The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an achievement only one driver in the world, Graham Hill, has achieved in history. The triple crown consists of the three most renowned and illustrious races in motorsports: 24 Hours of Le Mans, Monaco Grand Prix, and the Indianapolis 500.
The last one is part of the IndyCar Series, its most anticipated event, also known as the Indy 500. Throughout the history of the IndyCar Series, there have been many winners, legends, and champions. While these drivers are no Graham Hill (not yet at least), they are the top ten best IndyCar drivers in the history of the sport.
10 Louis Meyer
It's easy to forget the people who first achieved great milestones because there would come other great drivers after his time and they would break his record, too. But let's acknowledge what Louis Meyer did for IndyCar. He was the first driver to ever get three Indy 500 wins in the 21 years since the league started having the event.
It was then called the Sweepstakes Race but was always held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Manhattan-born racer won this race in 1928, 1933, and 1936. Only three other drivers surpassed him with four each (all of them are here on this list) and just six other drivers in the history of IndyCar tied with him at three.
9 Will Power
Moving from the 1930s to today, and on the topic of breaking records, Will Power is one IndyCar driver that could have a chance to tie Louis Meyers record, perhaps even pass it. The man has competed in this league for 11 years and shows no sign of slowing down this season. He won the Indy 500 last year and has won 36 other races since his career debut at Homestead in 2008. Will Power is a 38-year-old Australian racer from Queensland. Other career highlights happened in 2014 when he won IndyCar Champion and back in 2006 when he was awarded Champ Car Rookie of the Year.
8 Bobby Unser
Every once in a while, there will be brothers, fathers and sons, or even cousins and uncles competing in the same niche. Then there is the Unser family dynasty. It's kind of like the Baldwins in the movie and entertainment industry, while there are Alec, William, Stephen, and Daniel in Hollywood, IndyCar has a similar thing, the Unsers. Bobby Unser is one of them, he is the brother of Jerry Unser Jr. and IndyCar legend Al Unser, and Al Jr.'s uncle. Lastly, his son is Robby Unser. Bobby's accomplishments were vast, he won the Indy 500 three times, was a two-time National Champion, and won a total of 35 IndyCar championship races.
7 Dario Franchitti
The Scotland-born driver Dario Franchitti is one of the biggest names in IndyCar history. Early in his career his potential for greatness was recognized with the 1992 McLaren Autosport Award, he was then competing in Formula 3. His Atlantic-jump to IndyCar solidified his legacy as he was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2017 and just this year was elected into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. The 46-year-old hall of fame driver won a total of 31 IndyCar races that included four National Championships in 2007, and three straight from 2009. He also took home Indy 500's checkered flag three times in 2007, 2010, and 2012, before a crash forced him into retirement.
6 Al Unser Jr.
Al Unser is the second generation of the Unser champions. He is Bobby Unser's nephew and the son of Al Senior. The shadow his father cast didn't stop him from making his presence known in IndyCar. In his career he won a total of 34 races, most of them were during the CART seasons that started in 1979.
He grabbed two National Championships while collecting these 34 wins and also sped ahead of everybody else to the finish line at Indy 500 events in 1992 and 1994. His personal issues and DUI mishaps mucked up his legacy quite a bit, but he's still regarded as one of the best ten on the speedway.
5 Scott Dixon
Scott Dixon is the iron man of IndyCar. He started racing at the age of 14 and has on record 281 IndyCar races. WIth 46 race wins in his IndyCar career, he's just behind two drivers at the top and is the #1 non-American IndyCar driver with the most championship events raced. He's still racing today and may have a chance of breaking all-time records. But the Kiwi driver already achieved so much, he won five National Championships (all in this century) and an Indy 500 win in 2008. Dixon is at his prime in driver's standards at 39-years of age, he has a lot of gas left in the tank so to speak.
4 Rick Mears
The topic of the best five IndyCar drivers of all-time would have include Rick Mears, he's hovering right there in the 4th or 5th spot, behind the other greats we'll talk about in another minute. The Kansas-born driver grew up in California where he started learning about racing. He still holds the all-time record for most pole positions at six, and has other amazing accomplishments under his belt. In his 13-year IndyCar career he won 29 races, three National Championships, and is one of only three drivers in history to have won the Indy 500 four times. That last feat is difficult to achieve as he was the last one to do it, and that happened almost 30 years ago.
3 Al Unser
The first Unser who started it all is Al Unser Sr. His illustrious, almost 30-decade career in IndyCar is as much of a record as all his other glorious achievements. He was a champion of champions and still is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best Unser driver in motorsport history. The legend won a total of 39 IndyCar races, wherein he won three National Championships as well. He joins Rick Mears as the second of only three drivers who have won the Indy 500 four times. He got his in 1970, 1971, 1978, and 1987. Unser is clearly a name that's synonymous to IndyCar and it was because of this guy right here.
2 Mario Andretti
This man is undoubtedly one of the two names that come out on top in any top ten list about IndyCar drivers. It's him all the time and the #1 in this list, no exceptions. Mario Andretti, while very active in every known racing outfit during his career, is beloved in IndyCar. He was a four-time National Champion and an inductee in perhaps every racing and sports hall of fame there is in the world. He still holds a lot of records in IndyCar, including the 2nd all-time with 52 race wins and the only driver to win IndyCar races over a period of four decades. However, he only won the Indianapolis 500 once, leading to the belief in the “Andretti Curse.”
1 A.J. Foyt
A.J. Foyt is right up there with Mario Andretti in terms of IndyCar achievements, but he's clearly a little better than the Italian-born driver. Aside from their names being used as trophies (Oval and Road Course trophies) in IndyCar Series awards. It might be easier to say what records A.J. Foyt does not hold in IndyCar. He is still the current #1 in the following: seven National Champion wins, 67 races won (pretty unbreakable), and four Indy 500 wins (shared with Al Usner and Rick Mears). The hall-of-famer’s path was followed by his son (Larry Foyt) and grandson (AJ Foyt IV), but the legendary driver cast a pretty big shadow, about 500 miles long.