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We are now a couple of weeks removed from Super Bowl LVIII and the fanfare has finally died down. But in the few days afterwards, the sports-talk radio comparisons of Patrick Mahomes to some of the other greats of the game, ended up spawning comparisons of several quarterbacks over the years.

One thing I noticed was that the number of Super Bowl rings a quarterback owned was the main measure of greatness these people were using. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair or accurate.

Let’s get one thing straight; I despise the acronym of GOAT. When I say that I think AJ Foyt is the greatest race car driver to turn a wheel – I refer to him as the greatest of all time. I don’t call him The GOAT. I’m thinking that anyone who called Foyt the GOAT to his face, would end up with a tire tool upside their head.

Now it is not a coincidence that the driver who I think is the greatest ever was the first to win the Indianapolis 500 four times. Forty-seven years later, that is still the mark to shoot for, but three others have equaled it since Foyt set the bar that high – Al Unser, Rick Mears and most recently Helio Castroneves.

Some of the football arguments said Eli Manning was equal to his big brother Peyton, because they both had two Super Bowl rings. Some actually perceived it as a negative that Peyton had also lost two Super Bowls, while Eli had never lost one. Terry Bradshaw was 4-0 in Super Bowls. On paper, that would mean Bradshaw was twice as good as either of the Mannings. Those of us who have clear memories of those Steeler teams of the 70s know that Bradshaw was one of the weaker links of those teams that featured one of the meanest and toughest defenses, along with Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier on offense. Counting rings would lead one to believe that Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson are better quarterbacks than Dan Marino and Dan Fouts, simply based on the amount of Super Bowl rings they have.

It’s the same with the Indianapolis 500. Before he won last year’s race, Josef Newgarden was fond of saying that he was fine if he never won the Indianapolis 500. Of course his tune changed just after he won it, but his point was that there are a lot of great drivers who never drank milk in Victory Lane. Don’t fall into the trap of counting a driver’s collection of milk bottles, when judging a career.

I mean no disrespect to Helio Castroneves, but does anyone truly think that Helio is four times the driver that Mario Andretti was? I’ll bet Helio would be the first to say that wasn’t the case. That would also mean that Eddie Cheever should be considered Mario’s equal, because they both visited Victory Lane once apiece.

For the rest of his life, Floyd Davis was known as an Indianapolis 500 winner. On paper, that was true; but it is hard to lump Davis in with Jim Clark, Mario Andretti and Scott Dixon; when he never led a single lap in the 500. Still, his face is on the Borg-Warner Trophy, alongside his co-driver, Mauri Rose, who did all of the heavy lifting that day.

Takuma Sato has two Indianapolis 500 wins to his credit and will be chasing a third this May. I know we are comparing different eras, but do most fans put Sato in the same conversation with Rodger Ward or Bill Vukovich, when discussing two-time winners?

Am I taking anything away from anyone, who won the Indianapolis 500? Absolutely not. On the contrary, I think anyone that has won the Indianapolis 500 deserves every single accolade that comes their way. They earned their win, and they earned everything that came along with it.

However, I do think that a lot of elite driving talents are dismissed or overlooked – simply because they never drank milk in Victory Lane at IMS.

The list of the best drivers to never win the Indianapolis 500 are well documented. Everyone has their preference, but they are generally comprised of (in no particular order) Michael Andretti, Lloyd Ruby, Rex Mays, Ted Horn and Tony Bettenhausen,

If a driver failed to ever win and does not even make one of these subjective lists, some fans might write them off as nothing more than a can of corn or faceless field fillers. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are the ones I think history does an injustice to.

Eddie Sachs had a remarkable career, yet he is most famous for the way he lost his life at The Speedway. A lot of people forget that in his previous seven starts prior to that fateful day, Sachs sat on the pole twice and started from the middle of the front row one other time. He also finished second and third, in 1961-62 respectively.

Dan Gurney never won the Indianapolis 500. More often than not, he is omitted from lists that rank him as one of the best to never win. Sometimes fans remember his beautiful Eagle chassis from the 60s and the not-so-beautiful Eagles from the 70s; more than his driving days at 16th & Georgetown. But in his relatively short Indianapolis 500 career, Gurney had two front-row starts and two second-place finishes and a third, in his nine starts.

Tony Stewart’s long career in racing is well-documented, but I’m not sure anyone ranks him as one of the best to never win the 500. While his record doesn’t rival that of Michael Andretti or Ted Horn, his five starts in six years yielded solid results. He sat on the pole as a rookie (but didn’t win it), but his first three races saw him start no lower than fourth. He also had three Top-Ten finishes in his five starts. No one should casually dismiss what Tony Stewart did in an Indy car at IMS.

Pat O’Connor had five starts in the Indianapolis 500 between 1954 and 1958. In those five starts, he had one pole, another front-row start and a second-row start. He finished eighth twice (1955 & 1957). Unfortunately, most remember him for being fatally injured in 1958, in the opening lap crash in Turn Three. There was a lot more to the life and career of Pat O’Connor than being a casualty in a multi-car crash.

It’s hard to believe that Vitor Meira had nine starts in the Indianapolis 500. In those nine starts, he had five Top-Ten finishes, which included two second-place finishes. He did this while driving more than half of those races with sub-par teams. Meira is rarely mentioned among some of the best to run in the Indianapolis 500, but his record speaks for itself.

Gary Bettenhausen had twenty-one starts in the Indianapolis 500 between 1968 and 1993. He had five Top-Ten starts, and was also the fastest qualifier in 1991; but had to start in Row Five as a second-day qualifier. He only had four Top-Ten finishes in all of those starts, but he is as much of a hard-luck story as Lloyd Ruby.

I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. It’s right that we celebrate our Indianapolis 500 winners and IndyCar champions. But not having your face on the Borg-Warner Trophy does not mean your career as a driver is considered a failure. I don’t consider James Hinchcliffe a failure, and he has not won the 500 or an IndyCar championship.

Just like in football, counting rings, championships and Indianapolis 500 wins is a way to define success over a career. It’s just not the only thing.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on February 23, 2024 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.