As now Thars' a Baker's dozen of Two-Times National
champions...
Although I was ponderin' this prior to
reading 'Ol R's, nee Robin Miller's latest Racer masterpiece. Where thou Curmudgeon
'O IndyCar's ponders over the Questione of which Era of IndyCar's Drivers were the
Greatest?
Nope, instead I was Ah-wonderin' when Josef
Newgarden claimed his second Astor Cup trophy, how many other Two-Times IndyCar
Champions would he be joining?
Which my very Unscientific results garnered a
Dozen Drivers preceding Newgarden, with the first to claim the feat being Jimmy
Murphy in 1922 and 1924.
The rest in chronological order are Peter DePaolo:
1925, 1927; Wilbur Shaw: 1937, 1939; Rex Mays: 1940-41; Tony Bettenhausen:
1951, 1958; Roger Ward: 1959, 1962; Joe Leonard: 1971-72; Bobby Unser: 1968, 1974;
Tom sneva: 1977-78; Al Unser, Jr.; 1990, 1994; Alex Zanardi: 1997-98 and Gil de
Feran: 2000-01.
As that's some pretty Heady company Josef
joins, as this Baker's Dozen includes a total of 16 Indianapolis 500 wins,
which is now the only major item missing from Newgarden's resume.
Although Newgarden's got considerable miles
to go to catch current Bad Arse Five-Times IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon! Whom
also has three-times as many career wins as the younger Josef does.
As it'll be somewhat interesting to see if
Newgarden can join the rarefied Air of Three-Times IndyCar Champions, albeit
I'm rootin' for Alexander Rossi to stop the Penske Juggernaut!
Since currently only seven exist, i.e.; Jimmy
Bryan, Ted Horn, Sam Hornish, Jr., Rick Mears, Louis Meyer, Bobby rahal and Al Unser.
As "Sam I Am" (Hornish) was the
latest member to join this club Wayback in 2006. Whilst naturally, three
Drivers were in thou Employ 'O El Capitano', nee Roger Penske. Meaning Josef's
in Good Company towards doing so...