Greatest by Number: #59-50

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.

Musings From the Weekend: Sprint!

Murray Walker passed away, aged 97. IndyCar will have an iRacing series after all. Formula One did some testing. Red Bull has the most confidence. Mercedes could be shaky. McLaren looks like the McLaren of old. Aston Martin might already be a letdown. MotoGP did some testing. Jack Miller broke the Losail track record. Yamaha was strong. Álex Márquez fractured his foot. Marc Márquez is pushing to run the first race of the season. Martin Truex, Jr. won the NASCAR Cup race from Phenix, making it five different winners in five races to starts the season and six different winners in the last six races dating back to last season. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

Sprint!

For a series rigid to change, Formula One does like to bring up a lot of potential changes and ahead of the 2021 season we could see another attempt to mix up the race weekend. 

The plan is to trial a sprint race on Saturday at a few races. Originally, Montreal, Monza and Interlagos were test locations, but it sounds like Silverstone could replace Montreal or become a fourth sprint race round. Knockout qualifying would take place on Friday in place of second free practice, but that would set the grid for the sprint race on Saturday. The sprint race would be a third distance of the grand prix and a few drivers would be awarded points. Sprint race points have not been announced but the rumors range from the top eight finishers scoring half points, 12-9-7-6-5-4-2-1, or only the top three receiving points, declining 3-2-1. The finishing order of the Saturday race would set the grid for the grand prix on Sunday. 

While Formula One has been playing around with trying new things, this is a massive leap for the series. It has fiddled with qualifying with the currently knockout format intact for the last 15 years. There was an attempted alteration in 2016 when the slowest driver was eliminated every 90 seconds in a qualifying round. That was dropped after two races. 

During the turbo-hybrid era, when three teams have had a firm stranglehold on the top spots and Mercedes has led the way, there has been an increased push to try something different just to add some variance to the races. With the schedule creeping toward two-dozen races, going through the same motions that many times from the middle of March through the start of December leaves little to be excited about. It becomes rinse, wash, repeat before we even make it to the first race of summer.

The most memorable races last year were the ones where the field was mixed up, most notably Monza and the Sakhir Grand Prix on the Bahrain outer circuit. Lewis Hamilton was shuffled to the back at Monza after a penalty and he had to climb from outside the top 15 with half the race in the bag. Meanwhile, you ended up with Pierre Gasly victorious for AlphaTauri ahead of a McLaren and a Racing Point with both Ferraris out of the race and both Red Bulls woefully behind. 

At Sakhir, Hamilton was unable to compete due to contracting COVID-19. Mercedes still dominated with George Russell moving over from Williams, but when Mercedes fitted the wrong tires on Russell's car, it forced him to the back. Russell made a charge only to suffer a tire puncture, again sending him in the wrong direction. It set up Sergio Pérez for a stunning victory with Racing Point ahead of Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Jr. and Daniel Ricciardo. We also had Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc take each out on lap one. 

Of course, you cannot penalize the Mercedes drivers and cause collisions between a Red Bull and a Ferrari in every race just to mix it up, but you can add additional barriers that could trip up the top teams and bring them back to the rest of the field. 

Unfortunately, I do not see the proposed sprint race as a potential barrier to the teams. In fact, I see a sprint race being something that would only make Formula One's rich teams even richer. 

The sprint race would effectively become Formula One's version of stage racing we see in NASCAR. When NASCAR added stage racing and started giving out points at two random points in the race to the teams running in the top ten many talking heads said it would be great and give the little teams a chance to compete with the top teams. Except most of those little teams were not running in the top ten, which meant they didn't score any points and the teams that were already dominating races and winning races with 220 of 334 laps led still won those races but now earned 15-20 more points because of how dominant there day was overall. It didn't bring the field closer together but provided more insurance to the top teams.

Using the NASCAR Cup Series regular season as the example, through 26 races, the average gap from first to tenth since stage racing was introduced in 2017 is 316.75 points. The largest gap was 347 points in 2020 and the smallest gap was 276 points in 2019. From 2011-2016, the average gap from first to tenth after 26 races was 146.833 points. The smallest gap was 91 points in 2013 and the largest gap was 221 points in 2015, but 2015 was the only season with a gap above 200 points. Stage racing has done everything but tighten up the field.

This will happen in Formula One. A third distance isn't even long enough for pit stops. Mercedes will qualify on the front row, run 14-20 laps, finish 1-2 and Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will have an extra few points or as many as nine to 12 more points before we even reach Sunday. Then they will lineup first and second again for the grand prix, pull away over 60-70 laps and instead of leaving a race weekend with at most 26 points for a race victory and at most 44 points to the constructor for a 1-2, a driver could leave with possibly 38 points for sweeping the races (though it hasn't been mentioned if fastest lap in the sprint race would earn a point. It that case it could be as high as 39 points), and a constructor could leave with a maximum of 65 points from one race weekend. 

Mercedes and Ferrari are actually pushing for sprint races because they likely see the math and realize it could be in their best interest to score more points. 

While Mercedes and Ferrari are ready to fill their coffers, there has been an idea that is a slight alteration to the sprint race format that has been out there for some time. It has received push back and that is a reverse grid race on Saturday. Instead of having a qualifying session, the field would lineup in reverse order of the World Drivers' Championship standings, run a race at a third distance of a grand prix and the result of that race would set the grid on Sunday. 

The biggest complaint is a reverse grid race would be too gimmicky for Formula One and really be a detriment to the top teams. I would argue if you are going to make a change you mind as well make it completely different from the status quo. 

The proposed sprint race format is just extending the grand prix by 33.333% and awarding more points to the top teams. After Saturday, the top teams will still be starting at the front of the field on Sunday. Sprint races have more a chance of driving potential viewers away from watching the grand prix on Sunday because if people have just spent a third of a race, about 40 minutes watching Mercedes run away from the field, why would they tune in to see 65 more laps of that over about two hours the next day? 

Whatever change is made should be done to make sure people will tune in on Sunday. The proposed sprint race format does not do that, but a reverse grid race has more potential. On Saturday, you would have to watch to see where each driver settles out on the grid. Can Lewis Hamilton make it from 20th into the top ten? Can Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc keep Hamilton behind them? Could the Alfa Romeos hang on at the front? There is plenty to watch for and when the race is over, you are heading into Sunday wondering if Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc can make it from their starting position, whether that is fifth, eighth or 12th, to the front and compete for a victory and you are wondering if a Alfa Romeo or a Williams could hold on and potentially pull out some points. 

It would be different from what we have now, but not necessarily worse, and I think far from being worse. I get the reservations to change and we all enjoy the knockout qualifying format. The problem isn't the knockout qualifying format, but for the better part of a decade now Formula One has been a little stale. Not every race can be an all-time legendary event, but too often it has felt routine and we can pencil down the finishing order for the grand prix on the Thursday night prior to the race weekend and end up correct. 

There are procedural elements that have to be ironed out for either sprint race or reverse grid race. Looking at the sprint race format, the main question is where are grid penalties applied, the sprint race or the grand prix? Qualifying will set the grid for the sprint race. It would make sense for penalties to be applied there. What incentive would a team have for trying in the sprint race if grid penalties were just going to send it to the rear of the grid for Sunday? But how effective is the penalty if the punishment goes toward the sprint race? And then there is the fact that you can't punish a team twice, giving out grid penalties for both races. That is overkill.

And then there is the record book. Who is considered the pole-sitter? Are there two pole-sitters? I actually believe there is a simple solution for the sprint race format. Pole position goes to the fastest driver at the end of Q3 on Friday and then you have a new statistical category for sprint race victories. Sprint victories stand on their own. They are not grand prix victories. We don't have to worry about having a dozen drivers breaking the century mark and knocking Michael Schumacher down to 13th all-time in victories before the end of this decade. 

As for reverse grid races, since there would be no qualifying session, the winner of that race is credited with pole position. The winner would start on pole position after all. That reverse grid race would be the qualifying session, but instead of qualifying coming down to individual lap times, it would come down to a finishing result. Because this is what would set the grid, it would not need to award points. The reward would be the starting position earned. 

Qualifying has evolved. We have had one-hour sessions evolve into to single-lap qualifying, which led to the current knockout format. We don't know what the record book would look like if there was the knockout format in the age of Senna and Prost and we don't know how the record book would look if Hamilton and Vettel had to rely on only one flying lap. It would be just another change, albeit one of the larger shifts.

 

We need to be flexible to change but remain critical about every proposition. If any changes are made, Formula One should make it accentuates the grand prix on Sunday. The grand prix is still the main event. It should be what is remembered when the weekend is over and draw the biggest crowd. Whatever happens on Friday and Saturday should be building to Sunday. Whatever happens on Friday and Saturday should make people want to tune in on Sunday. Formula One cannot afford to turn people away from Sunday because of what was seen on Saturday. 

The difference this time around is Formula One's biggest two teams are behind this change. The plan is for a trial this year, but it feels like we are awaiting a greater change in the very near future. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Martin Truex, Jr., but did you know...

Austin Cindric won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Phoenix, his second victory of the season.

Cooper Webb won the Supercross race from Arlington, his fourth victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

A 12 Hours of Sebring in March.

NASCAR will be in Atlanta. 

Supercross has two more races in Arlington, one on Tuesday and one on Saturday.

Supercars has a round at Sandown in place of the postponed Albert Park round. 

Greatest by Number: #69-60

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. 

Greatest by Number: #79-70

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.