Who was Canada's most successful racing car driver?

Answer 1

There has been much debate about this question over the years, but most agree that Canada's most successful racing car driver is Jacques Villeneuve.

Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, including the 1995 Indy 500, as well as the 1997 Formula One World Championship. In doing so, he became only the third driver ever to achieve this feat, following Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittapaldi.

There are those, however that believe that Canada's greatest race car driver was in fact Jacques Villeneuve's late father, Gilles Villeneuve. The older Villeneuve, Gilles had his career and life cut short when he was killed in qualifying during the 1982 Grand Prix. Though he was never able to achieve the success his son did, Gilles' raw talent and driving abilities have long been regarded as the best Canada has ever produced.

Other successful Canadian racing car drivers include Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier, Ron Fellows, Gregg Moore and Scott Goodyear. None of these, however have achieved the success of Jacques Villeneuve in both CART or Formula 1.