View Full Version : This burns my butt
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/15264/
Ben Blake says that Tony Stewart's IRL and NASCAR championships out weigh the accomplishments of Mario Andretti and that fat guy from Texas.
Mario Andretti:
USAC National Championships
CART Championship
F1 World Driving Championship
Indy 500
Daytona 500
Sebring 12 Hours
Tony Stewart is a little dipstick compared to that. I won't even bother to compare Stewart's "accomplishments" to Sammich (the second best Driver of the Century)...
manic mechanic
02-20-05, 07:00 PM
I concur, doc.
You should give a few props to Stewart (USAC triple crown, NWC Championship, etc.) but I don't see him carrying Mario's helmet as far as career accomplishments go.
I guess that writer also thinks "dead Dale" is also the best ever...
What a hack! :shakehead
manic
Stewart is currently crying in his motorhome. :rofl:
DagoFast
02-20-05, 07:37 PM
I doubt Tony's accomplishments will ever be on a level with Mario's. But let's be honest here.....he certainly outweighs him! And by the end of his career, he may even outweigh the Sammich. :p
Who is Ben Blake? What are his credentials? When Stirling Moss was asked who the best driver ever was, he answered Juan Fangio and Mario Andretti. I don't know anything about Ben Blake but I'm sure he doesn't have as much insight to motorsports as Sir Stirling.
George
Our generation. Leading the way in the hype department only
Mario won in USAC against guys like Branson, Foyt, Jones, Unsers, Rutherfords. Mario won in NASCAR against Petty, Pearson, Yarbough, Lorenzen, Baker
Mario won in F1 against Peterson, Lauda, Watson, Scheckter,
Mario's career accomplishments are staggering
Tony ran well in USAC, but there were no Parnelli's, AJ's, Bobby's, Johnny's or any other men who gave that discipline it's legacy.
I think its a giant reach. Ben Blake should be ashamed for not coming up with a different angle for an article
Tony is good,VERY good...but he is no Mario Andretti. With the specialized way racing is pursued these days there is NO POSSIBLE WAY he can match or eclipse Mario's achievements. NO way. Understand, writers often print things they themselves do not believe, just to CAUSE controversy, to CREATE "news" to FEED their egos. I LAUGH at his conclusions.... and also spit in his direction! :D
PS...didn't a European publication (English?) recently choose Mario as the "most versitile" racer of ALL TIME!? (Moss, 2nd) For a British mag to choose an AMERICAN, of Italian heritage, is amazing enough in itself!
I think Stewart deserves some props for representing a shadow of what Mario, AJ and Dan Gurney did long ago. He has had a great deal of success in very different forms of motorsport.
But to suggest that he has eclipsed any of those legends is simply ludicrous. Even AJ won on road courses.
fourrunner
02-20-05, 11:30 PM
The Writer is obviously a "Chubby Chaser"!
Jag_Warrior
02-21-05, 12:38 AM
Maybe he meant Michael Andretti. That would make sense.
Stewart: 1 IRL championship, 1 NASCAR championship, USAC accomplishments (which most people aren't even aware of what USAC is these days), 0 Indy 500 wins and 0 Daytona 500 wins... never seen the inside of an F1 car. :saywhat:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he meant Michael Andretti.
I'm a big Ben Blake fan (he's about my only contact with NASCAR because he doesn't go for their hype), so I guess I'll defend him here.
If you read the quote, I think he's referring to the fact that AJ and Mario never won both Indy-style and NASCAR championships:
Stewart continues to carve his name in stone. The first USAC Triple Crown champion in 1995, Stewart also became the first driver to win season championships in two of racing's top divisions, the Indy Racing League in 1997 and NASCAR in 2002, exceeding the achievements of heroes such as A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
I just think he chose his words poorly here.
Riverside
02-21-05, 02:32 AM
Who is Tony Stewart and why is he being compared to a racing legend?
Mario > you.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Has the Pillsbury Doughboy even won on a road course?
Tony won at Watkins Glen two times and at Sears Point one time.
Ben Blake wrote a NASCAR article for a NASCAR audience on a website/cable channel given over to NASCAR, written as a consequence of Stewart's actions in one of NASCAR's support series. It's all in the game.
Consider what the France family brown noser's brown noser, Ken Squire, would have written given the chance. If ya really wanna shudder, consider any Jack Arute editorial for journalistic objectivity.
"Journalists" know who butters their bread.
Jervis Tetch 1
02-21-05, 09:05 AM
That may be, but I still had to :laugh: and :rolleyes: when I read it which left me :flame: .
If Blake was any type of responsible journalist he wouldn't have made that comparison.
BTW, Mario won the Daytona 500 in his first shot. Tony still hasn't.
Stewart also became the first driver to win season championships in two of racing's top divisions, the Indy Racing League in 1997 and NASCAR in 2002,
I didn't realize the earl was considered a top division, especially in 1997. I guess beating Greg Ray, Billy Roe, Buzz Calkins and a dentist puts Stewart in the ranks of the great ones. :rolleyes:
Yes,I think Tony is a pretty damn good driver but to compare him to Mario or even the earl of Sammich is a joke. :shakehead
BTW, Mario won the Daytona 500 in his first shot. Tony still hasn't.
Wasn't that his only drive at Daytona in Ford Galaxy 500 stocker, as well?
Jervis Tetch 1
02-21-05, 12:26 PM
Wasn't that his only drive at Daytona in Ford Galaxy 500 stocker, as well?
I think so, but I didn't put it down because I'm still not too sure. Guess we'll have to do some research.
Andrew Longman
02-21-05, 01:09 PM
During the broadcast yesterday Mike Joy called Tony Stewart the "AJ Foyt of his generation".
Tony is old school in that he will drive anything, is hugely competitive and simply likes to go fast. Robbie Gordon is about the only other driver today jumping into anything with 4 wheels.
Tony has only a little more charm than AJ and a ton less than Mario, but he is no AJ Foyt or Mario in terms of talent.
Accipiter
02-21-05, 04:48 PM
Who is Ben Blake?
The best NASCAR writer in the buisness. Emphasis on NASCAR. Apparently when he strays afield, he gets a bit lost.
I give full props to Tony for being a great driver, and the NASCAR and USAC championships are great acheivments, but considering the "competition" he beat, that IRL championship isn't worth the change in my pocket. :laugh:
racer2c
02-21-05, 04:57 PM
Poll after poll, year after year Mario reigns supreme. This is yet another example of the NASCAR isolationist mentality.
Sean O'Gorman
02-21-05, 05:04 PM
Time for y'all to hate Robin Miller too, he said Tony Stewart is the most complete driver in the U.S., perhaps the world.
And Ben Blake is no NASCAR shill, just read any of his other articles on SPEED's site.
racer2c
02-21-05, 05:15 PM
Time for y'all to hate Robin Miller too, he said Tony Stewart is the most complete driver in the U.S., perhaps the world.
And Ben Blake is no NASCAR shill, just read any of his other articles on SPEED's site.
Are you referring to Robin's comments last night on WindTunnel? I interpreted his statement as being among the current drivers.
Time for y'all to hate Robin Miller too, he said Tony Stewart is the most complete driver in the U.S., perhaps the world.
Given the narrowness of most drivers' careers in this period, Miller well may be right about the U.S. part. But it's not like he beat any legends in USAC short track races or in the IRL.
I'll agree with Miller's assessment about current drivers. But to compare his accomplishments with andretti's is absurd at best. :thumdown:
oddlycalm
02-25-05, 06:29 PM
Seems kinda like piling on, but I have to agree that while Stewart stands tall among the current crop, he's not in the same league as Mario. Each year fewer fans and fewer writers are around that saw Mario over the span of his career, so we will inevitably see more of this as time goes by as well as other writers that will attempt to build Mario even taller. Mario was never my favorite driver, but I would never deny either the importance of his accomplishments or his skill.
One of the most specific comparisons we can make is car control. Mario was so good that he was often boring to watch. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him come around and not look like he was on a particularly hot lap compared to the other drivers and end up posting fastest lap or grabbing the pole. It's not just the different types of cars he was successful in, it's the incredible ease with which he did it. Even on mile dirt tracks up againt Sammich, Roger Ward, the Rathmans, Jim Hurtubise and other greats of the day Mario was smooth as glass while the others looked like they were WFO. Mario was not my favorite driver to watch for exactly that reason. There was often very little excitement because he was so smooth and under control and his passes were so deft they appeared effortless. Contrast that to Tony Stewart and you see the difference right away.
I don't want to take anything away from Tony Stewart, whom I consider a very good driver, but this simply isn't an apt comparison and I suspect Stewart would be the first one to say so. I try to avoid comparing drivers from different eras myself, and this is certainly one comparison that I would never have made as it's unfair to either driver.
oc
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.