NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list wasn’t slapped together as clickbait – it came out of a genuine blue-ribbon panel debate for the sanctioning body’s 50th anniversary, weighing everything from national event wins to the sport’s technological history. Don Garlits sits at number one, with John Force, Don Prudhomme, Bob Glidden, and Shirley Muldowney rounding out a top five that basically built modern drag racing. Decades later, NHRA even expanded it into a Top 75 list for its 75th anniversary. So who’s your pick for the top spot?
Ok, who is your #1 NHRA Drag Racer of all time?
Do you agree with the rankings? Leave your comments below…..
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NHRA’s 50 GREATEST DRIVERS
50. Elmer Trett
49. Richard Tharp
48. Malcolm Durham
47. Billy Meyer
46. Ken Veney
45. Scotty Richardson
44. Dave Schultz
43. Frank Hawley
42. David Rampy
41. John Mulligan
40. Frank Manzo
39. Danny Ongais
38. James Warren
37. Edmond Richardson
36. Blaine Johnson
35. Terry Vance
34. Willie Borsch
33. Brad Anderson
32. Darrell Gwynn
31. Dick LaHaie
30. Chris Karamesines
29. Art Chrisman
28. George Montgomery
27. Jim Dunn
26. Gene Snow
25. Tommy Ivo
24. Gary Beck
23. Jack Chrisman
22. Pete Robinson
21. Connie Kalitta
20. Raymond Beadle
19. Ed McCulloch
18. Don Nicholson
17. Jim Liberman
16. Tom McEwen
15. Ronnie Sox
14. Eddie Hill
13. Pat Austin
12. Lee Shepherd
11. Mickey Thompson
10. Dale Armstrong
9. Joe Amato
8. Bill Jenkins
7. Warren Johnson
6. Kenny Bernstein
5. Shirley Muldowney
4. Bob Glidden
3. Don Prudhomme
2. John Force
1. Don Garlits
Leave your answer in the comments
Thanks, Pat Caporuscio
Ask ten different drag racing fans who the greatest driver of all time is and you’ll start ten different arguments – that’s basically the entire premise behind NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list. It wasn’t some casual internet poll, either. A panel of historians, journalists, former racers, and officials spent real time weighing decades of quarter-mile history before locking in their rankings, and the results still get debated at every cookout and swap meet where gearheads gather. The name sitting at the very top has a nickname that’s basically drag racing royalty at this point. So does the list actually hold up a couple decades later, or is it time to argue about it all over again?
How NHRA Actually Built This List
The Top 50 Racers list wasn’t thrown together overnight. NHRA put it together in 2000 as the centerpiece of the sanctioning body’s 50th anniversary celebration, pulling in a blue-ribbon panel that went well beyond just counting national event wins. Technological contributions, sponsorship impact, fan popularity, and pure influence on the sport all factored into where a name landed. That’s exactly why you see Top Fuel legends sitting alongside Pro Stock stars and Funny Car icons instead of the list turning into a single-category popularity contest. It’s a genuinely tough exercise, ranking eras and disciplines that don’t always compare cleanly against each other, and the panel clearly took that seriously. Two and a half decades later, NHRA revisited the whole project for its 75th anniversary, expanding the original 50 into a Top 75 list that folds in a new generation of talent without erasing any of the original names.
The Legends Sitting at the Very Top
Don Garlits – ‘Big Daddy’ to anyone who’s spent time around a drag strip – tops the list, and it’s hard to argue with a career that basically invented the modern rear-engine dragster and reshaped safety standards for the entire sport. John Force sits right behind him, a Funny Car dominance machine whose win totals speak for themselves. Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme, Bob Glidden, and Shirley Muldowney round out the top five, and each one changed their respective discipline in a way that’s still felt today – Prudhomme in Top Fuel and Funny Car, Glidden as a Pro Stock institution, and Muldowney as the driver who broke down doors nobody else could even reach. These aren’t just fast names on a list; they’re the reason a lot of the sport’s modern rules and records exist in the first place.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Warren Johnson
Glidden
Big Daddy Don Garletlet.
Sorry i may have misspelled his name.
Big Daddy never raced in Pro Stock. Raced in dragsters and funny cars.
Bob Glidden,Ronnie Sox & Bill Jenkins –Saw um all race !! Never for get
Ronnie Sox
Bob Glidden
I think of Bob Glidden
Can’t say just one everybody will have a different opinion. Some will say Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, Bob Glidden, Ronnie Sox, Warren Johnson, Greg Anderson all these guys are great and this is a short list.
Grumpy
Dickinson Trickle
Warren Johnson of coarse !!!!
It’s got to be big-daddy Don!
Bob Glidden.
Where the hell is Hubert Platt??
Don “Big Daddy” Garlits of course! Everybody knows him. He was the first to sign Shirley’s NHRA license.
Eddie Hill should be too 10.