worst driver ever in cart - Page 2

corkholio · 5 Dec 2003, 01:23 (Ref:804298)

Quote:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
IIRC it was at Laguna, the weekened we lost Gonzo, and he'd spun in every practice session that weekend, and had sebveral other crashes during the year (including injuring himself and Al Unser Jr in the season-opener at Homestead)

Naoki was the one who crashed with Little Al at Homestead. Shiggy had to pack up and leave before the race even started because he was too busy testing how many Gs his body and car could take during practice.

f1manoz · 5 Dec 2003, 06:09 (Ref:804416)

From the guys I've witnessed, the name Arnd Meier springs to mind. Anyone remember him, driving round in that bright-yellow car? (No, not the 2003 Dale Coyne car

)

ensign14 · 5 Dec 2003, 07:03 (Ref:804444)

Rebaque is REALLY unfair, the guy actually won a race...

Zampedri reached the top 5 at Indy, so he was pretty decent.

How about Steve Barclay? A 51 year old rookie at Indy, he nearly killed himself in his rookie test.

StuiE · 5 Dec 2003, 09:14 (Ref:804517)

Quote:

Originally posted by ensign14
Rebaque is REALLY unfair, the guy actually won a race...

Zampedri reached the top 5 at Indy, so he was pretty decent.

He still races Porsche Supercup doesn't he? In the races I've seen he has done pretty well, runs in the top5.

rustyfan · 5 Dec 2003, 09:50 (Ref:804535)

Quote:

Originally posted by f1manoz
From the guys I've witnessed, the name Arnd Meier springs to mind. Anyone remember him, driving round in that bright-yellow car? (No, not the 2003 Dale Coyne car)

How can one forget him? First he nearly takes out a group of spectators at Road America after clearing an armco and then he spins in front of Arie Luyendyk at Fontana, handing him a concussion as they smash into the wall.

Can't say I'm surprised Meier's CART career didn't last very long...

Jordi · 5 Dec 2003, 18:37 (Ref:805034)

I don't think Arnd Meier was that bad. He was top 5 in the 1996 German F3 championship against people like Jarno Trulli. You've got to remember that in 1998 he drove the only Lola present after the fracas of 1997, and he did reasonably. The team was Davis Racing, which was the remnants of Jim Hall's team. A shame it went under, it performed nicely with rookie Salles in 1997 too.

Neil C · 8 Dec 2003, 16:24 (Ref:806743)

Without a doubt the absolute worst was that columnist (Patrick Bedard) from "Car & Driver" magazine that must have thought driving was as easy as writing about driving. He tried to qualify and run at several events during one season in the 80's, including the Indy 500. He was so awful even the mediocre drivers wanted him off the track.

ensign14 · 8 Dec 2003, 20:59 (Ref:806946)

Bedard wasn't THAT bad...he qualified twice for Indy and well up the field at Michigan. I'll see your Bedard and raise you a Jeff Wood.

esorniloc · 8 Dec 2003, 23:21 (Ref:807038)

How did Mike Thackwell do in CART?

mountainstar · 9 Dec 2003, 02:00 (Ref:807107)

I don't think Thackwell did that good when he drove in cart a couple of times.

rustyfan · 9 Dec 2003, 09:58 (Ref:807326)

Some stats for you;

Patrick Bedard
-------------------------------
Number of starts; Six, between 1982-1984
Best career finish; 14th, 1982 Stoh's 200 @ Atlanta

Jeff Wood
-------------------------------
Number of starts; 49, between 1983-1994
Best career finish; 8th, 1983 Cribari Wines 300k @ Laguna Seca

Mike Thackwell
-------------------------------
Number of starts; Two, in 1982
Best career finish; 18th, 1982 Laguna Seca 300 K @ Laguna Seca

indycool · 9 Dec 2003, 10:01 (Ref:807328)

And Thackwell actually drove for Penske!

BootsOntheSide · 9 Dec 2003, 10:09 (Ref:807333)

He was barely past puberty at the time though.

indycool · 9 Dec 2003, 10:11 (Ref:807336)

I believe he had won an F3 or F3000 championship prior to this, though.

rustyfan · 9 Dec 2003, 10:33 (Ref:807349)

Quote:

Originally posted by indycool
I believe he had won an F3 or F3000 championship prior to this, though.

Thackwell never won the F3000 championship (although he finished second one year), but he did win the 1984 European F2 title.

He also made a total of 5 Formula 1 starts (becoming the youngest F-1 debutant ever at 19 years old when he started the 1980 Canadian GP), but while he did win a lot of races in F2 and F3000 (five wins in 16 starts ain't too shabby), his racing career never really took off, and after racing sports-cars (achieving some success) and some more F3000, he walked away from racing altogether before turning 30.

His brief CART stint came as a result of him subbing for Rick Mears, who was out injured at the time.

From the info I have gathered, I'd say Thackwell had talent - he just never had a chance to get his career going. He also had a serious F2 crash at Thruxton in 1982 that left him with severe head and foot injuries, which sure didn't help.

rustyfan · 9 Dec 2003, 10:41 (Ref:807353)

Due to the, in my opinion, stupid 10-minute rule (no offense to whomever introduced it, but it is), I can't fix the post above, but anyways, Thackwell's two starts in CART came in 1984 - not 1982.

Mags · 16 Dec 2003, 23:54 (Ref:813613)

He may not be the worst driver, but anyone that runs over his crewmens' head 2 times in one year qualifies for me.

macdaddy · 17 Dec 2003, 04:55 (Ref:813686)

Rustyfan... The 10-minute rule is to help prevent people from posting flame, only to go back and delete it before the mods see it.

rustyfan · 17 Dec 2003, 07:39 (Ref:813728)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
Rustyfan... The 10-minute rule is to help prevent people from posting flame, only to go back and delete it before the mods see it.

While that is understandable enough, this remains the only forum out of the around six, seven I check somewhat regularly - of which one has 27k+ members - that has this sort of rule in place, so perhaps it's also understandable that I am a bit annoyed about it (seeing as the other forums have no problems with flamers etc either).

No real biggie though - I just have to concentrate harder on not screwing up my initial posts

overflow · 17 Dec 2003, 07:53 (Ref:813737)

Townsend BELL.....no need to elaborate further...even the commentators rubbished him...

Prost! · 17 Dec 2003, 07:59 (Ref:813741)

Guido Dacco

jjspierx · 17 Dec 2003, 12:00 (Ref:813921)

Townsend bell was and is a good driver. He is by far not the worst in CART. While he was involved in incidents almost every race, he still qualified well and ran up towards the front in most of his starts. And this is coming from somone who actually really dislikes Townsend Bell, but I still think its ridiculous and ignorant to call him CART's worst driver.

Snrub · 18 Dec 2003, 04:07 (Ref:814800)

Completely agree with jjspierx about Bell. Sure he crashed a bit, but he was a rookie and he was not at all bad. If he starts driving in F1, everyone will be moaning about how CART could have had him.

BobbyB · 18 Dec 2003, 06:02 (Ref:814827)

Quote:

Originally posted by Snrub
Completely agree with jjspierx about Bell. Sure he crashed a bit, but he was a rookie and he was not at all bad. If he starts driving in F1, everyone will be moaning about how CART could have had him.

And that just may happen. Sweet revenge for me!

DriverT · 18 Dec 2003, 15:01 (Ref:815250)

I remember Dennis Vitolo was very bad.

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