Race Car Drivers Among Super Rich

Sure looks like it!

 

That list only has F1 drivers.

If it included NASCAR Dale Jr. would be #2 on that list

 

I would have thougth Schumacher is well beyond a $1B by now.

 

Very incomplete list... For example, Nelson Piquet owns a company with revenues of ~US$180M/year.

 

Glickenhaus, France family, Porsche Family, Ford family all missing

 

You forgot Jim Hall, Roger Penske....shall I continue?

 

roger certainly qualifies as a driver!

 

[EDIT] If memory serves me Jeff Gordon made $100M in race winnings alone and should be a marker for true wealth based strictly upon racing and not investment portfolio and accumulated wealth after the driver was no longer was racing. Niki Lauda was a airline owner, a early version of Vijay Mallya yet not born into wealth.

 

Alain Prost surely has more than $70m...

 

Peter Sachs tops them all!

 

If we were to go back to 2001 then Dale Earnhardt would be in the list. It was also his intention to become a team driver for Corvette. I wish we could have seen what that would have become.

 

So does Jim. Takes a lot to get into a car with an (at the time) unproven science.

 

True. He would have kicked ass in endurance racing.

 

Anyone else watch the Dale Sr. special when Rusty Wallace mentioned that Dale asked him if he wanted to invest in his memorabilia start-up? Rusty invested $125K and one year later while on a elevator with Dale he told Rusty "Here take this" and it was a check for $1M which was Rusty's first profit sharing check and that was in the '80s.

Just rambling.

 

If speed pays, then how the hell does Eddie Irvine get on that list?

While driving in Japan for Toyota in Japanese Group C and F-3000, Irvine was teamed
with Tom Kristensen and Jacques Villeneuve and he was regularly the slowest of the three.

BHW

 

Irvine made very profitable real estate investments.

Having said that, Barrichello and Massa could definitely be in that list, IMO. Piquet too. Others as well. But they have to make these lists based on what is declared & publically measurable.

 

Since we know racing drivers must have money to begin with in order to ascend the
ranks to F-1, this list isn't so much about what they've made from racing then.

Four wins, twenty-six podiums and 191 total career points in F-1 over 147 starts usually
doesn't equate to having $180M on paper.

His smartest move was barring Tom Kristensen from joining Ferrari after Schumacher
broke his leg at Silverstone in 1999. So, at the very least, he knew how to play the
political game.

BHW

 

What's wrong with running moonshine?

 

Keep in mind that both Michael and Ralf had a commercially brilliant manager (Willi Weber). I don't think MS would be a billionaire (or close to it) without him.

Weber created a production line of MS merchandise of a 100+ items, including the famous DVAG cap which Michael always wore. Part of Schuey's deal with Ferrari, negotiated by Weber, was to allow Michael to use the Ferrari logo on this merchandise, a benefit probably worth many millions. Also, he negotiated a clause which allowed MS personal sponsors over and above his main Ferrari sponsors. Nike and Canon are two examples. The cap sponsorship alone was worth five million dollars a year. All in all, this additional sponsorship income was double the Ferrari retainer. One of the dealbreakers with McLaren, another team MS/Weber courted when he was planning to leave Benetton, was that Ron Dennis didn't allow drivers personal sponsors. Even though McLaren offered a higher basic retainer than Ferrari, all-in it was a lot less potential income for MS because the contract was more restrictive to other income streams.

The economics of racing are so interesting - how some drivers become billionaires and some others they compete against actually have to pay for their job...