Most undeservedly unlucky racing driver

[airbrakes]

There always seems to be a driver in some racing series who is having a run of bad luck. Some of these times they make their own luck through poor driving/tactical decisions, for others of them it could almost be called karma.
Some drivers, however, seem to be permanently unlucky through no fault of their own. Fate never seems to cut them a break, however much they try and however much of a nice guy they are on and off the track.

I got thinking on this thought train earlier when watching old BTCC videos. I'm going to nominate, for this dubious award, Paul Radisich. A quick driver who would regularly finish highly when in a competitive car. But when he had a competitive car, there was always some newcomer (Alfa, Audi etc) with a game-changing performance development that meant Paul was always a runner-up. Whenever the playing field was re-levelled the following year (unanimous aero, 4wd weight penalties etc), his car was an utter dog. Throughout all of this, his nice-guy driving style meant regularly being punted off in battles with less scrupulous drivers.
So, he left the BTCC and went to race in V8 supercars. Had a massive crash just as he was getting properly competitive, which entailed a 2-year recovery period before returning to racing just in time for the team to fall out with the suppliers and fold.
Joined a quicker team, and had a mechanical failure resulting in another massive crash, this one career-ending.


Any other nominations for unluckiest racer of all time?

[tonytifoso]

You'd have think Robert Kubica is a pretty good candidate for this. Such a shame for him.

[Eric Mc]

Chris Amon - led umpteen GPs and never won one.

[mollytherocker]

You believe in fate and luck?

How quaint.

[MissChief]

Eric Mc said:

Chris Amon - led umpteen GPs and never won one.

The man that made Mario Andretti quote 'If he was a funeral director people would stop dying'

[entropy]

Derek Warwick - rated driver but joined teams at the wrong time. Joined Renault as Prost's replacement but by then Renault were going downhill yet he declined to join Williams for '85 and Mansell ended up driving for them. Raced for Brabham as they were going downhill.

I think in the right car he is capable of winning a race or two.

[coppice]

Amon is the usual candidate- but as he himself has said he considers himself bloody lucky to have survived the carnage of that era. More recent unlucky guys are the ones hwo managed to win the bRitish F3 championship when it was important and then plunged into obscurity. Marc Hynes anyone ?

[onyx39]

I remember thinking that Jonhny Herbert was very unlucky on many a Sunday Afternoon.

[funkyrobot]

Taki Inoue - hit by medical car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqZV9V4R-s

[Marc W]

He was also hit by a course car at Monaco while being towed back to the pits. The impact rolled his car!

[garycat]

funkyrobot said:

Taki Inoue - hit by medical car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqZV9V4R-s

Taki's twitter is pretty funny sometimes.

https://twitter.com/takiinoue

[Vocal Minority]

Jean Alesi - the amount of times his Ferrari went pop when he was in the lead - especially in Italy,

[ellroy]

entropy said:

I think in the right car he is capable of winning a race or two.

I think you'll find he did, Le Mans in 92 and world sports car title that same year. But of course all that matters is F1.

[CaptainSensib1e]

Mark Webber seems pretty unlucky out of the current F1 crop. Couldn't believe it when that idiot Caterham clipped him in Canada, but it was pure bad luck, nowt he could have done about it.

[thanetspeedshop]

Tom Pryce

[StevieBee]

Martin Brundle seemed to have a knack of being in the right team at the wrong time.

Perry McCarthy I think deserved a lot more than he got.

Oliver Gavin should have had more of shot in F1

I think dear old Nige was more unlucky than he was lucky. All things being equal, he should have been a triple WDC.

[furrywoolyhatuk]

Frank wrathall btcc always seems to be punted off or ending up with mechanical failure.

[Muzzer79]

StevieBee said:

I think dear old Nige was more unlucky than he was lucky. All things being equal, he should have been a triple WDC.

Really?

I count two - '92 obviously, but only '86 as the other. He was unlucky with that tyre blowout and the fact that he held it together so they didn't stop the race. With a red flag, he'd have been World Champion.

But I can't think of other years he was unlucky and should have won. '85 he was learning, '87 he binned it in Qualifying in Japan, '88 the Williams was hopeless, '89 & '90 Ferraris were either not reliable or fast enough, '91 Williams was too unreliable and he went off in a strop in '93.

He was my racing hero as a kid. It was always hard-done-by Nige and he was spectacular to watch. Recent (to me) revelations about what he was like to work with have clouded his image a little for me.

[belleair302]

Surely Tiff Needell needs a mention. A lengthy career but never the break needed to drive with a top team and often driving a bad car very well. The late Piers Courage would also be on my list of drivers too.

[entropy]

ellroy said:

I think you'll find he did, Le Mans in 92 and world sports car title that same year. But of course all that matters is F1.

I know, but I was specifically referring to F1.