Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Well, I'll throw this one out there and see what happens. 

Kyle Larson, may not be near his prime, but I'm sure he could run with the best of them. 

Okay.  At the risk of great abuse, here is my list in no particular order:

A.J. Foyt, Jan Opperman, Gary Bettenhausen, Rich Vogler, Bobby Grim, Tommy Hinnershitz, Jud Larson, Sammy Swindell, Steve Kinser, Doug Wolfgang, Donny Schatz, Robbie Stanley, Jack Hewitt, Don Branson, Sheldon Kinser, Gus Schrader, Rip Williams, Steve Smith, Sr., Kenny Weld, Johnny White, Frank Luptow, Pancho Carter, Larry Dickson, and Al Unser.

And yes, I realize that neither Parnelli Jones or Mario Andretti is on this list.

Out of my list of 24, I'm honored to say that I got to see all of those drivers race except for Hinnershitz, Stanley, Schrader, and Williams.  (And I also had the opportunity to see both P. Jones and M. Andretti.)

At any rate, I'd certainly pay a premium to see the above 24 drivers line up in the same event!

(And no offense to Haudenschild, Hockett, McSpadden, Doty, etc.)

My dream event would be a grudge race with the "mean 3".  this event could actually be reality in todays time, with two of them still competing..  I wonder how much negotioation Wolfie would require for a "king of the hill" type race? Im pretty confident with a few nights back in the car Wolf would get reaquainted quickly.. give the fans what they want, reignite the spark 410 sprint cars need, sooo many fans would attend this event. Over IA nationals week ect? I know its a bit of a streach but imagine the beers n tears over a cerimony such as this..  love em or hate them you always cheered for one of them at one point in time..  they just all had their hayday and then some.  No doubt all three have been historic in Winged 410 racing. 

 Any of us who have been around this game for a long time can pick 24 easily. As a kid I saw Jud Larson, Don Branson, Tony senior, AJ Foyt, Jimmy Bryant and that bunch run the big cars at the fairgruonds in Phoenix, but hey, I just picked a few that for the most part came from bad ass Manzanita Speedway. I also spent about 12 years at Ascot and I could field a solid bunch from there too! 

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

no offence to Larson, he is a new and uping comer, regardless of his present accomplishments to put him in the same catagorie as some mentioned on here is kinda premature IMO, now with that stated, give his pants 5-10 more years and im confident he would be this calibur. he definetly shows promice, but at one time Donny was named "The Kid" why? because he was a 15 yr old kid! WoO titles ,  nationals champ, ect ect, he's not a kid anymore. But he has yet to be mentioned on here and i would put my vote on the seinority vs the talent in this disscussion. for the sake of argument your nomination achieves a Honorable mention, but time is his only drawback , no doubt his wheels will share the track with these greats soon.

But, read the original post again. Not drivers from the past. Drivers from the past and PRESENT, also WINGLESS, was in the original post. I still think for my money, I would love to see him race against the "Greatest Ever" just to be able to compare today's talents against the years past. Interesting just to compare what was then and what we get to see today. 

ya, my bad, I reread your post as well as the first post shortly after i replied to you , my fat fingers have a tendency to type too soon,  with all the names mentioned I just find it kinda over hyped to throw a young kids name in there, not taking anything away from Larson mind you, he has obviously got what it takes to be successfull, Racers I never had the opertunity to see somehow remain unbeatable in my mind, maybe its just the stories, the legacies, true pioneers and heros, Larson hasnt become Hero status to me, but, a dam good racer in todays time, some speek of him differently, I just choose to give him time to mature and prove himself, im pretty confident he will..