Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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ESPN.com has an article listing the top 25 drivers of all time from any series and they have steve kinser listed as 25,(which is wrong in my opinion) but it got me thinking who are the top 25 sprint car drivers ever?

1. Steve Kinser
2. Sammy Swindell
3. Doug Wolfgang
4. Danny Lasoski
5. Donny Schatz
6. Mark Kinser
7. Dave Blaney
8. Bobby Allen

Then I dont know from there.

there's more to life than just WoO ----your post says top 25 drivers all time from any (sprint car )series ? and you may thats maybe have only 2 listed the rest don't even come close ----remember thy are talking about all time from any series------(Donny and Sammy in the top 25 lol now thats funny)

Robert Bond    San Jose Ca

Well only the best race with the WoO, I might put Rahmer on that list...but whats he race 4 tracks? The best drivers adapt and learn new tracks

Wow, dude, you need to get out more.

Opperman, Vogler, Pancho Carter, Jud Larson, Don Branson, Gary Bettenhausen, Larry Dickson, and Ferkel are all slam dunks (and so is Sammy, whether you like him or not) and that's just from a couple minutes of thinking. Throw Ron Shuman in there, too.

There is WAY more to sprint car racing than just the WoO.

Signature here.

The WoO are the best drivers out there, if you look at the knoxville nationals, the winner always comes from the WoO, and the nationals have the best drivers from around the world...and im not saying some of these other guys arent on the list....there just not on the top to me

"Wow, dude, you need to get out more".

Yep, he seems to have a very narrow perspective of the sprint car world and the history of the sport.

The trouble now-day's is that we will never know how much better, lets say, JJ Yeley would have gotten, not that he wasn't one heck of a wheel man in all three divisions. I guess in perspective, we lost as many drivers to how dangerous it was then, as we loose to NASCRAP now.

I find it kind of sad that a "sprint car" fan would only see the Woo, and has no idea that the wing makes it a modified sprinter. Also doesen't know that Dave Darland is on his way to the hall of fame.

Kenny

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

All time is an awfully long time. The WoO has only been around since 1978 so in my case they didn't start until I was already in my late 20's. I had seen quite a few good races by that time and none of them involved any of the WoO drivers.

Click on my website link and check out the history section for our perspective from up here in the upper Midwest. That's your homework for tonight.

Stan Meissner

Done:

Special Edition National Sprint Car Poll: "25 Greatest Sprint Car Drivers of the 1900's"

Rank Driver (First Place Votes) Hometown/State Points

• 1. Steve Kinser (28) Bloomington, Ind. 3,519
• 2. Tommy Hinnershitz ( 6) deceased 2,127
• 3. A.J. Foyt ( 5) Houston, Tex. 1,863
• 4. Jan Opperman ( 6) deceased 1,757
• 5. Ted Horn ( 1) deceased 1,235
• 6. Parnelli Jones ( 3) Torrance, Calif. 910
• 7. Sammy Swindell Memphis, Tenn. 704
• 8. Doug Wolfgang Sioux Falls, S.D. 703
• 9. Rex Mays ( 2) deceased 648
• 10. Larry Dickson Marietta, Ohio 504
• 11. Kenny Weld deceased 496
• 12. Duane "Pancho" Carter ( 1) Brownsburg, Ind. 464
• 13. Gary Bettenhausen Monrovia, Ind. 458
• 14. Bobby Grim ( 1) deceased 442
• 15. Troy Ruttman ( 1) deceased 431
• 16. Gus Schrader deceased 395
• 17. Jim Hurtubise deceased 366
• 18. Jud Larson deceased 357
• 19. Jack Hewitt Troy, Ohio 281
• 20. Tony Willman ( 1) deceased 280
• 21. Frank Lockhart ( 2) deceased 257
• 22. Rick Ferkel Tiffin, Ohio 249
• 23. Don Branson deceased 235
• 24. Tom Bigelow Whitewater, Wisc. 210
• tie Emory Collins deceased 210

Also receiving First Place Votes: Emil Andres (1), Albert "Buddy" Taylor (1).

Also receiving multiple votes: Bobby Allen, Emil Andres, Mario Andretti, Lloyd Axel, Rollie Beale, Tony Bettenhausen, Dave Blaney, Jerry Blundy, Jimmy Bryan, Steve Butler, Duane "Pappy" Carter (Sr.), Tom Cherry, Joie Chitwood, Jerry "Scratch" Daniels, Bobby Davis (Jr.), Ralph DePalma, Peter DePaolo, Brad Doty, Pete Folse (Sr.), Dick Gaines, Chet Gardner, John Gerber, Ray Lee Goodwin, Al Gordon, Jeff Gordon, Earl Halaquist, Jac Haudenschild, Sig Haugdahl, Allen Heath, Kenny Jacobs, Joe James, Norman "Bubby" Jones, Brent Kaeding, Keith Kauffman, Frankie Kerr, Mark Kinser, Sheldon Kinser, Lee Kunzman, Danny Lasoski, Harold Leep, Gus Linder, Frankie Luptow, George "Doc" MacKenzie, Roger McCluskey, Lealand McSpadden, Louis Meyer, Tommy Milton, Jimmy Murphy, Dennis "Duke" Nalon, Mike Nazaruk, Pat O'Connor, Barney Oldfield, Jimmy Oskie, Johnny Parsons (Sr.), Gary Patterson, Lynn Paxton, Francis Quinn, Fred Rahmer, Jerry Richert (Sr.), Eddie Rickenbacker, Mauri Rose, Johnny Rutherford, Eddie Sachs, Bob Sall, Bryan Saulpaugh, Everett Saylor, Bill Schindler, Sammy Sessions, Wilbur Shaw, Ron Shuman, Jimmy Sills, Richard "Mitch" Smith, Steve Smith (Sr.), Larry "Smokey" Snellbaker, Deb Snyder, Joe Sostilio, Robbie Stanley, Tony Stewart, Bob Sweikert, Albert "Buddy" Taylor, Dean Thompson, Johnny Thomson, Ray Tilley, Dick "Toby" Tobias, Ernie Triplett, Al Unser (Sr.), Bobby Unser, Ira Vail, LeRoy Van Conett, Rich Vogler, Frank Wearne, Travis "Spider" Webb, Greg Weld, Johnny White, Jimmy Wilburn, Billy Winn, Gordon Woolley.

That's truly a who's who of the greats of the sprint car world. I enjoyed this thread very much. Did anyone see a top 360 driver list for for 07? I found that interesting in 06.

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fast you can go!

Well look at the history when the Outlaws and USAC would race who would win? the outlaws..when the outlaws go to PA who usually wins the outlaws, when outlaws come to knoxville who wins...the outlaws...when the outlaws go to californa who wins...the outlaws. Today sprint car racing is tougher than ever before.

USAC dabbled and thought about running a modified sprinter, but never did, thank God.

There may be more cars running the same engine and tires today and locked down with the huge wings, but tougher? Now that's funny..LOL A very poor choice of words in my opinion. See that picture, my Avatar? Trust me, it was much tougher then.

Have you ever wondered why more winged drivers don't make it to NASCAR?

Kenny

P.S. they don't want to is not the right answer.. All those guys drove way more dirt than asphalt so that doesn't fly as well.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

USAC ran wings quite a bit in the mid to late 80's.

I can't believe that Vogler isn't in their top twenty-five. But most that I thought of are on the list as receiving votes. Hewitt could be up a bit further in my opinion, and Wolfgang should be above Swindell.

Something kinda tied to this as far as history goes. Go to eldoras website and check out the section on past race winners. http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/stats.html Now theres a whos who if you've ever seen one. **WARNING** I got caught up in looking at their past results for a couple hours. You've been warned. LOL

LaTeR

I'm am admittedly rather partial but I find it hard to believe Shane Carson wasn't in that list of also receivers of votes listed above. Quoting Kevin Eckert regarding Shane's induction into the Hall of Fame last year -- "He beat the best when they were at their best". I'm not saying Shane was one of the Top 25 in history - but he for damn sure was better than some of the drivers in that long list of "also vote" getters.

PS - Kamshaft - I was thinking USAC ran wings back in the mid 80's too - but there's some parts of the mid 80's I don't recall real clear so I wasn't absolutely sure.

Phil Taylor

home-theater-systems-advice.com

It is refreshing to see a topic such as this on this board. They say variety is the spice of life and a thread like this is a diamond in the rough among the politics, wining and bashing that has become the norm here, kind of an old skool thread.

lol lol lol

in the old days the outlaws with their 512 cu in motots and the USAC cars with their 355's, hell even the pace car finished second once.

There is NO top 25 drivers team/

There is Steve Kinser and about 200 equal drivers below him over the years.

Impossible to compare Tommy Hinerschitz and AJ Foyt with Tyler Walker and Don Mack

with the technology changes and the money issues,

the King stands out, but the next 200 are tied for second place, and a close second I might add..

The ESPN list is goodm but sprint cars have been around a lot longer than most of us, and MOST of us (except Offie) never got a chance to watch drivers like Louis Chevrolet and others from that era.

Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY

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Ol' Louis was a good'un snuffie!!

Here are the top 25 lists for 2007 (from www.sprintcarhof.com):

Final 2007 North American 360 Sprint Car Poll
rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state, points
1., Gary Wright (13), Hooks, TX, 1365
2., Jason Johnson (1), Eunice, LA, 690
3., Shane Stewart (2), Bixby, OK, 420
4., Wayne Johnson, Mustang, OK, 380
5., Chuck Hebing, Ontario, NY, 266
6., Terry Gray (1), Bartlett, TN, 198
7., Roger Crockett, Rio Linda, CA, 154
tie, Curt Michael, Ocean View, DE, 154
9., Travis Rilat, Texas City, TX, 148
10., Tim Crawley, Little Rock, AR, 132
11., Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL, 121
12., Steve Poirier, St. Mathieu de Beloeil, PQ, CAN, 107
13., Kenny Adams, Malabar, FL, 97
14., Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA, 86
15., Andy Forsberg (1), Auburn, CA, 85
16., Garry Lee Maier, Cimarron, KS, 60
17., Brian Brown, Higginsville, MO, 52
18., Tim Norman, Warsaw, IN, 50
19., Phil Gressman, Helena, OH, 28
20., Darren Stewart, Bixby, OK, 27
21., C.J. Johnson, Quinter, KS, 22
22., Natalie Sather, Fargo, ND, 18
23., Randy Martin, California, MO, 17
24., Dustin Daggett, Eagle, MI, 10
tie, Michael Dupuy, Amite, LA, 10

Also receiving multiple votes: Michael Carber, Greg DeCaires, Bryan Dobesh, Kevin Ramey, Marshall Skinner, Jeff Swindell, Colby Weisz.

Final 2007 North American 410 Sprint Car Poll
rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state, points
1., Donny Schatz (25), Fargo, ND, 2400
2., Joey Saldana, Brownsburg, IN, 1300
3., Danny Lasoski, Higginsville, MO, 626
4., Steve Kinser, Bloomington, IN, 624
5., Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK, 435
6., Jason Meyers, Clovis, CA, 432
7., Craig Dollansky, Elk River, MN, 316
8., Fred Rahmer, Salfordville, PA, 183
9., Greg Hodnett, Memphis, TN, 148
tie, Greg Wilson, Benton Ridge, OH, 148
11., Danny Smith, Danville, IN, 118
12., Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA, 111
13., Jac Haudenschild, Wooster, OH, 97
14., Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA, 94
15., Jason Solwold, Mount Vernon, WA, 93
16., Todd Shaffer, Millerstown, PA, 83
17., Lucas Wolfe, Mechanicsburg, PA, 59
18., Paul McMahan, Oroville, CA, 56
19., Brian Brown, Higginsville, MO, 53
20., Brent Kaeding, Campbell, CA, 51
21., Tim Kaeding, Campbell, CA, 48
22., Lance Dewease, Fayetteville, PA, 38
23., Rod George, Kittanning, PA, 28
tie, Brooke Tatnell, San Souci, NSW, AUS, 28
25., Dale Blaney, Fowler, OH, 24

Also receiving multiple votes: Jonathan Allard, Chad Blonde, Doug Esh, Kerry Madsen, Jason Sides, Shane Stewart, Travis Whitney.

USAC vs. the WoO...novel idea, but it happens once in a blue moon nowadays. As nodust mentioned, from the history books most of the Outlaw victories over USAC are probably Steve Kinser's with a nod or two to Jac Haudenschild (and a lot to Jack Hewitt, but was he ever really a WoO guy?).

I'm guessing by the statements that you've made so far that you're a pretty young guy. That, or completely lost in a universe where the WoO are the only sprint cars. I'm 30 years old and I've grown up with the WoO, but I've also spent a good bit of my life reading my Dad's old Open Wheel magazines about a different time in racing. Way before Ted Johnson organized the non-USAC, or "Outlaw," racers. Back in those days, you didn't waltz in with a big checkbook and buy everything you needed to be a winning driver. Your greatness was in your driving ability. You didn't just steer the same equipment everyone else did. The truly great drivers were able to carry a lesser car and still win. Today, a lesser car might be able to be carried to one or two extra spots, not 5 or 6. That doesn't really help to show your ability, does it?

Case in point: The first race that I attended at Eldora Speedway was supposed to be USAC's last race without wings, around mid-1988 I believe. Rich Vogler was driving the Johnny Vance 2v; his first qualifying lap put him 6th in the rankings, but his second lap was quick time. You don't see that anymore without one of the laps containing a big mistake. Of course that's not the greatest point in the world because Rich finished the feature in 7th (I think).

Anyway, short1988, I encourage you to read up on some of the history of our great sport. Not just the WoO, but USAC's best times, the old Outlaw circuits in the early 70s, even back into the AAA before USAC. I hope that you'll realize that the WoO is not the be-all, end-all of sprint car racing. It's merely just the highest profile series, that's all.

Signature here.

I find a couple of things funny here. You say racing back in the day by looking at the picture in your Avatar, was tougher. By looking at the picture the tires are hella small. That would be tough. How would you get all that power down? Driving a winged sprint car today is by far way harder then driving a non winged car. You already felt that you were going fast in a non wing, put a wing on, and you have to drive the car harder into the corner and straighter. The non winged guys always slide the car to slow it down, and usually do this too much.

The other funny thing is that on a national level, non winged sprint cars are looked at higher than even a winged series like WoO. And inside the circle of sprint car racing, we all know that the WoO drivers are better than the USAC guys at their own game, driving a non wing. It is funny that they dont get into NASCAR, but again, thats NASCAR! What else is funny is how USAC use to make rules so that the WoO drivers couldnt compete against them back in the day.Its like they didnt like them showing up their drivers.

when thy started running wing's on sprint cars (for safety reasons ) every super-modified jockey in the country started thinking that thy could now drive a real race car ---lol---

Robert Bond    San Jose Ca