5 "I'd rather be Lucky than Good" moments in Auto Racing

 5 "I'd rather be lucky than good" moments in Auto Racing

By Brian H Cotnoir

1.)  Tom Sneva wins the 1978 IndyCar Championship without winning a race

Tom Sneva defended his 1977 USAC IndyCar Championship in 1978, but he did it all this time without winning a single race.    Sneva won the Championship by a comfortable 122 points over Al Unser Sr. who won 3 races that season, including that year's Indy 500.  However, Al Unser Sr. had to miss two rounds due to injury.   Danny Ongais scored a career high 5 wins that season and only managed to finish 8th place that season.  Even Mario Andretti running a partial schedule won an IndyCar race that season while dominating the F1 Championship that year for Lotus F1 in Europe.   During the 18-race season, Sneva finished runner-up a total of 6 times, and finished in the Top 3 in 10 times that season.   This was more than enough to make up for his lack of wins on the season.

2.)  Jamie McMurray's Cup Series Career

Jamie McMurray only won 7 races in his Cup career, but all 7 of his wins came from some pretty remarkable finishes.  McMurray scored his first career Cup Series win in his 2nd career star while substituting for the injured Sterling Marlin.    MacMurray would have to wait 5 more seasons to score his second Cup Series win, by beating Kyle Busch to the finish line by 0.005 of a second at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.  He'd win the fall race at Talladega in 2009, before returning to Ganassi.  MacMurray scored the biggest win of his career when he scored his 4th career victory during the Daytona 500.  McMurray would win twice more that season at the Historic Brickyard 400 and the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  His final points win came in 2013 at the fall Talladega race.   However, that wasn't the end of his career, he scored another win at Charlotte Motor Speedway the following year in the All-Star Race, winning over a million dollars in prizes.   All of McMurray's Cup Series win came at Charlotte Motor Speedway or the Superspeedway tracks.

3.)  Justin Haley lucks into his first Cup Series win during a Weather Delay

Justin Haley has had a few lucky moments in NASCAR.  He stole a win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in the final turn after Noah Gragson crashed into his teammate Todd Gilliland.   His luckiest moment however came at the 2019 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.  After sneaking by 
the "Big One", Haley found himself in the 3rd position with 30 laps to go.  Race leader Kurt Busch, and 2nd place Landon Cassil decided to pit, expecting the race to go back under green, but Haley stayed out.   Shortly after a lightning strike happened in the vicinity of the track, which prompted NASCAR to put out the red flag for safety reasons.   The race would not resume and Haley scored the underdog Spire Motorsports their first career win (in only Haley's 3rd start in the NASCAR Cup Series).

4.)  Dan Wheldon win's the 2011 Indy 500

Probably, the most famous and well-known IndyCar race of this century, J.R. Hillebrand had victory snatched from him when he crashed his car trying to lap driver Charlie Kimball in the final corner of the 2011 Indy 500.   Dan Wheldon snuck by to take his 2nd career victory in the Indy 500.   It was the only lap Wheldon led that day, and unfortunately, Hildebrand would limp home in second place 2 seconds behind.

 I must admit that as I watched this finish live, I was very upset with the outcome, but months later when Dan Wheldon was killed in a wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I changed my mind about the finish, and I'm glad Dan scored his final IndyCar win at the Indy 500.

5.)  Keke Rosberg lucks into the 1982 Formula One Championship

1982 was one of the most tragic seasons in the history of Formula One.  Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve was killed in a violent accident during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder.   Ferrari withdrew their other entrant, Didier Pironi out of respect for the fallen driver.  Pironi would return and score another win later that season at Zandvoort in the Dutch Grand Prix.   However, during qualifying for the next round at Hockenheim, Pironi was in a violent accident and suffered massive leg injuries that ultimately would end his season and F1 career.   Pironi's Ferrari teammate (and Gilles Villeneuve's replacement) Patrick Tambay would go on to score the win for Ferrari, the first win of his F1 career.  Pironi still maintained the points lead until 2 rounds left in the season, when Williams Racing driver Keke Rosberg scored his lone win of the season at that years Swiss Grand Prix.   Rosberg would be the first Finnish driver to win the F1 drivers championship.   However, William's still lost the Constructors Championship to Ferrari thanks to fantastic performances on track by Ferrari substitute drivers Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti.

Some other interesting facts about the 1982 F1 Season was it featured the most different winners in one F1 Season (11 winners on 7 different teams).  The only drivers to win more than one Grand Prix that season were Didier Pironi, Niki Lauda, and Alain Prost (who each won 2 races that season)