We are onto round two of our Greatest by Number series and we move into the 80s.
There are a few notable numbers in this group, but there are a few difficult and uncommon numbers to pick out. We go down every avenue of motorsports in this one, from the grandest stages to smallest dirt tracks, but we will include some of the best of all-time.
Our first number was a difficult toss-up.
#89: Johnny O'Connell
This is what the 1987 Formula Atlantic West championship gets you.
O'Connell won four of 10 races that season driving for McNeil Motorsports and he even won the Formula Atlantic East season finale in St. Petersburg giving him five victories on the year. O'Connell won the Formula Atlantic West championship by 13 points over Dean Hall.
From there, O'Connell became one of the best GT drivers, notably driving for the Corvette factory program and picking up seven class victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring and four class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also won multiple championships between the American Le Mans Series and Pirelli World Challenge.
Honorable Mentions:
Chris Windom (2020 USAC Midget National Champion and 2020 USAC National Drivers' Champion. I was between O'Connell and Windom, but I felt O'Connell has accomplished more in his career overall. Windom is still young and someday he could take this spot, especially if he succeeds in car #89).
Morgan Shepherd (Honestly, Shepherd has never really succeeded with this number, but he has used more than anyone else I can recall. That at least earns you a mention. He has made 32 NASCAR Cup Series starts with the number and 244 starts in NASCAR's second division in car #89. He has never finished in the top ten with the number).
#88: Jamie Whincup
You might not have seen this one coming for the #88, but Whincup has the most championships in Australian Supercars history with seven titles, including four-consecutive from 2011 to 2014.
Four of Whincup's championships have come in car #1, but he has three championships in car #88. Of his all-time leading 122 victories, 45 of those have been in car #88. Whincup's victories in car #88 alone would rank him seventh all-time in Supercars victories. This is also a driver who has finished in the top five of the championship in every season since 2007.
The amazing thing is despite all of Whincup's victories and championships and all the success he has had in car #88, none of his Bathurst 1000 victories have come with that number. Three of his victories were in car #888 and one was in car #1. Whincup announced he would walk away from full-time Supercars competition after the 2021 season. He will have one shot to correct that.
Honorable Mentions:
Darrell Waltrip (Won 27 NASCAR Cup Series races with three top five championship finishes and six top ten championship finishes from 1975-1980).
Dale Jarrett (1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion and he won 28 races in the #88 car, including two Daytona 500s and two Brickyard 400s. Jarrett was in the top five of the championship for six consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2001, all in car #88).
Bobby Allison (Won eight NASCAR Cup Series races, all in 1982, including the Daytona 500).
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Won nine NASCAR Cup Series races from 2008-2015, including the 2014 Daytona 500).
#87: Buck Baker
The first back-to-back NASCAR Cup champion, Baker picked up 26 of his 46 victories in car #87 and he won the 1957 championship in car #87.
He won the 1953 Southern 500 in the #87 Oldsmobile and he even won NASCAR's first visit to Watkins Glen in 1957 in the #87 Chevrolet. Baker's average finish in 1957 was 4.68 and he finished in the top ten of 38 of his 40 starts. From 1953 to 1960 his worst championship finishes was fifth.
Not only did Baker succeed on the Cup level, he also won the 1952 NASCAR Speedway Division championship including winning the inaugural race at Darlington in car #87.
Honorable Mentions:
Joe Nemechek (1992 NASCAR Grand National Series champion and Nemechek won 16 NASCAR Grand National Series races with car #87).
Ron Fellows (Three victories in five NASCAR Grand National Series starts in car #87, all driving for Nemechek).
#86: Bob Wollek
Wollek might be one of the best drivers not to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall, but Wollek won all across the world in sports car racing.
One number sporadically popped up in his career and that was the #86.
It started in 1985 when he won at Sonoma driving for the #86 Porsche 962 for Bayside Disposal Racing and he would win the following year on the streets of Miami for the team with Paolo Barilla as his co-driver.
Wollek wouldn't use the number again until 1994, when he drove for Larbre Compétition at the 24 Hours of Daytona and was second overall. Later that year, he won all three of his starts in the #86 Porsche for Larbre in the BPR Global GT Series at Circuit Paul Ricard, the Suzuka 1000km and Zhuhai.
Honorable Mention:
Mario Farnbacher (2019-20 IMSA GT Daytona class champion)
#85: Emanuel Zervakis
Zervakis is not only the driver last alphabetically to win in the NASCAR Cup Series, he is the only driver to win in car #85 in Cup series history.
Both victories came in 1961, Zervakis' breakout season. He won at Greenville ahead of Richard Petty and he led 361 of 500 laps on his way to victory at Norwood Arena in Norwood, Massachusetts, the only Cup race ever held at that 1/4-mile oval. In 1961, Zervakis had two victories, 19 top five finishes and 28 top ten finishes and he finished third in the championship behind Ned Jarrett and Rex White. He had two top ten finishes in 1962 but never finished in the top five again.
Honorable Mention:
Bayside Disposal Racing (Off of Wollek's mention above, Bayside Disposal Racing deserves credit for being the one team to regularly use the #85 and #86. While Wollek had success in the #86 Porsche, a handful of drivers won races in the #85 Porsche as well, including Wollek, who won at Columbus in 1986 with Scott Pruett. The following year Jochen Mass and Klaus Ludwig each won races in the #85 Porsche, Ludwig at Laguna Seca and Mass won the 1987 Del Mar Finale.
Mass and Bobby Rahal even won on their own in the #86 Porsche and as co-drivers. The #86 Porsche won the 12 Hours of Sebring in consecutive years, first with Mass and Rahal in 1987 and then in 1988 with Ludwig and Hans-Joachim Stuck).
Denny Hulme (The #85 has been used in only one Indianapolis 500. That was in 1971 with Denny Hulme. Hulme qualified fourth and went 137 laps before a valve failure knocked him out of the race and classified him in 17th. It was his final Indianapolis start).
#84: Maximilian Buhk
Buhk has quietly won many top honors in European GT3 racing and he has done a lot of it driving the #84 Mercedes-AMG for HTP Motorsport.
He won the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series champions with victories in the 24 Hours fo Spa and the 1000 km Nürburgring. The following season he was second in the Blancpain Sprint Series championship to his co-driver Maximilian Götz because Buhk missed the Slovakia round due to a suspension.
HTP Motorsport switched to Bentley in 2015 and Buhk won the Blancpain Sprint Series championship with Vincent Abril. In 2016, with HTP back running Mercedes-AMGs, Buhk won the overall Blancpain GT Championship with co-driver Dominik Baumann. He was third in the sprint championship the year after that with three victories.
Honorable Mentions:
Chip Robinson (Six IMSA victories from 1989-91, including two 500km Watkins Glen victories).
David Gilliland (2006 NASCAR Grand National Series Kentucky race winner. It was only one victory and he only drove car #84 in seven races, but it was an astonishing underdog winner at the time).
#83: Geoff Brabham
Brabham won four consecutive IMSA GTP championships from 1988 to 1991 driving for Nissan.
The highlights for Brabham were two victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1989 and 1991 and two consecutive victories in the 500 km of Watkins Glen in 1988 and 1989. He won 24 races over those four seasons, 21 of which came in car #83.
The #83 stuck with Brabham even after he returned to racing in Australia. He won nine races in the Australian Super Touring Championship, which included two runner-up finishes in the championship. In 1997, Geoff Brabaham won the Bathurst 1000 with his brother David in the #83 BMW 320i.
Honorable Mentions:
Matthew Brabham (2012 U.S. F2000 champion, 2013 Pro Mazda champion with a record 13 victories from 16 starts, two-time Stadium Super Trucks champion).
Charlie Kimball (2013 Mid-Ohio IndyCar race winner)
#82: Jim Clark
This is all for Clark's 1965 Indianapolis 500 victory.
Clark qualified second for what was his third Indianapolis 500 attempt. After falling short to Parnelli Jones in 1963, and a suspension failure while leading early from pole position end his race in 1964, Clark whooped the field in 1965. He led 190 of 200 laps in his Lotus 38, including the final 125 circuits on his way to a historic victory in a historic season.
His victory was the first for a non-American driver Gaston Chevrolet won the 1920 race. It was the first rear-engine car to win the Indianapolis 500. Later that season, Clark secured the World Drivers' Championship having won in his first six starts in the Formula One season. His 190 laps led are still tied for third-most laps led by an Indianapolis 500 winner.
Clark gets this because he is Jim Clark, damn it! To make it even better, this Indianapolis 500 start was the only time Clark ever used car #82 in his career.
Honorable Mentions:
Tony Kanaan (Kanaan used the #82 in the 2011 IndyCar season when he was a late addition to the KV Racing stable, which Lotus sponsored that season. Why #82? Because of Clark. Kanaan didn't win a race that season, but he was fifth in the championship with three podium finishes and he was fourth at Indianapolis).
#81: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
There are not many notable drivers to use the #81 in motorsports history and when looking over the options, the best choice was the most notable name.
Back when Earnhardt, Jr. was at the height of his NASCAR career and occasional dipped into NASCAR's second division, he would run different numbers than what we saw him drive in the Cup Series. He even ran one race in a car #83.
I remember Earnhardt, Jr. running the #81 and I was surprised to find out he only used it seven times in his career, but he did win one of those races, the 2004 summer race at Bristol. He led 125 of 256 laps in what was a dominant weekend for Earnhardt, Jr. The following night he would win the Cup race after leading 295 of 500 laps from 30th starting position.
Besides his Bristol victory, he was second in the #81 at Talladega earlier in 2004 in a Chance2 Motorsports 1-2 finish with Martin Truex, Jr. and third at Daytona the following February behind Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick.
Also, I am giving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. this now in case some of you are disappointed down the road. Foreshadowing!
Honorable Mentions:
Bobby Hillin, Jr (Two NASCAR Grand National Series victories)
Len Sutton (Two IndyCar race victories, Trenton 1958 and Springfield 1959, the only IndyCar victories for car #81).
#80: Larry Dickson
Dickson was a three-time USAC sprint car champion and that third title in 1975 came driving the #80 car for Ensign Racing. He won five races that season with his victories coming at Reading, Winchester, Toledo, New Bremen and Eldora.
When Dickson retired, his 45 sprint car victories were the most all-time in USAC. Tom Bigelow first surpassed Dickson's mark but Dickson remains fifth all-time. He also used the #80 in his Indianapolis 500 starts in 1978 and 1979. He qualified ninth in 1978, but oil pressure issues knocked him out just after halfway. He qualified and finished 24th in 1979, knocked out of the race when he lost a fuel pump.
Honorable Mentions:
Patricio O'Ward (Won seven of 16 races in the 2016 Pro Mazda championship, but was runner-up in the championship to teammate Aaron Telitz).
Tony Stewart (Stewart raced car #80 once in his NASCAR career, the 2009 NASCAR Grand National Series season opener at Daytona driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the race and it was his second of four consecutive victories in the February Daytona race and the fourth time he had won the race in a five-year span. He would win that race seven times in a nine-year period from 2005 to 2013).
Joe Ruttman (Won five races in the 1997 NASCAR Truck Series season, the second-most victories, but he finished third in the championship. Don't feel so bad about Ruttman. Ron Hornaday, Jr. won seven races that season and was fifth in the championship).
To recap, through two rounds, here is how our series representation looks:
NASCAR Cup champions: 3
Indianapolis 500 winners: 2
Grand Prix motorcycle champions: 2
Australian Supercars champions: 2
IMSA champions: 2
Indy Lights/Atlantics champions: 2
Motocross/Supercross champions: 1
Dirt oval champions: 1
GT3 champions: 1
And then we got a long-forgotten NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Bob Wollek, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Dan Gurney. The list is coming along.
Twenty down, 80 to go.
