5 of the Most Impressive Feats in Racing

5 of the Most Impressive Feats in Racing

By: Brian Cotnoir

1.) Graham Hill, “Triple Crown of Motorsport”

The best drivers in racing aren’t good at just one form of auto racing, they are good at multiple forms of racing.  Some drivers have raced everything from go-karts, to open wheeled cars (F1 and IndyCar), NASCAR, Rally, sprint cars, Top Fuel Funnycars, Endurance Racing, Sports cars, etc. and it’s hard enough to win in one of those vehicles, now imagine winning 3 of the biggest races worldwide.    For most of the history of racing there are three races that stand out as the best:  IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500, Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, and Endurance Racings 24 Hours of Le Mans.   These are three of the oldest and most well-known races in the world.   To this day, only one driver has won all three; Great Britain’s Graham Hill.   Hill won the 1966 Indianapolis 500, the 1972 24 Hours of Leman and is a 5-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix.  He’s also a 2-time Formula 1 World Drivers Champion.  Depending on who you ask; some people include the F1 Drivers Championship (rather than the Monaco Grand Prix) in the Triple Crown, but I think the 3 races is more appropriate.

Several drivers have won 2-of-the-3 races in their careers, but no one has managed to match Graham Hill’s mark.   The only active drivers today who can achieve the Triple Crown are Fernando Alonso (who is only missing the Indianapolis 500) and Juan Pablo Montoya (who is missing a win at Le Mans).   Given that entering one of these races, would require a driver giving up a full-time schedule and some teams making drivers sign contracts that limit their chances to compete in other racing forms, I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see another driver achieve the Triple Crown of Motorsports.

2.)  Tony Stewart, Memorial Day Double (aka the 1100)

The Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 for most of their history have been run on the Sunday before Memorial Day.  Since 1994, 4 drivers have attempted to compete in both races on the same day—John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kurt Busch—but only one of these drivers has successfully completed all 1,100 mile.    In 2001, Tony Stewart became the first driver to run all 1,100 miles at Indianapolis and Charlotte in the same day, and I believe he will be the only one who ever will.

The shear logistics are difficult enough; first you need to qualify for both races, you need to finish both races (on the lead lap) and you need to be able to make the start of both races.   NASCAR has been lenient in moving back the start time of the Coca-Cola 600 for drivers attempting to do “The Double”.   As if it weren’t difficult enough, after finishing 500 miles in an IndyCar you then have to take a plane and/or helicopter ride to Concord, North Carolina and then race 600 more miles.

When Tony Stewart did it was at a time when the path to NASCAR for many drivers was USAC Sprint Cars to IndyCars and then make the transition to NASCAR.  The fact that many young drivers today are starting to race stock cars at 15-16 (in the ARCA Menard’s Series) or the Road to Indy Series make’s it highly unlikely that any driver will have the skill to earn a top ride in both series to pull off the Double again.

3.)  Eddie Hall, drivers all 24 Hours at Le Mans

 I already talked about this one in a previous article I wrote, so I’ll keep it short.  In 1950, Britain’s Eddie Hall became the first and so far only driver to race all 24 Hours at Le Man’s.  Hall drove his Bentley for 236 laps in the 24 Hours, never once yielding to let his teammate have a go at it.   Hall finished the race in 8^th place.  Surprisingly enough, that year’s race winner, Louis Rosier, drove for 23 Hours and 15 minutes, only allowing his son Jean-Louis to drive for two laps at Le Mans while he had a quick lunch and used the rest room.   Both feats are still records that will never be broken, due to strict regulations that state how much time each driver is allowed to run during the race.

4.)  Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and Hendrick Motorsports: 5 Consecutive Championships

From 2006-2010, NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson won 5 Consecutive Driver’s Championships while having to deal with multiple tweaks to the points system.    Now other drivers in Motorsports have also won 5 Consecutive Titles—Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini have won 5 consecutive MotoGP titles, John Force has won 10 Consecutive NHRA titles, and Sebastian Loeb has 9 Consecutive Drivers Titles in World Rally Cross—but what makes Johnson’s 5 consecutive championships so important is that NASCAR has made it—virtually—impossible to do it again.  

Unlike most other forms of racing that give depending on where your finish and values consistency as much as winning, NASCAR has a stupid a$$ playoff system, to keep things interesting.   To win the championship you have to beat 15 other drivers in a four-round Playoff System held over the last 10 races.   The final race of the season is a battle between 4 different drivers; the highest finishing driver of those 4’s is a champion…so yeah, due to this total crapshoot, only a handful of races really matter in determining the champion and that’s why no NASCAR driver will ever win 5 consecutive championship’s again     

5.)  Jeff Gordon, 797 Consecutive Starts (AND all with the same team)

Between November 15, 1992-November 22, 2015, NASCAR made 797 Consecutive Starts in the NASCAR Cup Series.   Even More impressive he did it all with the same team.  While crew members on his #24 Chevrolet may have come and gone, Gordon set a NASCAR record by making 797 consecutive starts for Hendrick Motorsports, never once missing a race due to injury, illness, or anything.    After retiring from full-time NASCAR completion in 2015, Gordon did return to NASCAR to make 8 starts, filling in for his injured for teammate Dale Earnhardt. Jr. (these 8 starts were the only Cup starts Gordon made, not in a car #24).  Gordon did this while only driving for one team which is doubly impressive because that means he was consistent enough, won enough, had sponsorship to finance him, and was happy enough to last the entirety of his NASCAR career driving for just one team.