusty was in the booth that day, otherwise absoleutly no one would’ve figured that out. If I updated the worst ESPN announcers of all-time list, that would move him up a spot or two in the rankings.)
6. Lee Petty, 1959, #42 Petty Enterprises Plymouth
Richard’s father was a hell of a driver in his own right, winning three championships as one of the first stars of NASCAR. Lee’s best season was 1959. His 3rd title-winning season included a thrilling victory in the inaugural Daytona 500.
5. Darrell Waltrip, 1981, #11 Mountain Dew Buick
Waltrip is known now as a very annoying announcer for FOX (hey NASCAR, want to improve your mainstream appeal? How about putting an end to DW yelling “BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!” at the start of every race?), but back in the day he was one of the most feared drivers on the circuit. He also was nicknamed “Jaws” because he constantly ran his mouth, which didn’t sit well with the likes of Richard Petty and Bobby Allison. In fact, it would be fair to say in his younger days he was very similar to Kyle Busch. DW took home back-to-back titles in 1981 and ’82, winning 12 races each season. For the purpose of this project, Waltrip’s better average finish in ’81 puts that season on this list.
4. Dale Earnhardt, 1987, #3 Wrangler Jeans Chevrolet
The Intimidator is best known for being “The Man in Black”, but it was his last season driving the Wrangler Chevrolet that was his most dominant. Here’s some numbers to back up the last sentence.
- Of the 9,373 laps run during the 1987 Winston Cup season, Dale led 3,357 of them (roughly a third of the total laps).
- Earnhardt won 11 races, which was his highest career total during any season.
- 24 of his 29 finishes were inside the top 10.
- Dale won six of the first eight races (including four straight from races 5 through 8), and later in the summer won three in a row at Bristol, Darlington, and Richmond.
- Bill Elliott finished second to Earnhardt in the season standings. He was 489 points behind Earnhardt.
Earnhardt’s most famous moment of 1987 season was his performance in that year’s All-Star Race. Watch Earnhardt pull out all the stops to hold off Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte.
3. Jeff Gordon, 1998, #24 Dupont Chevrolet
As far as any four-year run goes, Gordon’s from 1995-98 was arguably the best in NASCAR history. Jeff won forty races during that span. If not for a late season choke in ’96 that gave teammate Terry Labonte a championship, Gordon would’ve won four straight titles. 1998 was the last of these great years, but it was one of the best single seasons of all-time. He won a career high 13 races (tied for the most in a single season in the modern era, which started in 1972), including an insane stretch towards the end of the summer where he won seven out of nine races. After getting crashed out of the spring race at Richmond, Gordon only had one finish outside of the top-5 during the final 19 races (a 7th place run at Phoenix).
2. David Pearson, 1973, #21 Purolator Mercury
Pearson only ran for the championship three times during his career, and amazingly won the title three of those seasons. 1973 was one of his part-time seasons driving for the Wood Brothers. Of the 18 races he entered, he was running at the finish in 14 of them. In those races, he finished first eleven times, second twice, and third once. If Pearson were a full-time driver for his entire career, he would have at least 200 victories.
(EDITORS NOTE: Ed Hinton wrote an awesome piece about NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class. His stories about Pearson and Bobby Allison are fantastic)
1. Richard Petty, 1967, #43 Petty Enterprises Plymouth
To put Petty’s 1967 season in perspective, here is the list of tracks Petty won at in 1967.
Augusta
Weaverville
Columbia
Hickory
Martinsville
Richmond
Darlington
Hampton
Macon
Maryville
Rockingham
Greenville
Trenton
Fonda
Islip
Bristol
Nashville
Winston-Salem
Columbia
Savannah
Darlington
Hickory
Richmond
Beltsville
Hillsboro
Martinsville
North Wilkesboro
Petty won a ridiculous 27 of the 49 races run that season. Petty ran in 48 of them, and every race he finished that season, he ended up inside the top-10. This ranks as by far the most dominant single season in NASCAR history.
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