The ten best US racing drivers

Formula 1 will arrive in Las Vegas next week with a glaring omission in its line-up: since Logan Sargeant was ejected from Williams, there has been no American driver on the grid, despite the nation’s burgeoning number of fans and its long, historic record of producing legendary drivers.

Their grit, skill and versatility have dazzled fans in Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and sports car racing, making it no simple task to identify the ten greatest US drivers in the history of racing.

We’ve debated long and hard, though, and here is the result: Motor Sport’s list of the ten best American racing drivers:

10. Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson stands as an icon in American motor sport, a NASCAR legend with his own enduring legacy. Hailing from California, Johnson began his racing career at an early age, competing in bikes, buggies, and trucks across desert landscapes before he’d even graduated high school. By his teenage years, he had already secured a contract with Chevrolet. Although his original ambition was to race in IndyCar, Chevrolet guided him towards NASCAR and North Carolina, where he quickly adapted to asphalt racing and found his stride in the powerful stock cars.

Johnson’s partnership with Chevrolet and the Hendrick Motorsports team turned into one of the most successful in NASCAR history. He clinched seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, five of them consecutively – a feat matched only by fellow stock car titans Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Alongside this, he also claimed two victories in the prestigious Daytona 500, solidifying his status as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

With his NASCAR achievements secure, Johnson pursued his IndyCar dreams with the Ganassi team in 2021.

Surprisingly focusing on road courses and street tracks – rather than his speciality, ovals – the Californian struggled, managing a best finish of just 17th at Laguna Seca and Long Beach.

However after deciding to take in ovals for 2022, he improved significantly with a sixth in Texas and a fifth at Iowa, before opting to switch back to a part-time NASCAR schedule with his own Legacy Motorsport Club team.

9. Parnelli Jones 

Despite retiring relatively early after only five full-time IndyCar seasons, Parnelli Jones is still regarded as one of America’s greatest racers.

Named Indianapolis 500 ‘Rookie of the Year’ in 1961, he won the great event in 1963. Technology moved fast through the ’60s, and in 1967 Jones dominated the 500 in the STP-Paxton turbine car, retiring form the lead with three laps to go.

A fearless competitor, Jones was the first driver to qualify for the 500 at over 150mph in 1962, and was a race winner in stock cars and midgets. He would claim two more 500 victories as a team owner with Al Unser in 1970 and 1971.

8. Bobby Unser

Bobby Unser makes up one third of a legendary Unser racing dynasty, joined by brother Al and nephew Jr, but is an IndyCar legend in his own right.

Bobby won the Indy 500 on three occasions (1968, 1975, 1981), recorded 35 race wins and scored two USAC championships in ’68 and ’74.

His first attempt to race in Formula 1 saw him banned from starting due to a spurious reason that he was “unfit” — after he and Mario Andretti attempted to combine racing in the 1968 Italian Grand Prix with also competing in America’s biggest dirt race, the Hoosier 100 the day before. He made his grand prix debut at Watkins Glen in the same year, but decided that he had no further interest in the series after retiring from the race.

7. Al Unser Sr

The second of only four men to win the Indianapolis 500 on four occasions, Al Unser Sr is ranked amongst IndyCar’s very best.

In 1978, he accomplished a feat that nobody had managed before and nobody has managed since: he won that season’s three 500-milers – the Triple Crown – at Indy, Pocono and Ontario.

Smooth and measured, Unser Sr was respected and liked by team-mates and rivals alike. A member of the Unser racing dynasty, with brothers Bobby and Jerry who won the 500 and in the USAC Stock Car championship respectively and son Al Unser Jr — a two-time CART champion and double 500 winner.

6. Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon’s rise through America’s motor sport ranks was nothing short of meteoric.

He began racing in ‘quarter midget’ cars aged just five-and-a-half before his obvious talent saw climb into sprint cars just seven years later — a decade earlier than many of his future rivals.

At 19, Gordon won USAC’s midget and Silver Crown championships in successive years in 1990 and ’91, then ascended to NASCAR, running one year in the second division Busch series, before winning the premier Winston Cup series rookie of the year title in 1993.

In his 25-year Cup Series career, Gordon’s accomplishments have only grown in number. He has accumulated 93 wins (placing him third on the all-time win list behind Richard Petty and David Pearson), recorded 77 pole positions, won four NASCAR championships (1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001) and tasted victory at the Daytona 500 three times (‘97, ’98 and ’05) and at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis five times (‘94, ’98, ’01, ’04 and ’14).

5. Dale Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt’s hard-nosed non-PR-friendly approach to racing earned him almost as many of critics as it did fans, but it’s hard to argue with his results.

Through the late 1980s and ’90s, ‘The Intimidator’ notched seven NASCAR Winston Cup titles — equalling the record of King’ Richard Petty — 76 Winston Cup victories and $41m in prize money, plus a staggering 25,000 laps in the lead.

Earnhardt was also renowned as one of NASCAR’s toughest guys, always ready to use the fender when necessary — which, quite literally, rubbed his competition the wrong way and ultimately burnished his reputation.

4. Dan Gurney

In many ways, Dan Gurney was his own worst enemy: he couldn’t quite believe how good he was — preferring to tinker instead of relying on his own gifts behind the wheel.

Blessed with a god-given talent, the American could be thrown into almost any racing series and be instantly competitive.

Aboard a Ferrari at the 1959 German Grand Prix — his second race in Formula 1 — he fought to second-place, trailing Tony Brooks by less than 2sec at the chequered flag. The top step would not elude him for too much longer, as he scored Porsche’s only F1 victory in 1962 at the French GP before moving to Brabham, where he recorded wins at Rouen and Mexico City in ’64.

Two second-place finishes at the Indy 500 (1968, 1969) as well as sports car victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Nürburgring 1000km were further evidence of his versatility.

3. Richard Petty

Richard ‘The King’ Petty is synonymous with NASCAR and remains its greatest success story.

Although he is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for the most top-tier stock car titles (7), Petty’s 200 race wins, and seven victories at the Daytona 500 put him above both fellow legends on most all-time lists.

Much like the Unsers, NASCAR’s ‘King’ hails from a great racing dynasty, with his father Lee Petty being the first three-time NASCAR Cup champion, and his son Kyle racing in the championship too.

2. Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti is America’s most famous racer, having conquered both sides of the Atlantic with four IndyCar titles – alongside wins at the Indy 500, Daytona 24 Hours and Daytona 500 – and a Formula 1 world championship in 1978.

His never-ending passion for racing showed in every move he made, no matter what car he was behind the wheel of: from dirt-based midgets to Colin Chapman’s all-conquering Lotus 79, which brought ground-effect to the F1 fore.

Maybe his achievements weren’t quite as record-breaking as that of Petty or Foyt, but his longevity and versatility in motor sport’s top flight series is matched by few. Andretti set pole in his first F1 race race against Jackie Stewart at the 1968 US Grand Prix, and, 14 years later, did so again when making a substitute appearance for Ferrari at Monza.

1. AJ Foyt

AJ Foyt’s motor sport exploits mean that he deserves to be credited as the greatest American race driver.