I am not sure what brought this to mind. It could be the recent passings of Bobby Unser and Al Unser. It could be that this year marks the 30-year anniversary of A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears' final IndyCar starts, but I was thinking about the distances between this grid and those legendary drivers of the 20th century.
None of the current drivers raced against the Unsers, Foyt, Mears and Mario Andretti. Many of these drivers weren't even alive when those men raced. It is the circle of life. Nothing lasts forever and a new generation is populating the grid, paddock area and grandstands.
IndyCar's golden era is becoming less present. This is a time many of us have long thought about because nothing lasts forever. IndyCar is in a better place than it could have been when the series underwent this change, but it is still difficult to accept.
Considering the grid in 2022, I started wondering how separated are the present drivers from those heroes of the past. Who was the last driver to compete in IndyCar that raced against A.J. Foyt? Mario Andretti? The Unsers? And so on.
It feels more distant, but after going through the record book, the past isn't as far from the present as we think.
And it is all because of one man.
None of the current drivers competed directly against Foyt, Andretti, Al Unser, Mears and so on in IndyCar. That is not a surprise. But mean drivers are only two degrees of separation away.
And it is all because of Buddy Lazier.
Buddy Lazier made his IndyCar debut on June 24, 1990 at Portland. His Indianapolis 500 debut was in 1991, Rick Mears' fourth victory and penultimate Indianapolis 500 start. Lazier ran until the 2017 Indianapolis 500, meaning the separation is much smaller than we would have thought.
Ten of IndyCar's current full-time drivers are only two degrees of separation from Foyt, Andretti, Unser, Mears, as well as Gordon Johncock, Tom Sneva, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Willy T. Ribbs to name a few other drivers. Those ten current drivers also do not take into consider Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter and J.R. Hildebrand, drivers who are all planned entrants into this year's Indianapolis 500.
That means 15 possible Indianapolis 500 starters will only be two degrees of separation from those greats. Not to mention, they are only three degrees separated from the likes of Tony Bettenhausen and Rodger Ward.
What about some other drivers?
Jacques Villeneuve went nearly 20 years between IndyCar starts, but when he returned for the 2014 Indianapolis 500 he gave 32 drivers who otherwise would have never raced against him the opportunity to make that connection. Of those drivers, only Hélio Castroneves, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud (who was Villeneuve's teammate in that race), Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal are still full-time. There are a handful of other drivers who will be part-time that were in that 2014 race, but Villeneuve makes those seven drivers only two degrees separated from a few drivers.
Because Villeneuve had not run since 1995 before he returned to the Speedway in 2014, that makes Villeneuve the last driver to compete against Danny Sullivan to run an IndyCar race. Villeneuve is only the last driver to compete against Dick Simon to race in IndyCar.
When I was first thinking about this, I thought John Andretti would be the answer for some of these, but Buddy Lazier steals a lot of the thunder. Andretti does have a few interesting names. He was the last driver to compete against Johnny Rutherford to start an IndyCar race. He was also the last driver to race against Derek Daly to compete in an IndyCar race, as well as Josele Garza and Dale Coyne.
Graham Rahal, Dixon, Power, Castroneves and Sato are the only active drivers two degrees from Rutherford, Daly, Garza and Coyne, and that means Conor Daly is three degrees separated from his father.
Dixon is a lot closer to his team owner than some will realize. Dixon raced against Roberto Moreno during the 2001 CART season and in the 2006 St. Petersburg race. Moreno is the last driver to race in IndyCar that raced against Chip Ganassi. Moreno is also the last driver to race against Randy Lanier and Alan Jones, who made only one IndyCar start at Road America in 1985.
Dixon is two degrees away from Ganassi, Lanier and Jones, as are Rahal, Power, Castroneves, Sato. By the way, Moreno raced against Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti and Marco Andretti. How many drivers can say that? I am sure it is a longer list than we realize, but we can tackle that on another day.
Castroneves is the last link to a few notable drivers. He is the last driver to race against Bobby Rahal to be competing in IndyCar. He is the last driver to race against Jan Magnussen in IndyCar that is still competing. Coincidentally, Castroneves has two degrees of separation to Kevin Magnussen in IndyCar because Castroneves was not in the Road America race last year. Castroneves of course has competed against Kevin Magnussen in IMSA sports car competition.
Castroneves is also the last driver standing to race against Tony Stewart in an IndyCar and Castroneves is the last one to share a grid with Scott Goodyear.
Because Castroneves came up in the late 1990s, and not long after him Tony Kanaan and Dixon began their careers, they are all a part of an exclusive club. They are the last drivers to compete against Alex Zanardi and Greg Moore still on the grid. Castroneves and Kanaan are the last drivers remaining that raced against Arie Luyendyk.
We have covered a lot of drivers here, but what about Bobby Unser? Who was the last driver to compete against Bobby Unser to run an IndyCar race?
While the likes of Foyt, Andretti and Al Unser raced into the 1990s, Bobby Unser called it a career after his third Indianapolis 500 victory in 1981. John Andretti was the last driver to start an IndyCar race in the 1980s standing when he retired after the 2011 season, and Andretti's first IndyCar start was in 1987, over six years after Bobby Unser's final start.
So who is it? The recently departed Danny Ongais.
Ongais was in that 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 27th, his fifth Indianapolis 500 start. Ongais' final IndyCar start was January 25, 1997 at Walt Disney World Speedway. Ongais was the final driver to start a race in the 1970s to compete in IndyCar. Ongais is the last link for a few notable drivers. He was the final driver to compete against Roger McCluskey to start an IndyCar race as well as Lloyd Ruby, Wally Dallenbach, Janet Guthrie and Clay Regazzoni.
None of the current IndyCar grid raced against Danny Ongais.
But you know who was the last driver to start an IndyCar race who had competed against Ongais?
Buddy Lazier.
