Who is the "Current" the Best Driver in all car Racing

IMO the best current driver/rider in the world has to be Valentino Rossi, followed by the driving god Lewis Hamilton Yep i said it like it or not and there's nothing you can do
I dont know enough about the US based driver in the likes of NASCAR due to the fact that its not really global sport and we dont see much of it in Europe. But i am sure there must be great drivers in that world with in a world known as America

 

Surely you jest - Valentino Rossi - the thread title is "BEST DRIVER IN ALL CAR RACING" - hardly think 2 wheels is a car unless you are saying he's the best because he drove a Ferrari a couple time......

most folks here are wearing blinders as all they can see is F1 and not recognizing the other BETTER racing venues that exist

Carol

 

No thats what you said not me so its you who jests. Clearly we are both guilty of misreading whats has been wrote
Ok then deleting Rossi that leaves LH now dosnt it

 

Alonso. The B-tard.

 

Kyle Busch

 

Rewriting a single series record's hardly makes for the best all around driver.

My comment to you and to Carol, neither Loeb or McNish, yes both quite excellent in their respective form of racing, have ventured outside of their chosen discipline. So how can you call them the best in all of motor sports? Could Loeb jump into an F1 car and win quickly? Could McNish enter the Indy 500 and win as did Fittipaldi, Clark, Donohue, etc, coming from other forms of racing? I would say the answer is no to both questions.

The same applies to those of you that suggest that Lewis Hamilton is the best. Yep, he is excellent in a great car in F1. But no way the best. Jackie Stewart in retirement from F1 got into a NASCAR stock car on a cold Friday, wooden blocks on the pedals and a few pillows behind his back to adjust for his stature, and on a whim, set a time that would have put him 5th on the grid of a NASCAR race in Atlanta. Never been in that kind of car before, now that is a great driver. I would bet Hamilton would not be able to do that.

Unfortunetely today, there is no one CURRENT driver that could win the F1 WDC, win the Indy 500, win at Daytona on the oval, and then jump in the ultimate of crazy race cars, the sprints, and win there also. Or conversely, go from F1, to the DTC, or the BTCC, or the WRC, or the WSC, and win LeMans, or any other important event.

Today all you have is specialists, because that is the nature of motorsports today. That is a shame, there must be another Mario, AJ, Jim, or Dan out there somewhere.

 

If the question is Who is most dominant in their particular series right now? The answer is Tony Schumacher. He is re-writing the NHRA Top Fuel record book as we speak and is only 2 or 3 wins away from becoming the all-time winningest T/F driver in NHRA history.

 

Montoya is the one driver in the world who could do everything you just said. Like him or not, winning the Indy 500, 7 F1 GP victories, NASCAR Sprint Cup, and the Daytona 24 Hour race twice says it all about his talent. He is hands-down the most versatile driver in the world today.

 

If F1 is still regarded as the highest echelon of motorsport, I'd say a rookie who finished second in the championship last year, outpointed the former World Champion driving a similar car and who currently leads this year's championship with the most wins, has to be considered the prime contender for the question posed, no ?

Absolutely no disrespect to Kyle, Loeb, Dixon, McNish, Kimi et al, as their accolades are well deserved, however I believe the results speak for themselves. Just want to mention for objectivity's sake, the person in question is my 20th favourite driver in F1. If there were 30, guess where he'd place.....

 

IF Montoya was leading NASCAR, he would get my vote, but he isn't, so I wont.

Carol makes a good argument, plus I bet she didn't copy and paste all those stats.

What is better, an apple or an orange?

My vote goes to Casey Putsch. Best driver ever... in his mind.

 

+1
Exactly Is, and even though you don't like the guy you have the brains not to let it cloud your judgement, which makes a big difference...

 

+2

Hah! I don't even care for the guy that much (too groomed, too much of a "machine") and it's pretty obvious...

Loeb is remarkable, but I still don't think he's at that level.

 

I agree and still think he got a raw deal at McLaren, but in many ways he has only himself to blame for the motorcycle accident that screwed up his 05 Season next to Kimi.

 

I have read this entire thread, including the spirited effort for McNish.

Ask yourself this . . . right now you are a team owner and have one race to determine the rest of your life. Which driver do you pick?

Michael Schumacher.

 

You have changed my opinion, best driver! Really want him back in the ALMS!

 

You mean tennis injury, don't you?

 

+1000

 

Problem, he hasn't won a championship in any series except CART. My comparison is to the drivers like Mario, AJ, Donohue, even Clark, and Montoya isn't anywhere close.

 

The problem with motorsport these days is that everything is so specialized that really you have to pick one form of motorsport and stick to it if you want to succeed. The days of having drivers that can jump into anything and win straight away are pretty much over. Drivers like Mario and AJ don't really exist anymore. Everyone says ok, put MS in anything and he'll win. The truth is he might suck or not even like driving a NASCAR type car. Or oval racing, period. The only driver these days with anything close to a resume like Mario has, is JPM. Winner in F1, Cart Champ, Indy 500 winner, Rolex 24 at Daytona and Sprint cup winner. No one else these days has proven themselves to be that versatile. If I had to pick a driver and I didn't know what type of racing it would be beforehand, JPM would be my only choice.

 

Agreed...It's tougher to be win in different types of motor racing today. Different era comparisons are always difficult. You're using Montoya as an example who most fits the versiltel driver of today. Villenueve damn near fits that same mold, although retired...well kind of. Schumacher is retired, so can we count him in the mix? I'm not convinced Michael could finish in the top 20 in a Nascar race. Certainly Montoya is still a mid packer with a mediocre team and has not gotten the respect of his fellow Nascar drivers to date. Ambrose is very impressive to me a may be able to take on the title. And now that I have seen the 23 year old Kyle Busch win on both road courses this year besides the ovals, I also think that he is a formidable cannidate. Just my .02

 

Juan Pablo won several other titles, including F3000.

http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-monjua.html

 

kimi

 

Sure he is. He's won several championships, including F3000 as well as CART.

He was best of the rest behind Ferrari in F1. He only runs one endurance race a year and has won it back to back. He is a race winner in NASCAR. He has won at every single level he has ever raced at, regardless of the form of racing.

Your same criticism regaridng multiple championships in different series also applies to each of the drivers you mentioned. Did Mark Donohue win a title in any category? Trans-Am maybe? Did he win even one GP? Outside of the Indy 500, what other top level motorsports did Calrk run outside of F1? I think he had one NASCAR start.

 

Jim Clark was known for jumping into anything and everything and quickly driving faster than anyone. He regularly drove in F2 as well as the Tasman series. These were more highly regarded in his time than today, so not only is it hard to compare drivers from other eras (which we're not doing here, right) but the series don't always translate, either. Personally, I don't equate winning the Indy 500 today with winning it in its first 8 decades.