This comes from the Heinricy post. Who have you seen who impressed you!
I will start, Chris Amon - smoothness, Hans Stuck - best rain driver, Bob Wolleck - Iron Man, Al Holbert, Derek Bell, Jim Downing - Everyone owes this thinking man for the Hans, Graham Hill. John Buffum, Rod Millen. Of course in no order.
Is this seen in person? I haven't seen much in person :(, but TV:
-I remember watching Fernando Alonso win a Grand Prix against the more powerful BMWs and the better-handling Ferraris in a Renault some years ago by a healthy margin. -Any WRC driver (they're nuts)
As having been around racing since 1968 i have had a chance to see and get to know a few. I had a chance to be a rally driver, One Lap competitor, Pro race Official, and crew which made it possible. And I havent even thought about NHRA.
Alex Zanardi would be my top pick.
There are such different disciplines involved. Having driven and navigated Pro Rally, going 12 hours is like a marathon mentally. Until you try what your favorite does do you totally understand.
Bill Auberlen in a BMW in the rain at LRP
Walter Rohrl in a Group B Rally car
Jackie Stewart
Mad Max Papas in the Ferrari at Daytona 24
Colin McRae.
I still remember the ex-games race where he was beat by Travis Pastrana. Incredible driving..
Hans Stuck - Best driver ever in any type of car, on or off road in my opinion.
Walter Rohl - See Above
Michelle Mouton - Up Pikes Peak with such smoothness and speed.
Rod Millen - Awesome up the peak, and in many other places.
Ivan Stewart - He checks the boxes for skill, stamina, mental endurance...the list goes on.
Valentino Rossi - Actually, any motorcycle racer. Crazy stuff!
Steve Kinser - The guy just drove around everybody like they were in the wrong class.
Andy Green - Driving 700+ mph had to take some stones.
Danny Popp - Uncanny to watch, especially if you just ran the same course. He shaved 10 seconds off my time?!?!?
Steve Wasser - He did all of the stunt driving for Pixars "Cars". That move when Lightining McQueen goes up on the wall...amazing!
I made the mistake of catching a ride with then defending STU National Champ James Paulson in his STi at my 2nd autocross. I didn't know you could go so fast in a parking lot! 
Watch any pro-level sprint car driver. Doing 120+ on dirt a half-inch from the 4 cars around you all while drifting!?!?!?!!!
I got to watch Warren Johnson drive a Pro Stock once. Talk about smoooooooooth. The guy is an encyclopedia of knowledge as well!
The best "driver" I ever saw was still Bob Hoover (the pilot, Chuck Yeager's wingman in WW2 and during the X1 stuff) when he had the Yellow Aero Commander. He'd do a roll whil pouring a glass of water in the cockpit and never spilled a drop!
The best offroad driving I've seen up close was by electric co-op linemen in West Texas, particularly around Big Bend. Four-wheeling in F350's with full utility boxes.
We were doing thermal scans of powerlines and substations. The driving was not that fast, but they were very good at putting those behemoths EXACTLY where they needed to be and NOT getting stuck in the sand or high-centered on the rocks. Navigation was dead on.
These guys need to go to Dakar ...
Concrete truck drivers in the mountains of Southern Tennessee.
It was common for them to hang one of their rear duallies off the edge of a 100' drop off as they negotiated around a foundation.
tony pond... nut case.
P71 wrote: Watch any pro-level sprint car driver. Doing 120+ on dirt a half-inch from the 4 cars around you all while drifting!?!?!?!!!
Anybody who can win a WOO sprint race at Eldora is a pretty good driver. The cars used to weigh about 1,000 lbs, and had nearly 1,000 HP. The engine is hooked directly to the rear axle (no real clutch or trans).
I've met Sarah Fisher and Jeff Gordon (and many other IRL and NASCAR drivers who used to race at Eldora). Anyone who can cover 1/2 mile in just over 13 seconds is a pretty good driver. These two did it before getting their driver's license.
anyone who races flat track motorcycles.. = insane..
I work with Kenny Coolbeths cousin.. Kenny is a crackhead, a fast one.. but crazy..
Ron Fellows, in the rain in a Trans-Am race at Portland. Never put a wheel wrong and Tom Kendall would chase him down by overdriving the car and the track, fall off, then charge back to Fellows, fall off and do it all over again until the checkered flag. Meanwhile Fellows kept on driving his lines, smooth and fast. Always wanted him to do better in Nascar than he has so far. Still his work in the Corvette's is impressive.
David Donohue (Mark Donohue's son) was also impressive in the NATCC and maybe if Penske returns to racing with the new Camaro, David might take it for a spin.....
Per. (Somebody had to say it.)
Danny Sullivan spinning his car and then winning that Indianapolis 500. And I was sitting right there.
Sebastian Vettel. Driving his Toro Rosso to victory at Monza over the McLaren's and Ferrari's was incredible.
Ya, I dont see the staff weighing in on this!!
Danny Popp is good in anything he drives! RAFT Racing
Here are some of the best drives I have seen in person in no particular order.
Scott Pruit in a Trans-Am Merkur at Long Beach. (1987 I think)
Hurley Haywood in a Porsche 914-6 at the Montery Histrics (forget the year).
Klause Ludwig in final race ever. ALMS at Laguna Seca (1999?)
Scott Frasier (local Bay Area autox hotshoe) driving a Porsche 911 GT2 at an SCCA national tour event in Atwater CA. I don't think he had driven the car before. So with near zero seat time he piloted a 515hp two wheel drive beast to one of the top SM2 times on his first run.
Gigi Galli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewxrNSOKFow
Tanner Foust and Rhys Millen holding their cars sideways at turn 7 of Infineon. Envy.
There's plenty of people who I would put on top of the heap, but there's two particular performances that stand out in my mind:
Randy Pobst has jumped into many cars over the years and proceeded to embarrass a lot of people. At the Florida State Championship autocross in maybe 1989-1990-ish, he borrowed what was his old Golf Cup car that had been converted into and ITB car and pretty much dusted the entire field. I believe he may have been the fastest car on street tires, and probably one of the 3-4 fastest overall.
At the St. Pete Grand Prix in 1987-88 or so, the Audis pretty much had the Trans-Am season sewn up after utterly dominating all year. No one had even come close to them as Stuck and Rorhl had basically run 1-2 for the entire season in cruise control mode. Apparently, someone forgot to tell Darin Brassfield that nothing besides an Audi was competitive as he absolutely stayed glued to the Quattros for the entire race in his Corvette. He never could move up beyond third, but the top two were obviously driving scared, maybe for the first time that season.
jg
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