As far as pure talent, he is arguably the best I have ever seen, right up there with Parnelli Jones, who topped A J Foyt in the talent department. A J Foyt was determined to win and worked his arse off to come in first. A J was blessed with good luck at Indy also.
I've enjoyed watching many incredibly skilled and brave racers in my lifetime and Larson is certainly one of them. However I can't name anyone of them as the "best ever" and why would I even try. Just enjoy the racing and forget the rating.
No one will ever know b/c they were the "Greatest of their generation" and there will be many more to follow in their footsteps.
No different then the debate of: Michael Jordan (vs) Lebron James at the center of the Greatest of all time NBA saga!
They both played 2 different styles of basketball with a great deal of success and for the generation they played in it worked.
Larson no doubt will go down as the next: AJ Foyt / Tony Stewart / etc based on his ability to win in various forms of racing for his generation but the greatest of all time will continue to be the most debated topic in all sports.
Ill grab a box of popcorn and enjoy the debate from here
Originally Posted by SoIllSprinter:
Not to fan the flames, but for one to be judged greatest ever several series championships usually are on the resume.
Originally Posted by ronmil:
As far as pure talent, he is arguably the best I have ever seen, right up there with Parnelli Jones, who topped A J Foyt in the talent department. A J Foyt was determined to win and worked his arse off to come in first. A J was blessed with good luck at Indy also.
Ron You"re my buddy BUT I disagree with you on this. Parnelli won Indy once and should have been black flagged then cuz of a cracked oil tank with several drivers complaining about the oil. I believe MR. Foyt won 4 500"s with no leakage. Yes Foyt was a deternined driver , BUT you got to have a awful lot of talent to win that race 4 times , much less even once .
There is no argument Larson is a great talent. MAYBE One of the best. Where I do take exception is calling him THE BEST ever. There have been a few drivers that have gotten on a hot streak for a year, or even two, then fall off and suddenly become human again. The great drivers, the ones that in my mind deserve to be in the best ever discussions, win in multiple disciplines for years at a time. At this time, I would consider AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Parnelli Jones to meet MY criteria. All three won in sprint cars, sport cars, stock cars, and Indy cars for over a decade (no Parenelli didn’t win in Indy cars outside of the 60’s, but he won in other disciplines). If we want to look at just the short track side of things, then MY list would be a little shorter, consisting of Steve Kinser and Jack Hewitt. Both won in multiple short track disciplines, with a wing and without and won for 20+ years. All of the drivers listed had a demonstrated ability to take a less than perfect car and carry it to victory lane.
Kyle is very good…right now. If he keeps it up for a few years, he will be worthy of being a part of the discussion of best EVER.
He’s certainly on a good trajectory but he hasn’t accomplished near enough to be considered the GOAT of anything. The only thing we can say for sure is that he’s the best dirt track driver of his generation. Mario won Indy, Daytona and an F1 title so the bar is extremely high.
Sure would have been great to see if Bryan Clauson could have been mentioned in all-time greats. He was just figuring out Indy cars and was working his way to a World of Outlaws tour deal. He had already proved he was one of the USAC all-time greats.
The title of the post was greatest driver. It doesn't say most successful driver. Given the success he has had in as many variations of motorsports in very short timeframes, I'd have to agree. I think he is the best driver. However, he is not the most successful driver of all time. Which is what most people base their dissention on.
