Best race of all time?

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I thought this would be a fun question, so I would like to ask which race, in your opinion, was the best of all time? And this will be regardless of which series it is (NASCAR, F1, Indy, NHRA, World of Outlaws, etc). My vote goes to the 1992 Hooters 500 NASCAR WInston Cup race. It was Richard Petty's last race and Jeff Gordon's first. There were six drivers in contention for the title (Davey Allison, Bill Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty and Mark Martin). There were many dramatic moments in the race, but the best was when Elliott and Kulwicki were fighting for the win and to lead every lap. They were so close in the points and they were basically the only two left with a shot of winning the championship. So every bonus point mattered. Bill went on to win the race but Alan stayed close, led the most laps (led only ONE LAP more than Elliott) and finished 2nd. Alan's lap leader bonus made the difference to win the championship by 10 points over Bill.
 
I would say the race in Rebel without a cause. The one where the guy went over the cliff...
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1996 CART race at Laguna Seca. It was the last race of the year and Alex Zanardi passed Bryan Herta in the Corkscrew for the lead. A questionable pass but it made the race unforgetable.
 
The 1963 Indy 500, where Parnelli Jones drove the race of his life in an old fashioned Indy roadster and beat Jim Clark in his Lotus, even tho he had to make 4 pit stops to Clark's 1.
 
Originally Posted By: Reggaemon
1996 CART race at Laguna Seca. It was the last race of the year and Alex Zanardi passed Bryan Herta in the Corkscrew for the lead. A questionable pass but it made the race unforgetable.

I had forgotton about that race (I'm sure Herta hasn't.) I watched tapes of the pass many times and each time it's still hard to believe what Zanardi pulled off. When he had a decent car and was "on" it was incredible to watch.
 
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The 1979 Daytona 500, complete with fighting in the infield.

Probably the most important race in NASCAR history as a massive TV audience watched it. It had pretty much everything you could want in a professional motor race.

The 1990 Knoxville Nationals was a close second. Bobby Allen wins in a huge upset. Doug Wolfgang coming from the D main. A veritable constellation of superstars in that A main.
 
The 2010 NASA American Iron race at Hallett was pretty [censored] good, I call it the best race I've ever seen.
 
Originally Posted By: flacoman
1986 Talladega , Bill Elliott came back from TWO laps down
without lucky dog or yellows to win. Ernie had some serious mojo in that thing :)


That's like Jacques Villeneuve's Indy 500 win in '95. Same race Scott Goodyear jumped the yellow light as the pace car was headed to the pits. Scott ignored his black flag the rest of the race and the put him at 14th officially.

I miss 90's Indy car racing, Unser, Andretti father and son, Elkart Lake...sad
 
This race wasn't televised but I saw it in person at Road America in 1997. It was when Tommy Kendall was the man in the Trans-Am series. The weather was terrible and wet 10 to 15 minutes into the race then it stopped and the sun came out. Everyone was obviously out on rains but it was drying. Pit stops were 50 seconds + in this era of Trans-Am racing. Tommy was unbeaten this year and his team decided to switch to dry tires with about 20 minutes left in the race. I thought for sure they had blown the race, no one else made that decision and they lost what looked like and eternity on track. Tommy Kendall certainly earned his paycheck that day coming back through the field and winning the race with a late lead pass(last lap possibly? I was only 13). I guess since I was present this one sticks in my head the most. The other race that comes to mind is Dale Sr.s last win when he came from like 20th to win in the last 3 laps.
 
1992 Winston Cup race at Sears Point. Ernie Irvan qualifies on the pole, but spins on the first or second lap and goes to the back of the field. He spends the rest of the race coming back and wins. He was ON IT that day.
 
1982 (or was it '83?) Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough takes the CBS in-car camera to victory. This was the first time I had seen the view from inside a race car at 200mph, and it was spectacular. Cale dropped back through the field early. During a caution period, the CBS commentators were talking to Cale, and he said "I've been ridin' around up to now, but when it goes green, I'll go back up through the field and see how it feels at the front." So that's what he did.

Real man driving a real car before restrictor plates.
 
Herta won Laguna in 1998-99 so you could kind of call that redemption. I think the best race of all time was when my wife beat me home and SHE had to cook dinner.
 
1957 German Grand Prix.
The greatest drive by the greatest driver, in his last season, on the original, very challenging and dangerous 'ring.
Fangio, in the Maserati 250F, decided to plan for a pit stop, and so started with less fuel and softer tires than used on the Ferraris of Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorne, who planned no pit stops for the race.
Fangio pitted 30 seconds ahead of Collins, who was just ahead of Hawthorne.
Fangio left the pits 48 seconds behind the British duo, after a traitorous performance by his pit crew, with only 10 laps remaining in the race.
Fangio set new course records on nine of the ten remaining laps, caught first Collins and then Hawthorne, winning the race with a lead of 3.6 seconds over Hawthorne, with Collins well back in third.
Fangio actually made up a 48 second deficit in only ten laps, and Hawthorne fought back hard, but was still comfortably behind Fangio at the finish.
This is the type of drive that could never happen today.
The cars of the era in which Fangio drove, as well as the tracks, required great skill, courage and confidence of their drivers.
Not nearly as true today, where the amount of time separating the front of the grid from the back is but a few seconds, and the lesser drivers know that the consequences of screwing up are rarely lethal.
 
I don't even really watch motorcycle racing but it seems to show the most difference in racing skills. I guess its the fact that a mistake often means you're out of the race doesn't allow much "overdriving", and also they are managing many more inputs into the bike than drivers are. There must be some great races, but I can't name any.
 
Originally Posted By: solopony
This race wasn't televised but I saw it in person at Road America in 1997. It was when Tommy Kendall was the man in the Trans-Am series. The weather was terrible and wet 10 to 15 minutes into the race then it stopped and the sun came out. Everyone was obviously out on rains but it was drying. Pit stops were 50 seconds + in this era of Trans-Am racing. Tommy was unbeaten this year and his team decided to switch to dry tires with about 20 minutes left in the race. I thought for sure they had blown the race, no one else made that decision and they lost what looked like and eternity on track. Tommy Kendall certainly earned his paycheck that day coming back through the field and winning the race with a late lead pass(last lap possibly? I was only 13). I guess since I was present this one sticks in my head the most.



He was in the Mustang (if that's what you want to call a tube frame car with a destroked NASCAR engine in it) then, correct?

Given Tommy's skill, and the way those powerful/relatively heavy cars shread/decimate rains (in the wet, let alone in the hot/dry!!), I am not suprised at all by those results.
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These are just a few I can think of:

1979 French Grand Prix Formula 1
Gilles Villeneuve (Canadian insanely talented and just insane) in Ferrari #12 and Frenchman Rene Arnoux in Renault #16 trying to win his first and Renault's first F1 race at home in France.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1p25JO9Q4w

1980 Dutch Grand Prix Formula 1
Mario Andretti in the Essex Lotus-Ford #11 trying to race with Carlos Reutemann both great drivers, but Mario was in a Lotus that was pretty slow that year vs. Reutemmann in the much faster Saudia Williams-Ford #28.

1982 Indy 500 (INDYCAR)Gordon Johncock #20 STP Patrick Racing Wildcat gets #1 Rick Mears Gould Penske
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmX08S5Pc2c

1991 Indy 500 (INDYCAR)Rick Mears #3 Marlboro Penske-Chevrolet and Michael Andretti #10 Kmart/Texaco Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford go at it and pass on the OUTSIDE at 230 mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfD1FU28cM&feature=related

2000 Michigan 500 (INDYCAR/CART)
Michael Andretti #6 Kmart/Texaco Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford and Juan Pablo Montoya #1 Target Chip Ganassi Lola-Toyota go at it at 240 mph on the straights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQZ6MjtGPQ&NR=1

2008 Indy 500 (INDYCAR)
Vitor Meira #4 National Guard Panther Racing passes Ed Carpenter #20 Menards Vision Racing and Scott Dixon #9 Target Chip Ganassi for the lead. I saw this in person. Amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTl7XHSUiyE
 
I had forgotten the Villeneuve / Arnoux scrap .. that was epic .
No way any of the current pretty boys of F1 could handle any of those beasts.
 
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