Australia's 50 greatest racing drivers - as rated by Wheels Magazine

[motorsportnerd]

In it's annual yearbook, Australia motor magazine, Wheels, has nominated who it believes to be the 50 best drivers in Australian motorsport. The list was rated by a panel of experts included former Bathurst 1000 winners Mark Skaife, Kevin Bartlett, Colin Bond and Jim Richards.
The list is quite interesting.
The top 10 are:
1st Jack Brabham. Three times World F1 Champion (1959, 60, & 660.
2nd Jim Richards. Seven times Bathurst 1000 winner, four times Australian Touring Car Champion. Multiple other titles.
3rd Alan Jones. 1980 World F1 Champion.
4th Mark Skaife. Four times Bathurst 1000 winner, five times Australian touring car champion.
5th Peter Brock. Nine times Bathurst 1000 winner, three times Australian touring car champion.
6th Frank Gardner. First ever driver to win 100 international motor races (in various classes). Won the BTCC twice and the British Saloon Car Championship three times.
7th Frank Matich. Largely unknown. Rated on his talent apparantly. Won numerous Tasman Cup races in late 60s and early 70s against European F1 drivers.
8th Mark Webber. Current Williams driver.
9th Ian 'Pete' Geohagen. Five times Australian Touring Car Champion, one time Bathurst 1000 winner.
10th Allan Moffat. Four times Australian Touring Car Champion and four times Bathurst 1000 winner.

Other notables are:
11th John Bowe. Two time Bathurst 1000 winner and 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion.
12th Colin Bond. One time Bathurst 1000 winner. Three times Australian Rally Champion.
13th Larry Perkins. Was a formula one driver between 1974 and 77. Six times Bathurst 1000 winner.
15th Kevin Bartlett. One time Bathurst 1000 winner, two time Australian Driver's Champion in the Tasman Cup days.
17th Craig Lowndes. One time Bathurst 1000 winner, three time Australian Touring Car Champion. Still only 30 - so early days yet.
19th Dick Johnson. Five times Australian Touring Car Champion. Three times Bathurst 1000 winner.
22nd Glen Seton. Current V8 Supercar driver and two times Australian Touring Car Champion.
32nd Marcus Ambrose. Two time Australian Touring Car Champion (V8 Supercar). Still only 27.
34th Russell Ingall. Two times Bathurst 1000 winner. Placed second in the Australian Touring Car Championship three times.
37th Greg Murphy. A kiwi - but has mostly raced in Australia. Four times Bathurst 1000 winner.

Some UCP users may remember that I made a thread earlier in the year on who the top 10 Australasian drivers were.
There are some differences - if anyone is interested this is the thread: Who are the top 10 Australasian racing drivers of today and all time?.
I did include the top NZ drivers as well in that earlier thread.

There were some major surprises in the Wheels list.
Jim Richards rated second ahead of Alan Jones.
Dick Johnson rated so low despite his multiple Bathurst and ATCC victories.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

In it's annual yearbook, Australia motor magazine, Wheels, has nominated who it believes to be the 50 best drivers in Australian motorsport. The list was rated by a panel of experts included former Bathurst 1000 winners Mark Skaife, Kevin Bartlett, Colin Bond and Jim Richards.
The list is quite interesting.
The top 10 are:
1st Jack Brabham. Three times World F1 Champion (1959, 60, & 660.
2nd Jim Richards. Seven times Bathurst 1000 winner, four times Australian Touring Car Champion. Multiple other titles.
3rd Alan Jones. 1980 World F1 Champion.
4th Mark Skaife. Four times Bathurst 1000 winner, five times Australian touring car champion.
5th Peter Brock. Nine times Bathurst 1000 winner, three times Australian touring car champion.
6th Frank Gardner. First ever driver to win 100 international motor races (in various classes). Won the BTCC twice and the British Saloon Car Championship three times.
7th Frank Matich. Largely unknown. Rated on his talent apparantly. Won numerous Tasman Cup races in late 60s and early 70s against European F1 drivers.
8th Mark Webber. Current Williams driver.
9th Ian 'Pete' Geohagen. Five times Australian Touring Car Champion, one time Bathurst 1000 winner.
10th Allan Moffat. Four times Australian Touring Car Champion and four times Bathurst 1000 winner.

Other notables are:
11th John Bowe. Two time Bathurst 1000 winner and 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion.
12th Colin Bond. One time Bathurst 1000 winner. Three times Australian Rally Champion.
13th Larry Perkins. Was a formula one driver between 1974 and 77. Six times Bathurst 1000 winner.
15th Kevin Bartlett. One time Bathurst 1000 winner, two time Australian Driver's Champion in the Tasman Cup days.
17th Craig Lowndes. One time Bathurst 1000 winner, three time Australian Touring Car Champion. Still only 30 - so early days yet.
19th Dick Johnson. Five times Australian Touring Car Champion. Three times Bathurst 1000 winner.
22nd Glen Seton. Current V8 Supercar driver and two times Australian Touring Car Champion.
32nd Marcus Ambrose. Two time Australian Touring Car Champion (V8 Supercar). Still only 27.
34th Russell Ingall. Two times Bathurst 1000 winner. Placed second in the Australian Touring Car Championship three times.
37th Greg Murphy. A kiwi - but has mostly raced in Australia. Four times Bathurst 1000 winner.

Some UCP users may remember that I made a thread earlier in the year on who the top 10 Australasian drivers were.
There are some differences - if anyone is interested this is the thread: Who are the top 10 Australasian racing drivers of today and all time?.
I did include the top NZ drivers as well in that earlier thread.

There were some major surprises in the Wheels list.
Jim Richards rated second ahead of Alan Jones.
Dick Johnson rated so low despite his multiple Bathurst and ATCC victories.

What I find particularly amusing that the mentioned four members of the panel are all in the top 15 drivers list.

[motorsportnerd]

That's the main reason I included Colin Bond and Kevin Bartlett in my notables after the top 10.
The others I noted outside the top 10 are either current V8 Supercar drivers or famous former Australian touring car drivers.

The article did say that Jim Richards didn't think he should be placed so highly - quote "For the record, one of the few judges who questioned Jim Richards' placement was the man himself - "I thought I might have been a little further down," Richards said with his characteristic modesty".
Also, the panel comprised four racing drivers and four motoring journalists.

[henk4]

was the panel consisting of only those four?

[fpv_gtho]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

32nd Marcus Ambrose. Two time Australian Touring Car Champion (V8 Supercar). Still only 27.

Give him another 5 years and i reckon he might sneak into the top 10. The man was beating Kimi Raikkonen in his brief open wheeler career in Europe afterall. Then when Howard Marsden invited him back here, he won the Honda Integra Type R challenge at the 2000 Indy 300, finished 8th in the 2001 V8 Supercar championship with his first win in his maiden year, finished 3rd in the 2002 Championship with a final round victory and won back to back championships in 2003 and 2004.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by henk4

was the panel consisting of only those four?

No, four racing drivers and four motoring journalists. Eight judges in total.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

No, four racing drivers and four motoring journalists. Eight judges in total.

I guess it was only the journalists that ranked the four racing drivers. Otherwise it could have been an interesting discussion between the latter four

[Luciferous]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

Give him another 5 years and i reckon he might sneak into the top 10. The man was beating Kimi Raikkonen in his brief open wheeler career in Europe afterall. Then when Howard Marsden invited him back here, he won the Honda Integra Type R challenge at the 2000 Indy 300, finished 8th in the 2001 V8 Supercar championship with his first win in his maiden year, finished 3rd in the 2002 Championship with a final round victory and won back to back championships in 2003 and 2004.

There's no doubt the man has some serious talent, I reckon he will be damn close to, if not in, the top 10 by the time he's at the end of his career.

[fpv_gtho]

possibly, depends on the judges. i cant figure how everyone let Skaifey rate himself higher than Brock though, that was a bit oddball

[motorsportnerd]

Well, according to the write up on Skaife, Jim Richards "predicts that Skaife will become the most successful Australian driver ever domestically". Perhaps Skaife is rated higher than Brock due to his success in open wheelers. Skaife won three Australian Drivers Championship in the early 1990s driving Formula Holden (similar to F3000) open wheelers. Whereas Brock never raced seriously in open wheelers (from memory, only a couple of races in the mid 1970s).
I guess the panel felt that mastering an open wheeler required more skill than mastering a touring car, so rated accordingly.
However, personally, I wouldn't rate Skaife higher than Brock.
In regard to the racing drivers rating themselves, perhaps they weren't allowed to vote on their own position in the rankings? The magazine says that the position of the four drivers was widely accepted, suggesting that the motoring journos thought the position of each of the four racing drivers was about right.

[fpv_gtho]

Well some of those points make me wonder how Ambrose and Dick Johnson were ranked so low, DJ has afterall 5 championships to his name, and IMO that speaks spades more than 5 Bathurst wins as theres consistency involved in winning the championship. One of the things about Bathurst is anyone with a decent enough car has a mathematical chance of winning.

It was a surprise also to see Webber in the top 10, 8th infact. No complaints there though

[Blitz_]

Yes, DJ, wtf, he, in my opinion should have been in the top 10, and thats because Bathurst is one round in the championship. yes its 1000km, but its one race amongst many rounds in the championships. As fpv_gtho stated, consistency counts for a lot more when winning a championship, then there was the time he lost /broke down before the finish, then got public funding to win the next year, now that is inspirational. How about the sierras, didnt brock win one bathurst becasue of the disqualification of a sierra or 2. Skaife should not be higher than Brock, yes hes gr8, not anymore and i personally think, and it may cause dispute, i think that seton, gardner or moffat should be in that position. Anyhow, Brabham is the undisputable king, and always will be.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by Blitz_

Anyhow, Brabham is the undisputable king, and always will be.

Agreed. At least until Webber or some other Aussie wins four Grand Prix World Championships...which is to be honest not that likely.

[Blitz_]

Perhaps it mite happen, some day. Webber will need experience, and i think with it will come a greater chance of winning.

[fpv_gtho]

Webber's in a bad period if hes got hopes of landing more championships than Brabham, if Schumacher wins next year like he did this year, i'd have no doubt that he'd resign with Ferrari, even if it was only for another year