We are entering a difficult part of this Greatest by Number because the 70s are not full of many all-time greats. Not many champions and famous race winners came used a number in the 70s. There are a few, but in some cases, we have to make a special exception and go more on what that person accomplished outside of that number than in it.
We start part three with one of those cases.
#79: Tom Sneva
Sneva's IndyCar debut came on October 3, 1971 at Trenton driving the #79 Kramer-Chevrolet. This came one year after a failed attempt at a debut driving for Vollstedt Racing at Phoenix.
Sneva qualified 27th out of 28 entries, ahead of only Don Brown. It was not a debut to write home about. Sneva completed 91 of 200 laps before a broken spindle took him out of the competition. He would finish 21st ahead of Roger McCluskey, Lloyd Ruby, Gary Bettenhausen, Dick Simon, Carl Williams, Jim McElreath and Bill Simpson.
Twenty days later, Sneva did not qualify for the season finale at Phoenix and that was the last time he used the #79 in his IndyCar career. He would not make another IndyCar start until April 7, 1973 at Texas. His first top ten finish was in his fifth start, a tenth in second of two California 500 heat races. Nearly three years after his debut, Sneva would pick up his first top five finish with a fifth at Michigan and nearly four years after that day in Trenton, Sneva won his first race at Michigan.
Not long after that, Sneva would become the first man to break the 200-mph lap average in Indianapolis 500 qualifying and win consecutive championships for Team Penske. An Indianapolis 500 victory was a little further down the road.
Honorable Mentions:
Mike Cofer (Who is Mike Cofer you ask? Cofer won the 1994 Plummer Pontiac 100 at Stockton 99 Speedway in Stockton, California. It was the fourth race of the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour season. Cofer ended up fifth in the championship that season. Cofer's other claim to fame is he played eight seasons in the NFL, six of which for the San Francisco 49ers, and he won Super Bowl XXIII and Super Bowl XXIV with the team. In 2002, he made three NASCAR Truck Series starts with his best finish being 21st at Phoenix).
Paul Newman (Newman's final 24 Hours of Daytona start came in 2005 in the #79 Ford/Crawford with Sébastien Bourdais, Cristiano da Matta and Mike Brockman as his co-drivers. The race came just over a week after Newman's 80th birthday. Unfortunately, the race ended after 290 laps due to an accident).
#78: Martin Truex, Jr.
It might have been Furniture Row Racing's number, but Turex, Jr. raised it to glorious heights in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Truex, Jr. joined Furniture Row Racing after being collateral damage when NAPA Auto Parts left Michael Waltrip Racing after MWR infamously had Clint Bowyer spin at Richmond in an attempt to aid an unsuspecting Truex, Jr. Year one was not great for Truex at FRR: One top five finish, five top ten finishes, one lap led and 24th in the championship. Over the next four seasons, Truex, Jr. and FRR become one of the dominant forces in NASCAR.
With a victory at Pocono, Truex made the playoffs and made it to the championship four at Homestead and he ended up fourth in the championship, the first time he had finished in the top ten of the championship. In 2016, he won the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500 with additional victories at Chicago and Dover. He was also runner-up in the Daytona 500 by 0.010 seconds to Denny Hamlin. An engine failure at Talladega eliminated Truex in the round of 12, but the entire group bounced back.
Truex won eight races, had 19 top five finishes and 26 top ten finishes on his way to the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship. It was the first championship for a single-car team since Alain Kulwicki won the 1992 championship as an owner-driver. The team put up an admirable title defense in 2018. Truex had 20 top five finishes and 21 top ten finishes. He won four races and was again in the championship four at Homestead. The race came down to a late restart and Truex did not have the car over a short run.
Joey Logano held the advantage over the final 15-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Logano took the lead with 12 laps to go and beat Truex for the victory and the championship by 1.725 seconds.
Team owner Barney Visser had announced earlier in the 2018 season that Furniture Row Racing would close its doors at the conclusion of the Homestead race. Truex moved to Joe Gibbs Racing and has continued to be a regular race winner, but he will be remembered for his success in the matte black #78 Toyota.
Honorable Mention:
Simona de Silvestro (The Swiss driver was synonymous with the #78 from her IndyCar debut in 2010, but de Silvestro also used it in the 2009 Atlantics Championship, where she won four races and seven podium finishes sin ten races. Unfortunately, she ended up third in the championship after an opening lap accident in the finale. She entered Laguna Seca leading the championship. In IndyCar, de Silvestro used #78 in 65 of her 68 starts and it was her number in her breakout drive in the 2011 St. Petersburg season opener and her runner-up finish at the first Houston race in 2013).
Tom Kristensen/Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela (2000 12 Hours of Sebring winner. Pirro and Biela would run the #78 Audi R8 full-time in the 2000 America Le Mans Series season and they won two other races on the rovals at Texas and Las Vegas).
#77 Valtteri Bottas
You can roll your eyes all you want but until you win nine Formula One grand prix in car #77 this honor will belong to Bottas.
Prior to Bottas adopting the #77 ahead of the 2014 season when numbers would be tied to the drivers in Formula One, it had not been used since the infamous 1976 German Grand Prix with Rolf Stommelen driving for Brabham. The number had been used in only ten Formula One races, eight of those were Indianapolis 500s. Its best finish was fifth in the 1955 Indianapolis 500 with Walk Faulkner and Bill Homeier splitting the car.
The #77 did have a good batting average scoring points prior to Bottas claiming it. It had finished in the top six in four of its ten races, including a sixth with Stommelen.
In the Bottas-era, car #77 has won nine races, all with Mercedes-AMG. Bottas has taken it to the podium 56 times. He has finished in the top five of the championship in six of seven seasons with the Finn taking vice-champion honors in 2019 and 2020, finishing second to teammate Lewis Hamilton each year.
Honorable Mentions:
Simon Pagenaud (Driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Pagenaud won his first four IndyCar races in car #77, including a victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. In his three full seasons with SPM in car #77, Pagenaud finished fifth, third and fifth in the championship).
Allan McNish/Rinaldo Capello (In Audi's first America Le Mans Series season, McNish and Capello won five of 12 races, including victories in Petit Le Mans and the Race of a Thousand Years at Adelaide. The #77 Audi R8 led 1,117 of 1,973 laps run that season. McNish and Capello averaged a starting position of 1.8 and averaged a finishing position of 3.1. They stood on the podium ten times and they had eight pole positions).
#76: Jörg Bergmeister
Bergmeister won the 2006 Grand-Am Daytona Prototype championship driving the #76 Ford/Riley for Krohn Racing. His co-driver was Colin Braun for most of the season, but Braun had to miss a few races due to the Master Settlement Agreement, which prevented the then 17-year-old Braun from competing at weekends where tobacco sponsorship was present. Those would be the shared weekends with IndyCar and Marlboro Team Penske.
Paired with Boris Said, Bergmeister won the Six Hours of the Glen and it started a run of four consecutive podium finishes. Bergmeister and Braun were second at Mid-Ohio from 25th on the grid. They won the next race at the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona after stretching fuel mileage over the #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche/Crawford of Patrick Long and Mike Rockenfeller. Their third victory in four races came in a scorcher at Barber Motorsports Park.
The #76 Ford/Riley would not finish on the podium after that Barber victory but Bergmeister would take the title by 16 points over the Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Pruett and Luis Díaz.
Honorable Mentions:
Jack Baldwin (1984-85 IMSA GTU champion. Baldwin won five races in 1984, including the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also won four races in the 1985 season. In 1986, Baldwin moved to the GTO class and won, you guessed it, four races, including the 500-mile race at Watkins Glen with Geoff Bodine as his co-driver. Baldwin only won three races in the 1987 season).
Uncle Jacques Villeneuve (Villeneuve used the #76 in the 1984 and 1985 CART seasons. He picked up his only career victory in #76 March 85C-Cosworth driving for Canadian Tire Racing. He led 14 laps from fourth on the grid. He would finish third in the next race at Mid-Ohio an ended up eighth in the championship).
#75: Larry Phillips
Phillips is regarded as one of the best short track racers to compete in the NASCAR weekly series history.
Phillips won five national championships and he thrashed the field in some of those seasons. In 1991, he won 32 of 40 starts on his way to his second national championship. How did he follow that up in 1992? He won 38 of 40 starts and took the championship for a second consecutive and third time in five seasons. His fourth championship came after winning 32 of 40 starts again and he won it on tiebreaker over future NASCAR Cup Series race winner Greg Biffle. Phillips' fifth and final championship was in 1996 after winning 14 of 20 races.
From 1989 to 2001, Phillips won 220 of 289 starts in NASCAR-sanctioned races.
Honorable Mentions:
Tommy Kendall (Kendall won three consecutive IMSA GTU championships from 1986-88 and the first two were driving the #75 Cunningham Racing Mazda. In 1986, Kendall won four races, and he won five races in 1987).
Neil Bonnett (Bonnett won four NASCAR Cup Series races in car #75, including the 1983 World 600 and he finished sixth in the championship that season)
#74: Daijiro Kato
Kato took no time showing his speed on the grand prix motorcycle scene. As a wild card entry in the Japanese Grand Prix from 1996 to 1999, Kato picked up two victories, a third and a fifth in the 250cc class.
When Kato joined the 250cc championship full-time in 2000, he won four races and scored points in all 16 races, but he lost the championship by 20 points to Olivier Jacque. Kato's sophomore season was even more prolific. He won the first four races and he won 11 of the 16 races, a record that stands to this day as most victories in a 250cc/Moto2 season.
For 2002, Kato moved up MotoGP and he picked up his first podium finish in his third start at Jerez, finishing runner-up to Valentino Rossi. Kato would pick up another runner-up finish at Brno to Max Biaggi. Later that season, Kato won pole position at Motegi. He would finish seventh in the championship as a rookie.
Sadly, Kato lost his life in the 2003 season opener at Suzuka when he suffered an accident on the third lap of the race at the Casio Triangle.
Honorable Mention:
Randy LaJoie (1996-97 NASCAR Grand National Series champion and won 11 races in NASCAR's second division).
#73: Johnny Beauchamp
Not many drivers are remembered for a runner-up finish, but the most notable result of Beauchamp's career was his runner-up finish in the inaugural Daytona 500. For three days, Beauchamp was the Daytona 500 winner until photos developed to show that Lee Petty had beat Beauchamp to the line in a photo finish.
What has often gone unmentioned is Beauchamp's career outside of that one fateful photo finish. He won his next start at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, leading all 100 laps in the process. Beauchamp never became a NASCAR regular though. He only made 23 starts, spread out over five seasons between 1953 and 1961. He would win at Nashville in 1960 and was even runner-up in the inaugural World 600 at Charlotte.
In 23 starts, he had two victories, seven top five finishes and ten top ten finishes. But here is the kicker... Beauchamp never started the Daytona 500 again after his runner-up finish in 1959. He failed to make it out of the qualifying races in both 1960 and 1961.
Honorable Mentions:
Álex Márquez (2019 Moto2 world champion, Márquez has used the #73 since he made his Moto2 debut in 2015. Eight of his 12 grand prix victories have come with the #73, including five in his championship season. In his rookie MotoGP season, Márquez had a pair of runner-up finish at Le Mans and Aragón. The #73 really could be Álex Márquez's and I am sure someday it will be his. For now, let's give it to Beauchamp).
David Hobbs (Hobbs used the #73 in four IndyCar starts between 1973 and 1974, including two Indianapolis 500s. He was fifth in the 1974 race).
#72: Benny Parsons
The 1973 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Parsons only won one race that season when he led 320 laps at the summer Bristol race. But consistency was on Parsons side. In 28 races, he had 15 top five finishes and 21 top ten finishes.
Unfortunately for Parsons, that consistency nearly wasn't enough. In the Rockingham finale, Parsons was collected in an accident on lap 13 of the 492-lap race. With extensive damage to the right side of his car, Parsons crew frantically worked to get the #72 Chevrolet back on track to stop Cale Yarborough from winning the championship.
Parsons ended up completing 308 laps and finished 28th while Yarborough finished third and that was enough for Parsons to take the championship by 67.15 points. NASCAR's points scoring system was odd back then.
Parsons won the title despite having one victory and 374 laps led, 320 of which came in one race, while Yarborough won four times and led 3,167 laps. And Yarborough wasn't even one of the top two drivers in victory that season.
Twelve of Parsons' 21 Cup victories came in the #72 car for L.G. DeWitt, including his 1975 Daytona 500 victory.
Honorable Mention:
Luigi Villoresi (One of two times the #72 was used in a Formula One race was the 1951 German Grand Prix. Villoresi qualified fifth and finished fourth in the #72 Ferrari).
Gaetano Starrabba (The other entry came ten years later when Starrabba qualified 30th for the Italian Grand Prix in a Lotus 18 chassis with a Maserati straight-4 engine. Starrabba completed 19 laps before losing an engine, leaving him in de facto 15th with only 12 cars completing the race. It was Starrabba's only Formula One start).
#71: Bobby Isaac
Thirty-five of Isaac's 37 NASCAR Cup victories were in the #71 K&K Insurance Dodge for Nord Krauskopf.
Seventeen of those victories were in the 1969 season, more than any other driver, but the most victories and 5,053 laps led could only get Isaac sixth in the championship. The following season, Isaac won only 11 races and led only 3,188 laps but he won the championship by only 51 points over Bobby Allison.
Thirty-two of Isaac's victories came on short tracks with only five victories on tracks over a mile in length. Two of those were Daytona 500 qualifying races, which counted toward the championship back then. The other three victories were the 1969 season finale, the Texas 500 at Texas World Speedway, the 1971 Firecracker 400 and the 1972 Carolina 500, Isaac's final Cup victory.
Isaac's winning percentage of 12.01% still ranks 15th all-time among drivers with at least 100 Cup starts. He is directly ahead of Bobby Allison, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Joe Weatherly and Darrell Waltrip. No active driver has a winning percentage above 10% with Kyle Busch leading the way at 9.93%.
Honorable Mentions:
Alberto Ascari (Ascari's first Formula One victory was the 1951 German Grand Prix in the #71 Ferrari. He led 11 of 20 laps, including the final six, holding over Juan Manuel Fangio).
Rick Mears (Mears made his Indianapolis 500 debut in the #71 Penske PC6-Cosworth. He qualified on the front row in third position with an average speed of 200.078 MPH. His race lasted 103 laps before he lost an engine. Mears' month earned him co-Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors, splitting it with Larry Rice, who finished 11th from 30th on the grid).
#70: Graham Hill
Hill made three Indianapolis 500 starts and won on debut in 1966, but his most famous race might be his final start in 1968.
One year removed from the STP-Paxton Turbocar nearly stealing the show with Parnelli Jones, Lotus brought its own turbine, the Lotus 56, to Indianapolis.
Lotus was going to have Jim Clark and Hill lead the outfit, but after Clark lost his life at Hockenheim in April, Hill found himself leading the Day-Glo orange fleet of STP-backed vehicles. Mike Spence was brought into the team after Clark's death, but Spence was fatally injured in practice at Indianapolis. The team continued with three cars.
Despite all the hardship, Lotus put Joe Leonard on pole position, Hill was second and Art Pollard started 11th. Leonard led the first seven laps before third-place starter Bobby Unser took the top spot on lap eight. Hill lost some spots at the start, but he remained in the top five until he lost a wheel in turn two after 110 laps. Leonard would find himself leading late only to lose a fuel pump with nine laps to go.
All three turbines retired from the race and it was the final time a turbine attempted Indianapolis and the final time the Lotus outfit entered. The Lotus 56 is just one of many symbols of the 60s, an era of incredible innovation, while Hill's presence at Indianapolis captured the international flare of the event during this period.
Honorable Mentions:
J.D. McDuffie (653 NASCAR Cup Series starts. McDuffie has the most starts in NASCAR Cup Series history without a victory).
Paul Newman/Mark Martin/Tommy Kendall/Mike Brockman (1994 24 Hours of Daytona GTO class winner).
Three rounds down and how does the leaderboard stack up among the series of origin for each number:
NASCAR: 9
American sports cars: 5
IndyCar: 4
Grand Prix motorcycle racing: 3
Supercars: 2
American junior series: 2
American short track: 2
Moto/Supercross: 1
GT3: 1
Formula One: 1
Through three rounds, we have 30 different drivers. No repeats. How long will that hold up? Seventy numbers remain.
