Foyt on Clark; F1 Drivers in NASCAR

The February 2005 issue of Road & Track magazine contains an interesting interview with A.J. Foyt. Most interesting to Formula One fans is the following:

“I’ll tell you as far as the foreign drivers, even today, I know Schumacher is unbelievable, but to me, if the man was livin’, the best Formula 1 driver that I ever respected, and I got to know him pretty good, was Jimmy Clark – by far.

“I mean, I watched him come run a stock car, and how he adapted to that at Rockingham. But what I’m trying to say is he adapted and ran a damn good race and was not in the best car. It was a factory car, but it wasn’t the car like I had, or Fred Lorenzen, or some of them. And he drove good…I know they talk about Ayrton Senna and they talk about Schumacher -- and I know Schumacher’s good, don’t get me wrong, but if that boy was livin’ today, they’d have to beat Clark.”

You don’t expect the rough-and-tumble Texan to be a connoisseur of road racing, but he did plenty of it. He and Dan Gurney famously won Le Mans, don’t forget.

His reference to the Rockingham race brought to mind those days when F1 heroes raced in other series, as discussed on this forum in several other threads. Does anyone have any specific recollections of other Formula One drivers competing in NASCAR stock car races? I seem to remember Jochen Rindt driving a NASCAR stocker, either in a race or in a test.

Isn’t it a shame that this sort of thing doesn’t happen today? Michael’s aggressive -- sometimes nasty -- nature might adapt well to the cut-and-thrust of NASCAR’s ovals, and the fiery flair of JPM might be just right for “tradin’ paint.”

Innes Ireland and Dan Gurney raced NASCAR in the Sixties.

WINO

Even Olivier Gendebien took a stab at it, if I recall....

Mario Andretti won the Daytona 500. It was 1967 I think.

I remember Jackie Oliver doing a few races around 1971-72.

Originally posted by jlp356
You don’t expect the rough-and-tumble Texan to be a connoisseur of road racing, but he did plenty of it. He and Dan Gurney famously won Le Mans, don’t forget.

Isn't Foyt only one of three people to have won the endurance racing "triple crown" - the other two being Al Holbert and, depending on your opinion of the officiating and team orders debacle that was 1966, Ken Miles (who would have won it in a single year, which nobody else has done)?

Even more interesting is that Foyt's conquest of the American 2/3rd of that triple crown came in the IMSA era (in Preston Henn's Porsches, always with Bob Wollek as co-driver), after he had stopped winning at Indy, but more notably 16 years after his LeMans victory.

You should not forget about 14 Grand National (1966-69) races of Mario Andretti with one win at Daytona (1967). 20 races in IROC (1976, 1978-80, 1985, 1987). Mario won IROC championship title in 1979.

And Mark Donohue too. He won a Winston Cup race at Riverside '73. Mark also took part in races at Riverside, Daytona, Ontario, Atlanta (1972); Atlanta (1973). All these races were for Roger Penske... Moreover Mark managed to become the first ever IROC champion (1974).

Bob Bondurant participated in 4 Grand National/Winston Cup races, all at Riverside (1963, 1965, 1981; best result - 18th place).

Eddie Cheever (Jr.) raced in 12 IROC races in 1999, 2000, 2001. BTW, happy birthday!

Vic Elford participated in 4 Grand National/Winston Cup races, all at Daytona (1969, 1971-72; best result - 10th place).

Derek Bell raced in 11 IROC races in 1984-85, 1987.

Roberto Guerrero participated in 3 IROC races (1988).

David Hobbs took part in 2 Winston Cup races in 1976 (Daytona and Michigan; best result - 17 th place at Michigan) and 1 IROC race in 1979.

Christian Fittipaldi raced in 16 races of Winston Cup in 2002 and 2003 (best result - 24th place at Pocono '03) and in 3 races of Busch Series in 2001 and 2002 (DNF in all races).

Emerson Fittipaldi took part in 22 IROC races in 1974-76, 1979-80, 1984, 1990.

Chuck Daigh took part in two Grand National races: Daytona 1963 (20th place); Riverside 1964 (DNF).

Frank Gardner raced in one Grand National race in 1968 (Rockingham - 1 lap of 500 only).

Michael Andretti raced in 4 IROC races in 1987.

Brian Naylor raced in 2 Grand National races in 1961 at Daytona (DNF in all races).

Denis Hulme participated in 3 IROC races (1974).

Jackie Oliver took part in 8 Winston Cup races in 1971-72 (best result - 10th place at Rockingham '72).

James Hunt participated in 4 IROC races (1976-77).

Jacky Ickx raced in 8 IROC races (1978, 1984).

Alan Jones had 4 races of IROC in 1979-80.

Sam Posey participated in one Grand National race in 1970 at Riverside (DNF).

Pedro Rodriguez raced in 6 Grand National/Winston Cup races (1959, Trenton, 6th (!) place; 1963, Daytona, DNF; 1965, Charlotte, 5th place; 1971, Daytona, DNF; 1971, Daytona, 36th place; 1971, Ontario, DNF).

Keke Rosberg raced in one IROC race in 1980.

Clay Regazzoni raced in 3 IROC races in 1980.

Troy Ruttman participated in 7 Grand National races in 1962-64 (best result - 3rd place at Riverside '63)

Peter Revson raced in 4 IROC races in 1974.

Danny Sullivan participated in one Winston Cup race in 1994 at Indianapolis (33th place); and in 11 races of IROC (1989-90, 1994).

Danny Ongais took part in 6 IROC races in 1979-80, 1984.

Rodger Ward participated in 3 Grand National races in 1963-64 (Daytona '63; Atlanta '63; Riverside '64 - DNF in all races).

John Watson took part in 5 IROC races in 1979-80, 1985.

Ronnie Peterson raced in 4 IROC races in 1975.

Jody Scheckter took part in 9 IROC races in 1975-77.

Lella Lombardi participated in one Winston Cup race in 1976 (Daytona, DNF).

Niki Lauda raced in one race of IROC in 1979.

Jochen Mass participated in 7 IROC races (1985-86).

Gunnar Nilsson raced in 3 IROC races in 1978.

Alex Zanardi took part in 4 IROC races in 1997.

Toshio Suzuki participated in one race of Busch Series in 1996 (Nazareth, DNF).

Olivier Beretta had one race in Craftsman Truck Series in 1999 (Topeka, 17th place).

Eliseo Salazar had one race in Craftsman Truck Series in 1997 (Watkins Glen, 17th place)

As WINO have mentioned Dan Gurney raced too - 16 Grand National/Winston Cup races (1962-70, 1980; mostly at Riverside where he won 5 races (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968).

Of course Jimmy Clark at Rockingham '67 (DNF)...

Innes Ireland raced in Grand National in 1967 (two races at Daytona; best result - 10th place).

And there are 28 drivers (at least) who took part in Grand National and in International Sweepstakes during 1950s (when it was a part of F1 (F2) WDC): Marvin Burke, Don Branson, Tony Bonadies, Hal Cole, Bill Cheesbourg, Duane Carter, Billy Cantrell, A.J. Foyt, Pat Flaherty, Paul Goldsmith, Allen Heath, Bill Holland, Jim Hurtubise, Al Keller, Ralph Liguori, Frank Luptow, Mike Magill, Johnny Mantz, Al Miller, Frank Mundy, Jim Rathmann, Dick Rathmann, Johnny Roberts, Jack Rounds, Bob Scott, Len Sutton, Bill Taylor, Marshall Teague.

Edit :

Rolf Stommelen took part in one Winston Cup race at Talladega (DNF) in 1971.

Joe Schlesser participated in 2 Grand National races at Daytona (best result - 9th place) in 1964.

George Follmer raced in 20 Winston Cup races in 1972, 1974-75, 1986-87 (best result - 4th place at Atlanta '74) and participated in 8 IROC races (1974-75).

Martin Brundle competed in 3 IROC races in 1990 (Talladega - 5th place; Cleveland - 1st place; Michigan - pole position and 10th place at finish).

Source: http://www.racing-re...e.com/index.jsp

Take a look @ this thread:


http://forums.atlasf...ivers in NASCAR


Carles.

FRWL-

One name that you overlooked is George Follmer. One Cup pole for Penske at Riverside, and a best finish of 4th at Atlanta in Spring '74 race.

Originally posted by Racestats
FRWL-

One name that you overlooked is George Follmer. One Cup pole for Penske at Riverside, and a best finish of 4th at Atlanta in Spring '74 race.

Thanks, I've edited my list

Another one to add is Martin Brundle: he raced in IROC series in 1990, finishing third overall...after a little bit of an argument with Dale Earnhardt (I'd like to know somwthing more on this...)

Originally posted by Teapot
Another one to add is Martin Brundle

Thanks, I've fixed the list. I have no info about any Brundle's arguments with Dale Earnhardt...

BTW Martin Brundle became the first non-United States driver to lead the point standings before going into an IROC finale, but he had an accident with Rusty Wallace during the final race and lost IROC championship title. More info here: http://www.irocracin...990-history.htm

If I recall correctly, there was no argument between Earnhardt and Brundle. What I have heard, is that Dale walked past Brundle on the grid prior the race and said "Don´t forget your kids...". That was part of Dale´s tactic´s. He was the intimidator and you did not argue with him.

Originally posted by e34fanatic

"Don't forget your kids..."

I wonder what could have happened if he had said that to someone like Alan Jones....

Originally posted by Teapot


I wonder what could have happened if he had said that to someone like Alan Jones....

Biff!;)

Originally posted by Sandeep Banerjee


Biff!;)

Succinct and accurate description.