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There is nothing in sports like debating who is the greatest of all time, but, a way to include everyone in the conversation is to create a “Mount Rushmore” of that sport. NASCAR fans did the same thing on Reddit, so, who did they include on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR?
When people think about a Mount Rushmore of NASCAR, the first thing that pops into the heads of many are drivers. They are the biggest marketing pieces the sport has after all, and many think about drivers before they think about anyone else involved in the sport. Many people on Reddit included many of the same drivers on their Mount Rushmore.
Some of the most popular drivers that were included in this group were Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and David Pearson. Girlwithaguitar specifically included Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon, and Johnson.
However, some had to debate amongst the drivers they wanted to include. Joeydoyle6 proposed that NASCAR should have five drivers on Mount Rushmore because of how many drivers deserve to be on this list.
In fairness to his argument, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson each have seven Championships. Jeff Gordon is third on the all-time wins list, and he had four Championships, which is the most of anyone who does not already have seven. David Pearson only has three Championships, but he is second on the all-time wins list with 105.
libsoutherner decided to give the nod to Jeff Gordon out of the group because of the era he drove in being far more competitive than others.
However, damstar1 calls Pearson “The greatest of all time”, and he decided to leave Jimmie Johnson off because of the fall-off at the end of Johnson’s career. Now, Richard Petty fell off over the final eight seasons of his career, so he’s not innocent in this argument. However, it still shows that people have plenty of drivers they can debate between.
Some Redditors decided to include some other drivers that others had previously not included. Dfisher1225 decided to include Darrell Waltrip, who won 84 races and three Championships. However, as dfisher1225 notes, 84 wins is less than people like Petty, Gordon, and Pearson, and three Championships is less than Gordon, Earnhardt, Johnson, and Petty.
ForensicFiles88 elected to include Junior Johnson, who is regarded as “The Last American Hero”. He won 50 races in the Cup Series, and he is regarded as one of the pioneers of the sport. Even if his accomplishments are not as big as other drivers, his impact on the sport must not be forgotten.
However, Mount Rushmore to some should include more than just the drivers. Others want to include some big-name contributors to the sport as well.
Willthethrill4700 elected to come up with two different Mount Rushmores. One of which he included was “Big” Bill France Sr., the one who founded the sport. That is as good of a reason to be involved as any, but he also included his son Bill France Jr. Bill Jr. was responsible largely for NASCAR growing as much as it did in the late 20th century.
He was not the only one who included Bill France Sr. as CountrySlaughter included Bill France Sr. as well. He was by far the most popular contributor on the thread as he did found the sport. There likely has to be some room for Bill Sr. on there somewhere.
Even in the previous section, we discussed Junior Johnson, who is also a candidate to be in as a contributor. Johnson not only did great things as a driver, but he also did great things as an owner with 132 wins and six Championships.
NASCAR’s Mount Rushmore is reserved for a very select group of elite contributors to the sport. Are there any other people you can add to this list?
