3.1. Jimmie Johnson or Darrell Waltrip, the greatest sprint cup driver ever polls....

Pick one: the poll duration is set for five days

  • Johnson, Jimmie * 55 wins * 5 titles * 15.15 winning %

    Votes: 22 62.9%

  • Waltrip, Darrell * 84 wins * 3 titles * 10.38 winning %

    Votes: 13 37.1%
  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .
Greg

Greg

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Pick one: the poll duration is set for five days


Johnson, Jimmie * 55 wins * 5 titles * 15.15 winning %

Waltrip, Darrell * 84 wins * 3 titles * 10.38 winning %
 
Seriously people???? DW is 10x a better driver than Jimmie Johnson. If you guys used 5 championships over 3 as your criteria then you are truly lost.
 
I am still thinking this one over. But the old DW was much different than the current silly old man.

In 1982 and 81 his win percentage was 40.00% and 38.71%. In both of the years he made big late seasons runs and over took Bobby Allison for the title. Bobby was strong too.

He also had several other seasons that were better than his 85 title year.


I suspect JJ will win this one big, and I am not offended. But I don’t think most folks get how good DW was in the day. His mouth with some justification has obscured how good he really was as a driver.
 
I thought the poll might come down to Gordon..Petty...and Earnhardt .. One from each era sort of and a good case could be made for each .Johnson instead of Gordon still works for me .As for his stats , you have to hand it to him , he has a big future ahead .
 
5 championships is part of it, but 50+ wins as quickly as he did against the level of competition today is stellar. Back when DW was getting all those wins, it was a whole lot easier. Just ask DW himself.
 
FenderBumper said:
5 championships is part of it, but 50+ wins as quickly as he did against the level of competition today is stellar. Back when DW was getting all those wins, it was a whole lot easier. Just ask DW himself.
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Straight, to the point, and exactly correct. Again, people vote with their hearts rather than to vote with an unbiased opinion after taking all things into consideration.
 
my vote went to DW. I do believe he was one of the best drivers in Nascar.
 
I had to go with JJ on this one. 5 straight championships is something we will likely never see again.
 
This is the toughest one I've seen on here except the Earnhardt/Gordon one.

DW was a hell of a driver for several years there. He won a lot of races and three titles. You don't do that by accident. You do that by cheating. :p

Just kidding, while DW admits to a lot of cheating, everybody who won anything back then cheated a lot. It's just how it was. At least his cheating stories are pretty entertaining.

I think Waltrip loses a lot of votes here because he is just such a douche bag. It's not right, it doesn't change how good of a driver he was.

All that being said though, 5 in a row has never been done. And even though he, no doubt, benefited some by the Chase, he's won 5 in a row against some really good competition. There were some great drivers back in DW's day, no doubt, but there is a lot more parity now.
 
Jeffrey00 said:
Seriously people???? DW is 10x a better driver than Jimmie Johnson. If you guys used 5 championships over 3 as your criteria then you are truly lost.
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Dude, really? DW is a 10x better driver than Johnson? Give me a break! It is one thing to say you prefer DW or that you think he is better than JJ, but to say he is 10X better? That statement is not well thought out at all.

Both are great drivers, both have done things that the other has not. The only thing DW has on JJ is number of wins, however, JJ still has many years to rack those up left in him. I don't think DW ever did anything that eclipses 5 straight...
 
DW was great but what Jimmie-Chad has done is truly remarkable.

Tough call but I went with JJ...
 
Gordon_Fan24 said:
While that is impressive, I still don't think it is even close to the feat of 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS in a row....chase era or not....
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I find Jimmie very hard to rate as a driver, not to say he isn't a good driver but so much of his career has been linked to being on the Best team with the Best crewcheif the Best owners and having their Experiance Knowledge and $$$ to lean on. Jimmie came from nowhere, we never got to see him develop or struggle or anything, simply put he is an anomaly.
As far as pure driver skills I do have some questions.
 
Yes you're correct. When Jimmie wins it's all due to his crew chief and owner and when Darrell won it was all due to his driving ability. OK I get it now.
 
Look at JJ's overall stats.

Yearly Finishes :

5,2,2,5,1,1,1,1,1,6


What were DW's finishing spots for his first 10 years in Nascar?
 
I'm bettin that when Petty was driving , some of the other drivers were wishing they had Dale Inman on their team.
 
I'm going with Johnson on this one, mainly because of his impressive stats over 10 years, and the fact that he did win FIVE in a ROW.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Yes you're correct. When Jimmie wins it's all due to his crew chief and owner and when Darrell won it was all due to his driving ability. OK I get it now.
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MOEJOE said:
Look at JJ's overall stats.

Yearly Finishes :

5,2,2,5,1,1,1,1,1,6


What were DW's finishing spots for his first 10 years in Nascar?
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I guess I just can't expect yall to understand that There's Much Much More to being a Great Driver than just what the stats say.
Perhaps we should have just ranked them by stats and forgot about putting any thought into the process :(
 
FlFlash said:
I guess I just can't expect yall to understand that There's Much Much More to being a Great Driver than just what the stats say.
Perhaps we should have just ranked them by stats and forgot about putting any thought into the process :(
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For real? You wan to take JJ's stats, and just toss them because you deem some other quality more measurable?

Why not tell us what your measuring stick is YODA?
 
FlFlash said:
I guess I just can't expect yall to understand that There's Much Much More to being a Great Driver than just what the stats say.
Perhaps we should have just ranked them by stats and forgot about putting any thought into the process :(
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What thought? Seriously, are you on Drugs? The guys stats are amazing, against amazing competition.
 
FlFlash said:
I guess I just can't expect yall to understand that There's Much Much More to being a Great Driver than just what the stats say.
Perhaps we should have just ranked them by stats and forgot about putting any thought into the process :(
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Ok, so if we can't use the guy's stats to measure how great of a driver he is, then what should we be using to measure a driver's greatness by? :confused:
 
FlFlash said:
I guess I just can't expect yall to understand that There's Much Much More to being a Great Driver than just what the stats say.
Perhaps we should have just ranked them by stats and forgot about putting any thought into the process :(
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I would have to agree that there are more things than stats, but that doesn't mean that you can overlook the stats. Jimmie's stats are absolutely amazing. DW's are impressive, but they really do pale in comparison to some of Jimmie's.

If were gonna go by pure talent and disregard stats, then guys like Casey Atwood would have to get some consideration. But, of course, that would be rediculous.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I'm going with Johnson on this one, mainly because of his impressive stats over 10 years, and the fact that he did win FIVE in a ROW.
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Good points, but.....

More than likely I will be voting for JJ. But what DW started out driving in cup was crap in comparison.


DW's win percentage took a dive to after his last 8 or 9 years. He raced until he was about 53, and those later mediocre years undermined and unfortunately rewrote or redefined his warrior like prime years.


DW was a game changer too. Nascar was dominated by a few forces, and DW was the biggest unwelcome force I have ever seen.



He was ****y, and often crude about how he planned on busting up the inner circle, hence the tag "Jaws" by Cale was spot on. The dude loved every microphone he could find.


That was a necessity in the MRN era, or pre TV error. His self promoting persona and buzz creating methods was a tool to self manufacture opportunity. The showmanship was his survival .


But his look at me stunt work helped to get him the rides that allowed him to prove he indeed was one of the greats. MW runs a similar play book, he just didn't have DW driving skill to match the opportunity. DW was a useful annoyance.



But the ****y wheel man could back up the persona without a Busch melt down. He was also one the most hated, when Stevie had her first miscarriage, one of my cousins celebrated, and she was already a mom who should have understood matters.



DW is a piece of work for sure, but the self made genius knew what he was doing. Very few if any could have have changed the 70's era like he did.


As good as JJ is, who I believe to be most the most under rated ever, I am still confused on picking who is better.
 
I remember a fellow by the name of Allison that promised to take him out one Sunday but probably good he never got the chance.
 
Before the race started," Darrell Waltrip says, "some of the guys who worked on Bobby's crew came up to me. They said, "Please watch out for Bobby. He's had a terrible week, and he's crazy. He says he's gonna wreck you, and he's gonna wreck you big.' Bobby had qualified poorly and was starting toward the back of the field. I was starting up near the front. On the parade lap, I radioed my guys and said, 'Let me know if Bobby gets anywhere near me. I gotta keep an eye on him today.'
 
SpeedPagan said:
Ok, so if we can't use the guy's stats to measure how great of a driver he is, then what should we be using to measure a driver's greatness by? :confused:
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We should'nt ignore stats but we do need to keep in mind that we are compareing drivers from different era's in Cup racing. We can't make just pure stats the end all because the rules,points,tracks,cars and of course Money was'nt the same during those times.

MOEJOE said:
For real? You wan to take JJ's stats, and just toss them because you deem some other quality more measurable?

Why not tell us what your measuring stick is YODA?
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I never said JJ's stats are not impressive, But where searching for the Greatest sprint Cup Driver Ever not the greatest driver stats.
Some of my "measuring stick" is is at the end of this post. And dont call me yoda I have nothing to do with Toyota.

MOEJOE said:
What thought? Seriously, are you on Drugs? The guys stats are amazing, against amazing competition.
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Never have done any drugs, I'd recomend you avoid them also.
 
My thoughts on what makes a great driver? A few of the more important ones in my opinion are.

Talent of course a great driver has talent and can wheel the car but I'm talking about the kind of talent that can carry a 10th place car to a Win, Thats Talent.

Physical and mental strength along with that talent. These cars are much easier to drive today but you still have to be physicaly and mentaly strong to continue at 100% through out the race.

The ability to communicate with crew/crewcheifs/owners etc. We've all seen how wrong that can go.

Passion, Dedication and Stubborness, That never give up quality!

Great drivers know how to finish races and stay within both their limits and their equipments limits. More importantly They also know When to exceed those limits.
The most important lap ends with a Checkered Flag and a Paycheck!
 
The Darrell Waltrip and Bobby's hate affair was great.


In 1979 at North Wilkesboro Bobby Allison driving for Bud Moore led most of the race, Darrell Waltrip driving for DiGard caught him in 2nd half of the race, and Bobby took him out.


They had to use two wreckers to straighten out Waltrip's frame. Darrell went back out for points, and to harass Allison. He got the black flag aa a result.


But Bobby who led most the race finished 2nd, to Benny Parsons in the M.C. Anderson car. I think Darrell Waltrip was a big enough thorn that day.


Notes: This post written by a 70's Petty/Waltrip fan. A hot headed kid at the time had not forgotten an earlier North Wilkesboro, Petty/Allison hate incident.


I wasn't even at the race, MRN and the post race notes from "Stock car racing" were my eyes.


So 'your mileage MIGHT vary on this account".


BTW- I always respected Bobby and see him as one the greats".


More Notes: Darrell Waltrip finished 2nd to Petty in points by a slim margin in 79. Was this late season incident a factor?
 
Greg said:
Darrell Waltrip finished 2nd to Petty in points by a slim margin in 79. Was this late season incident a factor?
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Waltrip only finished 11 points behind Petty in 79.

The deal with Allison was bad but Waltrips own hardheadness.

What hurt even more was pitting for four tires under yellow at Pocono with 4 to go. He lost 5 positions because no one else stopped and NASCAR never restarted the race.Waltrip had been running 2nd, that cost Nineteen points under the old point system.
 
Personally, i don't think it is a contest. DW IMHO is the better of the two drivers, hands down.
 
Junior Johnson made Waltrip seem better than he was. He practically doubled his yearly wins his first year with Jr's operation. That was the organization to beat when DW was having his best years. JJ has been beating Jeff Gordon in the same equiptment. I was surprised to hear Jeff say that winning a championship in the chase era is HARDER than when he won his 4. I can't argue with him.

There isn't even a contest here. DW was very good in THE best equiptment in an era where it was much easier to dominate the 4 or 5 real contenders in the field.

I also think JJ's win total was hurt by points racing. Even so, he'll pass DW's 84 in the next 8 - 10 years.
 
FenderBumper said:
Junior Johnson made Waltrip seem better than he was. He practically doubled his yearly wins his first year with Jr's operation. That was the organization to beat when DW was having his best years. JJ has been beating Jeff Gordon in the same equiptment. I was surprised to hear Jeff say that winning a championship in the chase era is HARDER than when he won his 4. I can't argue with him.

There isn't even a contest here. DW was very good in THE best equiptment in an era where it was much easier to dominate the 4 or 5 real contenders in the field.

I also think JJ's win total was hurt by points racing. Even so, he'll pass DW's 84 in the next 8 - 10 years.
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PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!!!
 
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