At the end of this post we will have reached the halfway point of this ten-part exercise and it gets easier from here on in. The lower the numbers go the more option there are to choose from. More choices make some of the decisions tougher, but it does make the research easier and that is 90% of the battle.
The 50s provide some rather obvious choices, but there are a few numbers where no one stands out. Then there is the #53. We will reach the excruciating search for the greatest #53 of all-time. However, we will start with one of the many obvious choices and you probably would have immediately gotten it right.
#59: Peter Gregg/Hurley Haywood
The first great dynasty in IMSA, Brumos Porsche won five consecutive championships from 1971 to 1975 and seven championships in nine years from 1971 to 1979 with either Gregg, Haywood or both.
Gregg deserves a lot of the credit. He won five GTO/GTX championships on his own. Gregg and Haywood won the GTU class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1972 before winning it overall the following year and overall again in 1975. Gregg would also win the 1976 edition of the race.
Haywood was Gregg's deputy throughout this period, and he was involved in 14 of Brumos Racing's 40 victories over those nine seasons. Haywood was also the leader of Brumos Racing when it returned to competition in the Daytona Prototype class. He won three races in the #59 Porsche, including a victory in 2009 at Homestead with João Barbosa and he was on the GT podium in the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona, his final start.
One of the most iconic looks in motorsports is the Brumos red and blue strips with a #59 adorn on the front. These two men are responsible for generations of sports car fans marveling at it. Enough said.
Honorable Mention:
Robert Pressley (Ten NASCAR Grand National Series victories from 1989 to 1993)
E.J. Viso (Viso didn't do much with this number, but this was the point in Viso's career where he was changing his number every season. In 2011, he came out of nowhere with #59. He didn't do much with this number, four top ten finishes from 17 starts and a handful of accidents).
#58: Marco Simoncelli
Simoncelli was an exuberant man on two wheels. The afro-coiffed Italian was a winner in the 125cc class and was fifth in that championship when he was 18 years old. He moved up to the 250cc class and his first two seasons were rather average. He was tenth in the championship each season and his best finish over 33 races was sixth.
In year three, Simoncelli won the 250cc world championship at 20 years old with six victories, 12 podium finishes and seven pole positions. He would defend his 250cc championship and won six races, picked up ten more podium finishes, but he was third in the championship with a missed race in the season opener and three retirements knocking him down a few pegs.
After that run, he moved up to MotoGP with Gresini Racing Honda and as a rookie he scored points in 16 of 18 races with 11 top ten finishes and he was in the top six of four of the final five races. He made a big leap in his sophomore season. He was fifth in two of the first four races. He won pole positions at Barcelona and Assen. His first podium finish came at Brno in a Honda 1-2-3 behind the factory bikes of Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso. In Australia, he was runner-up in a Honda 1-2-3-4, behind Stoner and ahead of Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.
Simoncelli lost his life in an accident at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix. Despite missing the season finale at Valencia, Simoncelli still finished sixth in the championship with two podium finishes and eight top five finishes from 16 races.
Honorable Mentions:
Dave Blaney (Blaney won the 1984 USAC Silver Crown championship driving the #58 car for Jim DePalma's team. Blaney wasn't supposed to run the full season. Blaney was supposed to run the short ovals with his father Lou driving on the one-mile tracks. However, Lou stepped out so his 21-year-old son could have the full season. Despite his best finish being 11th through the first two races, he was second, second, fourth and sixth to clinch the championship without a race victory).
Patrick Long (Driving for Wright Motorsports, Long clinched the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge championship with four victories and 13 podium finishes from 19 races. this came a year after finishing second in the championship).
#57: Robin Liddell
Liddell led Stevenson Motorsports from a humble GT team in American sports car racing to one of the constant threats.
In 2008, Liddell and co-driver Andrew Davis took a surprise victory in Mexico City. That began an unlikely championship challenge. They won three races and had nine podium finishes in 13 races but lost the championship by nine points. Liddell and Davis won three races the next season, but because of two early retirements before Liddell got in the car, Davis was third in the championship while Liddell was eighth. Liddell and Davis would pick up one more victory in 2010
Liddell would win races in 2011 with the Danes Jan Magnussen and Ronnie Bremer. He was paired with John Edwards for most of the 2012 season and they would three races together with Liddell finishing second in the championship after Edwards missed two races. Liddell and Edwards won four races in 2013, most in the Grand-Am GT class, but the duo only finished third in the championship and took the North American Endurance Championship GT title.
When Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series merged, Stevenson Motorsports moved to the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Liddell and Davis retuned and won three times in the GS class. They won four more times in 2015 and took the GS class championship.
Stevenson Motorsports was beloved in IMSA circles. It was a privateer organization and never received much, if any, factory support but Stevenson always was a factor. Liddell was the consistent driver for the team for the better part of the decade. The team shut down after the 2017 season. They are missed.
Honorable Mention:
Tracy Krohn/Niclas Jönsson (This American-Swedish pairing spent nearly two decades together through North American and international sports car racing endeavors. This included 14 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans starts from 2006 to 2019. In four of those outings, this duo used the #57 and they were third in the GTE-Am in 2012 driving the #57 Ferrari with Michele Rugolo. They contested the full FIA World Endurance Championship that year and were third in the class championship).
#56: Stirling Moss/Bill Lloyd
This is what you get for winning the 1954 12 Hours of Sebring.
Moss and Lloyd were entered in the #56 Osca MT4 1450 for Briggs Cunningham in this race and were not pre-race contenders. Lancia and Aston Martin were the pre-race favorites. Lancia's lineup included Juan Manuel Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Porfirio Rubirosa, Piero Taruffi and Robert Manzon. Aston Martin had Reg Parnell, Roy Salvadori, Peter Collins and Carroll Shelby.
Cunningham's team had won the year before, but Moss and Lloyd were in the S1.5 class while Cunningham and Sherwood Johnston were in the big S8.0 class driving the Cunningham C-4R. Phil Walters and John Fitch shared a Ferrari 375 MM in the S5.0 class for the team. In qualifying, the Osca was 18 seconds off the Lancia D24s.
But this was endurance racing in the 1950s, and while Lancia and Aston Martin had the speed, they did not have the reliability. All three Aston Martins retired before completing 80 laps. Fangio and Castellotti's Lancia was out after 51 laps. Ascari and Vlloresi only completed 87 circuits. The two other Cunningham entries both retired because of engine failures after completing 104 laps.
Lanica had Manzon and Taruffi leading in the final hour but that car would lose an engine. Moss and Lloyd's Osca kept running and won the race, completing 168 laps with the Lancia of Rubirosa and Gino Valenzano finishing second, five laps down.
This was Moss before he had broken out. He had yet to even score a point in his Formula One career. He had finished runner-up at Le Mans the year before in a Jaguar 1-2, but at the time this result was an unexpected victory. Moss is Moss. We know who he is and all he accomplished, but it was a two-man effort and Lloyd gets his spot in history. He would win the 1954 SCCA Class D championship later that year.
To this day, the Osca Moss and Lloyd drove to victory remains the smallest-engined car to win the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Honorable Mentions:
Jim Hurtubise (Hurtubise not only won in IndyCar and the NASCAR Cup Series, he won in both series using the #56. He won at Springfield and in 1961 and 1962 in the #56 Kuzma. His lone Cup victory was at Atlanta in 1966 in the #56 Plymouth driving for Norm Nelson. Beat that Jimmie Johnson!)
Randy Lanier (Lanier won the 1984 IMSA GTP championship in the #56 Blue Thunder Racing March 833G/84G. He won six races that season. Two years later, Lanier won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year with a ninth-place finish. A year after that he was on the run from the law for marijuana smuggling. He was arrested in 1987 and sentenced to life without parole in 1988. However, he was released in 2014).
Joey Hand/Dirk Müller (Hand and Müller won the 2011 American Le Mans Series championship with three victories in the #56 BMW, including at Sebring and Long Beach. At Le Mans, they were third in GTE-Pro. Hand and Müller would also win at Sebring the following year in the #56 BMW).
Bobby Rahal (Rahal was second to Gilles Villeneuve in the 1977 CASC Formula Atlantic championship in the #56 Red Roof Inns March. He won at Gimli Motorsports Park ahead of Keke Rosberg).
A.J. Foyt (Foyt's final start in a NASCAR national touring series was the 1996 NASCAR Truck Series finale at Las Vegas. He drove the #56 Ford. He qualified 32nd and finished 28th, 21 laps down. Jack Sprague won the race, Ron Hornaday won the championship and other notable drivers in that race were Bill Elliott (2nd), Michael Waltrip (4th), Robby Gordon (6th), Darrell Waltrip (20th), Harry Gant (21st) and Ernie Irvan (29th).
#55: Junior Johnson
The first five of Johnson's 50 NASCAR Cup Series victories came in the #55 Oldsmobile and all five came in the 1955 season.
The first was at Hickory Speedway where he led 123 of 200 laps. He dominated five races later at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, leading 163 of 172 laps in a rain-shortened race. Two races later, he led 102 of 200 laps from pole position at Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, Pennsylvania and two races after that he led 105 of 200 laps at Fonda Speedway in Fonda, New York. The fifth victory was at Altamont-Schenectady Fairgrounds in Altamont, New York. Johnson led 150 of 177 laps in another rain-shortened race.
Those five victories set up Johnson for a sixth-place finish in the championship, the best championship finish he would ever get as a driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Honorable Mentions:
Carlos Sainz, Jr. (Before Sainz, Jr., the #55 had only featured in nine Formula One race weekends. Since Sainz, Jr. it has been in every race weekend since the start of the 2015 season. Sainz, Jr. has yet to win a race, but he is now with Ferrari. This spot is his for the taking. Fun note: Mario Andretti used the #55 in two Formula One races driving for Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing and Jean-Pierre Jarier used it in two races driving for Lotus and won pole position for the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix with it).
Andrea Locatelli (In 2020, Locatelli thrashed the World Supersport championship with 12 victories from 15 races. He won 13 pole positions. It was his first year in the series. Not bad. Sainz, Jr. may have some competition).
Mazda (I couldn't single out a Mazda driver, but the #55 has been synonymous with Mazda's top-level sports car success. Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans in the #55 Mazda 787B. Nearly 30 years later, Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito have won four races in the #55 Mazda RT24-P, including the 6 Hours of the Glen and in 2020 they won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mazda's first victory in that event).
Bobby Hamilton (Hamilton only won one Cup race in the #55 car but it was a caution-free race at Talladega. Hamilton led only three laps all race and held off Tony Stewart for the victory. The race was completed at an average speed of 184.003 mph).
#54: Kenan Sofuoglu
Sofuoglu is the all-time leader in World Supersport championships with five. Four of those came on bike #54.
In his first full season, Sofuoglu won two races and ended the 2006 season with six consecutive podium finishes. He opened the 2007 season with five victories from the first six races and the one blemish was a second in Australia. After a retirement at Silverstone, he closed another season with six consecutive podium finishes, three of them were victories, including the final two races and he took the championship by 143 points over Broc Parkes in second.
After moving up to World Superbike and not defending his title in 2008, he returned to World Supersport for the 2008 finale at Portimão. He won that race and was full-time in WSS for the 2009 season. He was third in the championship with three victories. In 2010, Sofuoglu was on the podium for all 13 races, three of them were victories. He had to be that exceptional because fellow Honda rider Eugene Laverty was equally as impressive. Laverty won nine races, but three races off the podium, including a retirement, gave Sofuoglu the title by 11 points.
Sofuoglu moved to Moto2 for the 2011 season. Like World Superbike, his Moto2 stint lasted only one season and the Turkish rider was back to World Supersport for 2012. Now on a Kawasaki, Sofuoglu won the season opener. He won four races, nine podium finishes and 12 top five finishes on his way to a third championship. He was second in the championship the following year with five victories and nine podium finishes.
The 2014 season was a down year, but he bounced back with back-to-back championships in 2015 and 2016. In those two seasons, he won 11 races and stood on the podium 18 times in 24 races. He missed the first two races of the 2017 season due to broken fingers. He won five of his next seven starts and took a four-point championship lead. Unfortunately, Sofuoglu suffered a broken pelvis in qualifying for the next race at Magny-Cours. He missed two more races and it would cost him the championship. He returned for the finale at Losail and finished third, which secured him the vice-champion spot.
Another accident at Phillip Island in the 2018 season opener sidelined him due to injuries. At his attempted return at Imola, Sofuoglu announced he would retire after the Italian round.
Honorable Mentions:
Jon Bennett/Colin Braun (This duo is back in action in IMSA's LMP3 class, but prior to that Bennett and Braun won back-to-back Prototype Challenge in 2014 and 2015. In 2018, the duo was second in the Prototype championship in an Oreca 07, losing out the #31 Cadillac of Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran by three points).
Kyle Busch (Busch has been known to use some different numbers while competing in NASCAR's lower national touring series. Since 2012, Busch has used the #54 in 94 races in NASCAR's second division. Busch has won 26 races of those 94 races, finished in the top five 70 times and top ten 76 times. He has led 5,410 of 17,247 laps).
#53: Alexander Rossi
Nobody has done anything flashy in the history of motorsports with the #53.
I looked high and low, all over the world, existing championships and those that have gone defunct and no one stood out. And then you have to decide who is the best of the very unimpressive.
I could have chosen a random one-off NASCAR race winner from over 50 years ago, but how many times can we do that? I could have chosen a random driver who used the number once or twice, but I couldn't even find a good example there. Outside of Bobby Isaac and Tiny Lund, who each used the #53 once in a NASCAR Cup race, and Bud Moore, who used it five times, a bunch of nobodies have used this number in NASCAR. John Paul, Jr. used it in his two Cup starts and Bobby Hillin, Jr. used it twice, but oof, those are hard sells.
In IndyCar, Danny Sullivan made his Indianapolis 500 debut in the #53 March-Cosworth in 1982. Max Papis used the number in the 2002 Indianapolis 500 in a third Cheever Racing car. But those aren't good enough.
Why does Alexander Rossi get it? Because he used the #53 in his five Formula One starts with Manor Marussia in the 2015 season. Once again, the numbers on paper are not flashy. He was driving for Manor Marussia after all. He was 14th, 18th, 12th, 15th and 18th in his five starts. He made it to the finish of all five races so that is something. That 12th was at the United States Grand Prix.
Prior to Rossi, the #53 had only been used in three Formula One races and those were all Indianapolis 500s that counted toward the world championship. Rossi doesn't even have the best finish for the #53 in Formula One. That belongs to Jimmy Davies, who was fittingly tenth in the 1953 Indianapolis 500.
Rossi might not have become the American Formula One star everyone has been jonesing for over the last 40 years but within the year of his grand prix debut he was an Indianapolis 500 winner and he remains one of the best drivers in IndyCar today. He is getting this because he has used it the most at the highest level of motorsports and his career has been rather respectable. If things continue on the trajectory we have seen with Rossi, he will only cement himself even more as the greatest to use the #53 all-time.
The funny thing is Rossi said he chose the #53 for Herbie the Lovebug and Herbie the Lovebug might be the most famous #53 in motorsports history but that is an anthropomorphic fictional character. That can't get the #1 spot.
If any young driver is out there and is looking for an identity that will not be overshadowed from a successor, may I suggest using the #53. This could be your number and you could make it recognizable on a global level.
Honorable Mentions:
Bob Burdick (Burdick is responsible for the only NASCAR Cup Series victory for car #53. It was at Atlanta in 1961).
Cal Crutchlow (Crutchlow used the #53 as a wild card entry for the 2006 World Supersport race at Brands Hatch. Crutchlow was fifth. Yeah, that's how low the bar is for this number).
Hank Parker, Jr. (I am giving Parker, Jr. a shout out because he used the #53 in 60 NASCAR Grand National Series races from 1998 to 2000. The number has only been used in 99 races in that series and no other driver has used it more than seven times. He is getting acknowledged for his persistence).
#52: James Toseland
Here is a name you probably haven't thought about in a while.
Toseland found success in the World Superbike championship and was third in the championship in 2003 with a victory and nine podium finishes. He would win the championship in the following season with three victories and 14 podium finishes.
He would be fourth and second in the championship in the next two seasons. In those years he won four races. In 2007, Toseland picked up his second championship off the back of eight victories and 13 podium finishes. He held off Noriyuki Haha by two points for the title.
His World Superbike success took him to MotoGP for two seasons, though he never finished better than sixth. He did finish sixth in nine of his 35 starts. He returned to World Superbike in 2010 but only picked up four podium finishes and was ninth in the championship.
Honorable Mentions:
Jim McElreath (McElreath won three races in the 1965 USAC National Championship season (Trenton and Langhorne twice) in the #52 Brabham-Offenhauser. He finished third in the championship behind Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt that season).
Tomas Scheckter (Scheckter's notorious 2002 season with Cheever Racing came in the #52 Dallara-Infiniti. He led 85 laps at Indianapolis before getting into the wall exiting turn four while leading with 27 laps to go. He would go on to retire from the lead at the next race at Texas after leading 107 of the first 159 laps from pole position, and he had another accident while leading with ten laps to go at Kansas, after leading 101 laps. He then caused an accident at Nashville and was put on notice. How did Scheckter respond? He won the next race at Michigan from pole position with 122 laps led. It was a Cheever 1-2 with debutant Buddy Rice in second. Did that save Scheckter's job? No. He was fired after the next race at Kentucky for another accident and so began the flashy yet unfulfilling IndyCar career of Tomas Scheckter).
Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Hoshino is a Japanese racing icon, but #52 was not his main number. He used it in his only two Formula One starts, the 1976 and 1977 Japanese Grand Prix. His best finish was 11th in 1977).
Gordon Shedden (Shedden has won three British Touring Car Championships and he is fifth all-time in victories with 48).
Ken Schrader (Schrader holds the honor as the first driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's national touring series. His first Grand National Series victory was at Dover in 1989 in the #52 Chevrolet. His first Truck Series victory was the third race in series history at Saugus in 1995 in the #52 Chevrolet).
#51: Kyle Busch
What started as picking a number and adopting a nickname based on a character from the film Days of Thunder has become a distinguishing mark for Busch when he competes in the NASCAR Truck Series.
Busch first used the number in 2006 and won on his debut with the #51 at Charlotte. He would win three races with the number in 2007 and seven of 15 starts with the number in 2009. Surprisingly, he would not use the number for the next three seasons but returned to using it in 2013 and won five of 11 races in the #51 Toyota. It has been his regular number in the Truck Series ever since.
He won seven of 10 starts in the #51 Toyota in 2014, two of three starts in 2015, didn't use it in 2016, won two of five starts in 2017 and two of three starts in 2018. In 2019, Busch won all five of his Truck starts, all in the #51 Toyota. He led 575 of 795 laps in his NASCAR-restricted five starts. The 2020 season was less successful, only three victories from five starts.
In 89 starts in the #51 truck, Busch has won 39 races, 61 top five finishes, 71 top ten finishes and he has led 4,690 of 12,752 laps.
Honorable Mentions:
Eddie Cheever (All five of Cheever's IndyCar victory came in the #51 car, including his 1998 Indianapolis 500 victory).
Gianmaria Bruni (Bruni won two GT world championships driving for AF Corse in 2013 and 2014, both came in the #51 Ferrari. The first one was all Bruni but he split the 2014 title with Toni Vilander. Prior to that, Bruni won the 2011 European Le Mans Series GTE-Pro title in the #51 Ferrari with Giancarlo Fisichella).
Oliver Beretta (Beretta won the 1998 FIA GT2 Championship in the #51 Chrysler Viper with Pedro Lamy. The duo won eight on nine races and their worst finish was second. Beretta won the championship the following year with Karl Wendlinger and they won six of nine starts with their worst finish being second. At Le Mans, Beretta, Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy won the GTS class in 1999 and 2000).
#50: Juan Manuel Fangio
Numbers changed from round to round in the early days of Formula One and Fangio used 16 different numbers in his 22 grand prix victories.
The highest of those numbers was the #50 and it is a historic victory. It was the 1953 season finale at Monza. Alberto Ascari had already claimed the World Drivers' Championship and Ascari started this race from pole position in his Ferrari 500. It was set to be another victory for Ascari. The Italian had won five of the first seven races and he led 62 of the first 79 laps at Monza.
Fangio had led 17 of the first 79 laps, but Ascari had led 27 consecutive laps as the Italian started the final lap. Ascari, Ferrari's Nino Farina and Fangio were all within seconds of each other on the final circuit of the race. With the slipstreaming nature there was a chance for a photo finish at the line. However, Ascari spun in the final corner and Farina was forced off the road to avoid his teammate. Fangio remained on the course and passed both cars, beating Farina to the line by 1.4 seconds. It was the first Formula One grand prix decided by a last lap pass for the victory.
It was the only time Fangio used the #50 in his 51 Formula One starts. El Maestro deserves his place on this list and here he is at the halfway point.
Honorable Mentions:
Dario Franchitti (2012 Indianapolis 500 winner. Franchitti won three Indianapolis 500s with three different numbers. Why did he have the #50 in 2012? As a sponsor-ploy because it was Target's 50th anniversary. It is the only victory in IndyCar history for car #50).
Greg Biffle (Biffle won 14 NASCAR Truck Series races in the #50 Ford in 1999 and 2000. He was runner-up in the championship in 1999, losing out to Jack Sprague by eight points, but Biffle took the title in 2000, clinching it a race early).
Sylvain Guintoli (2014 World Superbike champion. Guintoli won the title with an emphatic end to the season. He was first or second in the finale eight races of the season and overcame a 44-point gap to Tom Sykes to win the championship by six points. Overall, Guintoli won nine races in the WSBK career, but none after he won the championship).
No better way to reach halfway than with one of the greatest drivers all-time. Like I said, it gets easier from here and the 40s have a few dynamite figures. Those will come on another day.
