Like the 60s, these 60s were a dream. You might be surprised but there are many slam dunk choices in the 60s. Most of the numbers had one clear choice with not many contenders and there was only one number that a handful of good, but not one surefire choice.
Let's start with a world champion, shall we?
#69: Nicky Hayden
The last American world champion, Hayden competed in 14 MotoGP seasons and he won three grand prix in his career, MotoGP's return to the United States in 2005 at Laguna Seca, the 2006 Dutch TT and the 2006 United States Grand Prix.
Between 2005 and 2006, Hayden stood on the podium 16 times, including a stretch of eight consecutive podium finishes spanning the two seasons. In 2006, he scored points in the first 15 races and had a 12-point lead over Valentino Rossi with two races to go. At the penultimate round in Portugal, Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa made contact with him, taking both Hondas out of the race and knocking Hayden from 12 points ahead of Rossi to eight points behind the Italian heading into the finale.
Rossi started on pole position for the Valencia finale with Hayden starting fifth. A top-two finish would ensure Rossi his sixth consecutive championship. Rossi lost ground at the start, but still held the championship until a fall on lap five. Hayden climbed up to third while all Rossi could manage was 13th and Hayden took the title by five points.
On top of Hayden's world championship, he won the 1999 AMA Supersport champion, the 2002 AMA Superbike championship, which included a Daytona 200 victory, and on top of all that he competed in the AMA Grand National Championship and won the historic Springfield TT and Peoria TT with Nicky Hayden leading a Hayden family 1-2-3 finish at Springfield with his brothers Tommy and Roger Lee taking second and third. He was fifth in his only full World Superbike season with a memorable victory in the wet at Sepang.
Honorable Mention:
Gilles Villeneuve (Villeneuve famously used car #69 in his Formula Atlantic career, using it in 21 of his 26 starts. He won the 1976 CASC and IMSA Formula Atlantic championships and the 1977 CASC Formula Atlantic title. All 12 of his Formula Atlantic victories came in car #69. In 1976, he won eight of nine races with an oil line coming loose at Westwood Motorsport Park being the one thing keeping him from a perfect season. He even won the non-championship Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières ahead of Alan Jones, James Hunt, Vittorio Brambilla, Bobby Rahal and Patrick Tambay).
#68: Hélio Castroneves
While remembered for his success in the #3 for Team Penske, Castroneves' first foray into the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500 was in car #68, a historic Team Penske number and an available number in 2001 as Team Penske was not a full-time IRL team.
The first race ended prematurely when Castroneves lost an engine after 142 laps at Phoenix. At Indianapolis, Team Penske's first appearance at the Speedway since the team infamously missed the race in 1995 with Al Unser, Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi, Castroneves qualified 11th for his debut. In the race, both Castroneves and teammate Gil de Ferran were in contention for the victory throughout the entire race. Both drivers suffered a setback when they were each penalized for improperly exiting the pit lane.
However, cautions fell their way and put both cars back to the front. A brief shower and red flag stopped the race and set up a dash to the finish with 105 miles to go. Castroneves led every lap after the red flag, and he held off de Ferran to win on his Indianapolis 500 debut. The duo gave Team Penske a 1-2 finish on its Indianapolis return.
Honorable Mentions:
Tom Sneva (Sneva joined Team Penske and in his first two seasons he drove the #68 Norton Spirit McLaren. He picked up his first career IndyCar victory at Michigan and he ended up sixth and eighth in the championship in his two seasons).
David Hobbs (Hobbs made one start for Team Penske, the 1971 Indianapolis 500 driving a Lola-Ford. He qualified 16th and finished 20th after an accident with just after halfway).
Mark Donohue (Donohue was second in his only IndyCar start in car #68. That was on the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course in 1970, finishing behind Al Unser).
#67: Josef Newgarden
Before becoming an IndyCar champion and the apple of Roger Penske and Tim Cindric's eye, Newgarden was the underdog, driving for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and taking one of the smallest teams on the IndyCar grid to the upper echelon of the series.
While experiencing a few hardships early in his career, Newgarden blossomed in 2015. He picked up his first career victory at Barber Motorsports Park and two months later he picked up his second victory at Toronto. He scored his first pole position at Milwaukee and put on an impressive drive late in that race after an unscheduled pit stop to get back up to fifth and finish on the lead lap. He was runner-up at Iowa and Pocono and went to the Sonoma finale as one of six drivers with a shot at the IndyCar championship.
The other drivers alive for that title were Team Penske drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power and Hélio Castroneves, Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal. Newgarden retired from the Sonoma finale and ended dup seventh in the championship, but his 2015 season setup the stardom we have seen from the Tennessean over the last four seasons and will likely continue for some time to come.
Honorable Mention:
Bob Wollek/Derek Bell/John Andretti (1989 24 Hours of Daytona winners, Wollek, Bell and Andretti won driving the #67 Miller High Life/BF Goodrich Porsche 962 over the #61 Jaguar XJR-9 of Price Cobb, John Nielsen, Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers).
#66 Mark Donohue
Perhaps the greatest Team Penske driver of them all, Donohue won practically everywhere Team Penske raced. After winning notable championships in the United States Road Racing Championship and Trans-Am, Penske's entrance into IndyCar came with Donohue at the wheel.
The first three races were in car #12, but Team Penske's first Indianapolis 500 was Donohue driving the #66 Lola-Offenhauser. Donohue qualified fourth and finished seventh, ten laps down and he took Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors despite not being the best finishing rookie. Peter Revson had gone from 33rd to fifth and was only three laps down, but Donohue earned the award.
Donohue qualified fifth in the team's return in 1970 and he ended up second after a respectable drive but one that was far off of Al Unser's brilliance that day. The team was ready for victory in 1971 and, with a switch to the McLaren M16A, ended up second on the grid. Donohue led the first 50 laps and regained the top position on lap 65. On lap 67, Donohue pulled off the circuit with a broken gearbox.
He would recover and pick up his and Team Penske's first IndyCar victory a few weeks later in the inaugural Pocono 500. Two weeks after that, he won at Michigan. In his six races with the McLaren chassis, Donohue started first or second in every race.
When Donohue and Penske returned to Indianapolis, he qualified third but faced stiffer competition at the front. Bobby Unser led from the start before dropping out with an ignition problem. Most of the race was a battle between Donohue's teammate Gary Bettenhausen and, coincidentally, Unser's teammate Jerry Grant. Bettenhausen had led 138 laps before he too dropped out of the race with ignition failure with 25 laps to go.
After experiencing unforced problems the year before, Donohue was on the right side of fortune as Grant was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop for a tire problem with 13 laps to go. Donohue assumed the lead and took victory, Team Penske's first at Indianapolis. He would go on to finish runner-up at Milwaukee the following week and Trenton later that season.
Though his only major use of #66 was in IndyCar, Donohue was a marvel, a master of pretty much every car he sat behind, from GT to prototypes, open wheel to stock car. Few can match his ability with a race car, not only as a driver, but as a skilled engineer.
Honorable Mention:
Nelson Piquet (Piquet's first race with Brabham came in the #66 Brabham BT46 at the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix, the sixth race of his Formula One career. He qualified 14th and finished 11th, one lap down, the final finisher and Piquet was the only Brabham to see the checkered flag, as Niki Lauda retired after five laps due to brake issues and John Watson only made it eight laps before an accident ended his race.
#65 Jonathan Rea
You are forgiven if you associate Rea more with the #1, but that is what happens when you win six consecutive World Superbike championships.
The last time Rea used the #65 in a season was 2015, his first World Superbike championship season. He won 14 of 26 races and stood on the podium 23 times.
His first 28 World Superbike victories came on bike #65. Since then, he has won 71 races on the #1 Kawasaki and Rea sits on 99 career victories. Prior to his World Superbike success, he was runner-up in the 2008 World Supersport Championship on 164 points with three victories.
It is one thing to be only be associated with a number for one season. It is another thing to be associated with a number because you were so damn good you rarely got to use it. That is Rea's relationship with the #65.
Honorable Mention:
Loris Capirossi (1990 125cc world champion and 1998 250cc world champion, Capirossi won 29 races in his grand prix motorcycle racing career, 17 on bike #65, including all eight of his 500cc/MotoGP victories).
#64: Jan Magnussen/Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin
We have arrived at our first sports car driver combination! Why this combination?
Magnussen, Beretta and Gavin went three-for-three in the GTS/GT1 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2004 to 2006 in the #64 Corvette. In the first year, the trio won by 11 laps over the sister Corvette. The following year, the #64 Corvette again led a Corvette 1-2, but this time only two laps ahead of the sister car, and the #64 Corvette cracked the top five overall.
In 2006, the #64 Corvette won the class and finished fourth overall, five laps ahead of the GT1 runner-up, the factory Aston Martin.
Magnussen moved to the #63 Corvette in 2007. Gavin and Beretta remained together through 2010 but neither driver made it back to the top in that four-year stretch. The Danish/British/Monegasque trio were perfect where it mattered most and are firmly responsible for the legacy Corvette carries to this day.
Honorable Mentions:
Elmo Langley (The man responsible for the only victories in the NASCAR Cup Series for car #64, Langley won at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds and Old Dominion Speedway. Langley was NASCAR's official pace car drive from 1989 through 1996).
Wayne Taylor (Somewhat forgotten, Taylor's first IMSA victory came on June 16, 1991 driving the #64 MTI Racing Intrepid RM-1 on the streets of New Orleans).
#63: Johnny O'Connell/Ron Fellows
We cannot talk about one great Corvette lineup without mentioning another, and we have our first repeat visitor to this list with O'Connell's second appearance.
Why O'Connell and Fellows? Here is their record at Le Mans: first, first, third, second, second, seventh, second, second.
From 2001 to 2008, O'Connell and Fellows were on the GTS/GT1 class podium in six years. Scott Pruett was their first third wheel. Gavin took the spot for one year and Franck Fréon got a year after that. Max Papis was given a three-year run before Magnussen moved into the car for a year.
Le Mans success aside, O'Connell and Fellows were one of the most formidable duos in the American Le Mans Series, responsible for Corvette's first four of eight consecutive class championships. Similarly, Gavin and Beretta won three consecutive ALMS class championships from 2005 to 2007.
Honorable Mentions:
Jim Downing (Downing won three consecutive IMSA Lights class championships from 1985 to 1987 and he won 13 races over those three seasons).
Kody Swanson (Swanson won four USAC Silver Crown championships in car #63).
George Russell (Russell is the only driver to use the #63 in Formula One history and while he has only two points to show for his 38 starts, Russell is believed to be one of the drivers who will lead the next generation of grand prix racing. This spot is his for the taking).
#62: Jim Richards
The first of Richards' four Australian Touring Car championships came in 1985 driving the #62 JPS Team BMW and he won seven of ten races with nine podium finishes and his worst finish was fifth. On top of that, Richards won the Australian Endurance Championship in 1985 with victories in four of the five races. The one that got away that year was the Bathurst 1000 where he finished fourth overall.
On top of his four Australian Touring Car championships, Richards won the Australian Endurance Championship twice. His seven Bathurst 1000 victories are tied for second-most in the events' history.
He only used the #62 for one season but was phenomenal with it.
Honorable Mentions:
Frankie Schneider (Schneider is responsible for the only victory for car #62 in NASCAR Cup Series history. It was on April 25, 1958 at Old Dominion Speedway. He led 106 of 150 laps. He made ten starts in car #62 in his Cup career and he had five top five finishes in those ten starts).
John Cannon (On a wet day at Laguna Seca, autumn 1968, Cannon stunned the Can-Am field, winning in his year-old McLaren Elva Mark IIB by a lap over Denny Hulme in a McLaren M8A and George Eaton, in a McLaren Elva Mark III. Other notable drivers finishing behind Cannon are Bruce McLaren, Mark Donohue, Sam Posey, Peter Revson and the likes of Chuck Parsons, George Follmer and Dan Gurney all retired from the race. The McLaren M8A won four of the other five races that season with Hulme taking the championship over McLaren. It was Cannon's first Can-Am victory).
Brendon Gaughan (Won eight races in the NASCAR Truck Series and two races in NASCAR's Grand National Series, all in car #62).
George Follmer (Follmer drove the #62 Cheetah chassis in ten of his 11 IndyCar starts in the 1969 season and he won on his first start of the year at Phoenix, leading the final 29 laps after Bobby Unser lost an engine. Follmer would win the race by three laps over Wally Dallenbach and Lloyd Ruby was five laps down in third).
#61: Richie Evans
Evans won nine NASCAR Modified championships, including eight-consecutive from 1978 to 1985.
During that stretch, Evans won over 400 feature races across North America, including victories on the 2.5-mile ovals at Daytona and Pocono. He won the Race of Champions modified event three times on three different circuits, Trenton, the 2.5-mile Pocono oval and the 0.75-mile Pocono oval. Along with his nine NASCAR championships, he won 30 track championships at 11 tracks in four different states.
Evans had clinched his ninth Modified championship with a race to go in the 1985 season. The season finale took place at Martinsville. In practice ahead of the final race of the season, Evans suffered a fatal accident in turn three. He was only 44 years old.
Honorable Mention:
Mel Kenyon (Kenyon won the 1974 USAC National Midget Championship in the #61 car, but 52 of Kenyon's record 111 USAC National Midget race victories were in car #61. His first in this number was a 50-lapper at Mazon Speed Bowl in Mazon, Illinois on September 2, 1962, his second career victory. His 111th career victory was in car #61 at the Peoria Civic Center, a 100-lap race on December 3, 1988).
Davy Jones/Jan Lammers/Andy Wallace (1990 24 Hours of Daytona overall winners)
#60: Carl Edwards
This was a toss-up with Edwards and the man who one of Edwards predecessors in this car, Mark Martin.
Roush Racing's #60 entry in NASCAR's second division was once a constant threat for victory and while Martin set the tone, Edwards definitely matched it. Edwards won 38 races in Roush's #60 Ford. From 2005 to 2010, he never finished worse than third in the championship and he took the championship in 2007. His most victories in a season were eight in 2011, the first season NASCAR limited drivers to scoring points toward only one championship.
From 2005 to 2011, Edwards had at least 15 top five finishes and at least 21 top ten finishes in every season. He was running at the finish of 231 of his 243 starts in the #60 Ford. His first victory came at Atlanta in 2005, the day before his first NASCAR Cup Series victory. He beat Marcos Ambrose in a last-lap battle at Montreal and ruthlessly spun Brad Keselowski out from the lead at Gateway. He went from 42nd to first at Indianapolis Raceway Park and won NASCAR's first race back at Road America. He even went out on top, winning his final start in the series, and his final start in the #60 Ford, at Watkins Glen in 2012.
Honorable Mentions:
Mark Martin (Martin won 39 of 127 NASCAR Grand National Series starts in car #60 and he had 93 top ten finishes in that span).
Bill Rexford (The 1950 NASCAR Cup champion used the #60 in 14 of his 36 starts and his only victory at Canfield Speedway in Canfield, Ohio was in the #60 Oldsmobile).
Oswaldo Negri, Jr./John Pew (Throughout the 2000s, Mike Shank Racing ascended as one of the breakout teams on the American sports car racing scene and two of those drivers at the center of the team's success were Negri and Pew. Negri won the team's first race at Miller Motorsports Park in 2006 with Mark Patterson and he and Patterson would win again in 2008 at New Jersey Motorsport Park. At the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona, Negri along with Pew, Justin Wilson and A.J. Allmendinger took the team's biggest victory. Four years later, Negri and Pew won at Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans with Olivier Pla).
Michael van der Mark (2014 Supersport World Champion with six victories, van der Mark has won four World Superbike races in his six-year career).
Raul Boesel/Martin Brundle/John Nielsen/Jan Lammers (1988 24 Hours of Daytona overall winners)
Now that we are through four parts of this series, I figured it would be fun to see the different nationalities represented with 40 numbers accounted for:
United States: 22 (Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Jim Pace, Herb Thomas, Tim Flock, Johnny O'Connell (x2), Buck Baker, Emanuel Zervakis, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Larry Dickson, Tom Sneva, Martin Truex, Jr., Larry Phillips, Johnny Beauchamp, Benny Parsons, Bobby Isaac, Nicky Hayden, Josef Newgarden, Mark Donohue, Richie Evans, Carl Edwards)
United Kingdom: 4 (Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jonathan Rea, Oliver Gavin)
Germany: 3 (Ken Roczen, Maximilian Buhk, Jörg Bergmeister)
Spain: 2 (Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Márquez)
New Zealand: 2 (Shane van Gisbergen, Jim Richards)
Canada: 2 (Paul Tracy, Ron Fellows)
Australia: 2 (Jamie Whincup, Geoff Brabham)
France: 1 (Bob Wollek)
Finland: 1 (Valtteri Bottas)
Japan: 1 (Daijiro Kato)
Brazil: 1 (Hélio Castroneves)
Denmark: 1 (Jan Magnussen)
Monaco: 1 (Olivier Beretta)
What do we make of this?
One, the United States has seen regular usage of higher numbers. Whether it be NASCAR, IndyCar or sports cars, drivers will take a higher number and make it their regular number. Two, this isn't a list of the 40 of the greatest 100 drivers of all-time. This is the greatest for that number. We are supposed to see a few unfamiliar names on this list, and we are supposed to see some familiar names get left off. That's just how it goes.
The halfway point is upon us.
