Greatest Underdog moments

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Shane van Gisbergen's upset win in his first NASCAR start on the streets of Chicago got me thinking, what are some of the best underdog stories/surprise winners in racing history?

[acerogers58]

Greg Sacks, 1985 Firecracker 400 at Daytona

A remarkable win by a driver whose career was plagued by bad luck and injury, Greg Sacks entered the 1985 Pepsi Firecracker 400 driving an unsponsored Research and Development car prepared by DiGard Racing, as a teammate to the legendary Bobby Allison. The Team was formed less then a week prior to the race, with the intention of trying to create a car good enough to compete with Bill Elliott, who had dominated superspeedway races that year. The team had initially wanted to run a handful of laps, before going to the garage and experiment with different setups throughout the race, however the car ran much better then they thought it would, so they decided to leave the setup and compete for a win instead. For much of the day, Sacks ran in the Top 5, trailing Elliott, but on lap 152, Elliott was forced to pit for fuel. Sacks, who was 8 seconds behind, inherited the lead - not that he knew it, his radio had stopped working earlier in the race. Sacks thought he was racing Terry Labonte for the win, and in the final turn, he passed Labonte on the outside and took the checkered flag. Unknown to Sacks, Labonte was actually a lap down and he ended up winning the race by more then twenty seconds over Elliott to claim one of the greatest upset wins in NASCAR history.





As a result of the win, Sacks was offered a drive with DiGard for the rest of the season, a move which infuriated Bobby Allison who had struggled for much of the year. Allison quit the team days after the race at Daytona, and formed his own team. Remarkably, just one week after the event, the car that Sacks had drove was put up for sale in the form of a newspaper ad, and Sacks took Allison's spot. Unfortunately for both DiGard and Sacks, the rest of their year was far from good, earning just one Top 10 after the Daytona race, and by seasons end sponsor Miller Brewing decided to drop their sponsorship in favor of Allison's team. Sacks remained in the car the following year, but the financial damage by both Allison and Miller's departure had taken its toll, the team was non competitive in its first 4 races, before deciding to scale back their schedule. Upon returning at Talladega, Sacks posted his best result of the year before DNFing the next 3 races, Sacks and DiGard split midway through 1986 and DiGard would eventually go bankrupt the following year, in a sad and sudden end to a team that had won a championship just 4 years prior. Sacks would spend the next 15 years running for a variety of teams, including Hendrick Motorsports, whom he drove an extra car for to gather footage for the movie "Days of Thunder". He would also replace Darrell Waltrip for 3 races in mid 1990 as Waltrip recovered from injuries he sustained in a practice crash at Daytona. After disappearing from NASCAR in 1999, Sacks would return in the mid 2000s with his own team, attempting 12 races but only making the field 5 times. Sacks would make one final start in 2010, selected by Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive the #88 Xfinity series car in the July Daytona race, commemorating 25 years since his upset victory. He would finish 21st and retire for good after that event.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Trevor Bayne winning the 2011 Daytona 500 on what was only his 2nd start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the first win for Wood Brothers Racing since 2001. It remains his only win to this day.

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Justin Labonte, 2004 Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland

19 years ago today, Justin Labonte, son of Terry, pulled off one of the great upsets in NASCAR Xfinity series history at Chicagoland, beating a host of Cup series regulars such as Harvick, Burton, Biffle, Kahne, Kenseth and Waltrip to score his first, and only, career win. Driving a part time schedule in a car owned by his father, Cup series champion Terry Labonte,

This entire weekend was quite bizarre, qualifying was interrupted after a giant inflatable Tropicana Orange positioned outside the track came loose from its foundations and found its way onto the track as a result of high winds. During the race, whoever was leading appeared to be jinxed. Pole sitter Bobby Hamilton Jr blew an engine after just 8 laps, giving the lead to Kyle Busch. Busch then had a flat right front tire on lap 40, giving the lead to Matt Kenseth, who on lap 90 also had a flat tire and like Busch, was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. Mike Bliss then took the lead, but on lap 130 he reported engine problems, eventually dropping out of the race 10 laps later. Busch then ran into more trouble, this time with his engine, it would not fully blow but significantly reduced his performance for the rest of the event. With just 20 laps to go, the jinx would strike again, this time, Greg Biffle lost a radiator while in a battle for the lead with J.J Yeley, just before the pair were due to make their final pit stops for fuel. Mike Wallace inherited the lead, and was able to stretch his fuel all the way until the white flag, where the jinx would strike again as Wallace ran out of fuel. Labonte took the lead and was able to make it to the checkered flag, scoring his first, and only career win.

Unfortunately for Labonte he would be unable to follow in his father and uncles footsteps. He attempted the full Xfinity series schedule in 2005 but would have no success and the team would shut down at the end of the season. He would make a single start for Hendrick Motorsports in 2006 at Memphis but would only manage a 22nd placed finish. His final two NASCAR starts came in two truck races for Darrell Waltrips team in 2007, finishing 27th and 12th. Justin has since gone on to found a successful dirt racing chassis company, Longhorn Chassis.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Granted it was a non-Championship F1 race but seriously! How many people would have expected Keke Rosberg and his Theodore TR1 to triumph in the 1978 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone? In only his 2nd race in an F1 car to boot? Especially one that he never finished a race with in the World Championship (He finished 10th at Hockenheim in a Theodore Racing Wolf)! Granted the race was held in torrential rain and most of the drivers either spun off or crashed but the fact that Rosberg kept it on the island after starting 11th when all the more experienced drivers failed to do so is quite a feat! At least I think it is!

[Matt]

Brawn in 2009 is pretty dear to my heart. From having to make a last-minute deal for engines and hack away at the planned back end of their car to fit them in through losing over a third of their staff soon after the start of the season due to budget shortfalls, via not having a huge amount of investment as the season went on that all led to the car gradually becoming slightly less competitive compared to its rivals.

A fun year

[PTRACER]

Brawn in 2009 is pretty dear to my heart. From having to make a last-minute deal for engines and hack away at the planned back end of their car to fit them in through losing over a third of their staff soon after the start of the season due to budget shortfalls, via not having a huge amount of investment as the season went on that all led to the car gradually becoming slightly less competitive compared to its rivals.

A fun year

Yes and I heard through the grapevine before testing started that this was going to be a special car and turned my £30 bet into £550 win at the bookies. The one and only time I ever placed a bet and subsequently won.

[PTRACER]

My all-time favourite has always been Johnny Herbert winning the 1999 European GP in a Stewart. I know the attrition rate was quite high and pretty much all the front runners crashed out but it was one of the best F1 races in history, in my opinion, and Jackie Stewart is such a legend. After the career he had as a driver, to start his own F1 team and for it to go on to be a race winner is an outstanding achievement.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Giancarlo Fisichella taking a shock pole position for Force India at Spa in 2009 and finishing 2nd in the race. Had Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari not had the advantage of being equipped with KERS, Fisi might even have won the race, and bare in mind that Force India had yet to score a point prior to this race.

I would put Fisi winning the 2003 Brazilian GP for Jordan but that really came as a result of being in the right place at the right time, being in the lead when the race was stopped and abandoned due to heavy rain and the accidents that befell Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso and sprayed debris all over the place, plus a timing error meant the victory wasn't even confirmed until a few days before the next race.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Jack Goff winning Race 3 at Silverstone in the 2019 British Touring Car Championship. It would be the only time Team HARD would win a BTCC before they folded at the end of the 2023 Season.

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Giancarlo Fisichella taking a shock pole position for Force India at Spa in 2009 and finishing 2nd in the race. Had Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari not had the advantage of being equipped with KERS, Fisi might even have won the race, and bare in mind that Force India had yet to score a point prior to this race.

Trying to wrack my brains over this now...did Force India ending up winning a race in the end or not?

[Everso Biggyballies]

Giancarlo Fisichella taking a shock pole position for Force India at Spa in 2009 and finishing 2nd in the race. Had Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari not had the advantage of being equipped with KERS, Fisi might even have won the race, and bare in mind that Force India had yet to score a point prior to this race.

Trying to wrack my brains over this now...did Force India ending up winning a race in the end or not?

Not as Force India, no. They got the 2nd with Fisi in 2009 and another 5 x 3rd place podiums with Sergio between 2014-2018.
They became Racing Point in 2019 for 2 seasons. They had a win (Sergio Sakir 2020), a Pole (for Stroll) and 4 podiums in 2020 (2 each for Stroll and Sergio)

[kubakozal]

This may sound odd, but I'd choose Bergers win in the German Grand Prix in 1994 and Alesis victory in Canada in 95.
Well, Ferrari hardly comes to mind when you say "underdog" but in the early 90s they were in deep sh...
The 92 and 93 cars were junk, and while 412s from 1994 and 1995 were qute decent cars, they were still no match for Benetton and Williams at the time.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Gilles Villeneuve's 1981 Spanish caravan

I would probably go with Gilles Villeneuve's defensive masterclass at the 1981 Spanish GP at Jarama. The car was a dog.... one that fits well with Dick Johnsons description of his new XE Falcon in the 1982 in the ATCC. That XEcame good and became known as the Pig that lernt to fly. Prior to being sorted Dick had famously quipped on Racecam that it should have been chained to the fence in the back yard and left to sulk like a disobrdient dog.

Described by John Watson who had a good view from behind..... "There’s some irony to the fact that Gilles Villeneuve, the swashbuckling, snowmobiling, sometime three-wheeling French-Canadian, took probably his greatest F1 race win in what was the antithesis of his usual style.

At a parched Jarama, the Ferrari driver headed off a 150mph train of Jacques Laffite’s Ligier, McLaren’s John Watson, Carlos Reutemann in the Williams and Lotus’s Elio de Angelis, doing just enough to hold the gaggle at bay and eke out the win; 1.24 seconds covering the first five. Whilst it might not have been done in the usual all-guns-blazing style with which Villeneuve endeared himself to millions, many still feel it to be the greatest display of his god-given driving talent and nerveless will to win."

It wasnt just Watson and I that thought it special. Not one dirty trick used, just class.

This is a race that goes down as one of the all-time great demonstrations of singular driving skill in motorsports history. Gilles Villeneuve was driving a historically poor car, its rough handling ill-suited to a car park, let alone the corkscrew demands of the Circuito del Jarama.
Despite the limits of his four-wheeled albatross, Villenueve made a perfect start and soon moved him up to second place. Once Alan Jones crashed out on lap 14, Villeneuve took over first place and maintained his improbable lead until the end. With four superior cars behind him, you'd expect Villeneuve to have used every trick in the book to hold his opponents back, but famously, the Ferrari driver exhibited impeccable track manners and won the trace simply by virtue of running each lap cleanly and perfectly.

The last 4 laps in 60fps

Gilles Villeneuve's Final Victory Jarama 1981

[PTRACER]

Would it be unfair if I said Gilles' win at Jarama '81 was overrated? The car was garbage, but the track had no overtaking opportunities either. I don't think anyone within that top 5 overtook anyone else during those laps.