Longest, safest career?

Top candidate in F1 has to be Alain Prost. Iirc has never rolled a car or broken a bone.

 

One of those myths that never die... he brokes his wrist already in his first season. And of course he had accidents like any racing driver. Maybe his car never rolled, no idea, but by nature of the term "accident", that's got to be mere coincidence, if true at all.

Looking at the racing career of Jacques Villeneuve, he competed from 1988 till about 2016, 28 years, somewhere in some racing series,
Keeping within the criteria of the thread, I don't recall many broken bones or serious accidents, in a certainly a long career.

Actually in terms of serious accidents... he had a few bad ones. Phoenix '94 in CART, Eau Rouge 98/99... then the huge one in Melbourne '01 which tragically killed a marshall.

Given JV was a very aggressive, very brave driver who loved to test the limits... I'd say he was quite fortunate. I vaguely remember he had back issues after the Melbourne crash but don't recall any other injuries

Edit - just saw Rob G beat me to it, echoed my exact thoughts 👍

Edited by PlayboyRacer, 03 December 2018 - 06:18.

Did Eddie Hearne ever have a injurious accident?

Pre-WWII, Louis Wagner has to rank right up there. His front-line career stretched from 1903 to 1927, and I don't think he ever suffered any injuries in a race car, other than burned feet in the Delage oven on wheels.

 

Was going to mention him - and perhaps Gabriel, who "won" the most murderous race of a murderous era to boot.

 

Was going to mention him - and perhaps Gabriel, who "won" the most murderous race of a murderous era to boot.

 

Would Felice Nazzaro also be a possibility?

Edited by cpbell, 04 December 2018 - 17:05.

A good question is how safe is safe.

In the U.S. any pre-WW II sprint car driver that drove for a decade and didn't break any bones or end up dead should qualify.

 

The former Mr. Fines should be able to add a few sprint car drivers to this list.

David Hobbs. His book is a top read too, he - with skilful help from Andrew Marriott - comes across just as he does in person.

Originally posted by as65p:

 

 

One of those myths that never die... he brokes his wrist already in his first season. And of course he had accidents like any racing driver. Maybe his car never rolled, no idea, but by nature of the term "accident", that's got to be mere coincidence, if true at all.

 

 

Prost also had a concussion at The Glen in 1980. And pretty damn lucky by his own admission that Daly hit the rollbar of his McLaren rather than his head at Monaco...

Edited by FLB, 05 December 2018 - 11:21.

A good question is how safe is safe.

In the U.S. any pre-WW II sprint car driver that drove for a decade and didn't break any bones or end up dead should qualify.

 

The former Mr. Fines should be able to add a few sprint car drivers to this list.

 

As much as some pulp fiction writers would like folks to believe otherwise, as dangerous as it actually was, there are a goodly number of drivers from that era of oval racing that not only survived their careers, but some of whom did so without severe injury...even in the pre-seat belt and cloth or papier mache helmet days. 

Like Ralph de Palma? Twenty-five years on flimsy frame rails and skimpy tyres, over rutty dirt tracks and splintering boards, never donned a helmet or buckled up - yet I don't think he was ever seriously injured. And he's just the most famous of them...

Probably true, but a thumping accident at Mallory Park whilst subbing for an absent van Lennep at Mallory early 1973 in the ShellSport Lola T330 must have hurt - I think he took most if not all of the wheels off on cold tyres exiting Gerards...

Yes TT survives without a Lola limp, yet alone anything else.

 

Given the fact that he navigated the Maki F-1 car (that's F for frangible) around the old Nurburgring and maxed a Dome Zero on iffy tyres down the Mulsanne in pre-chicane days this represents a miracle, a fluke or the Lord looking over him depending upon your viewpoint/belief.

 

On the F5000 front he also had a driver/car/barrier interface at Brands in the Connew during its post-F1 afterlife, the Trimmer monocoque survived unscathed (unlike the car).

 

I think that is about as bad as it got for Tony, I should be meeting up with him over the Festive season, I'll report back if he can recall any other injurious incidents.

At absolute elite level Mario Andretti must be up there?
Uber long career and inclusive of his speedway days much or most of it in a very dangerous era or eras