Finnish rally ace Mikko Hirvonen leaps to the top of our combined driver rankings chart at the end of March. So far a total of 91 drivers from NASCAR, FI, IRL, NHRA and WRC have qualified for inclusion in the ranking calculations with all series being represented in the Top 10 this month.

The Top 10 Drivers at the end of March 2008 are

1. Mikko Hirvonen (WRC)
2. Sebastian Loeb (WRC)
3. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR)
5. Greg Anderson (NHRA)
6. Tony Schumacher (NHRA)
7. Heki Kovalainen (F1)
8. Nick Heidfeld (F1)
9. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
10. Scott Dixon (IRL)

Once again we’ll be posting our own cross-series drivers rankings as the season progresses. However this year we’ll be making a slight change to the way we calculate the overall ranking, by focusing more on average finishing positions within individual series rather than normalizing across all series.

To qualify a driver must score a Top 10 finish in F1, IndyCar (ChampCar), NASCAR, World Rally, or make it to the final of an NHRA event.

Top 10 Drivers by the end of February 2008 are:

1. Robert Hight (NHRA)
2. Mikko Hirvonen (WRC)
3. Kyle Busch (NASCAR)
4. Gigi Galli (WRC)
5. Petter Solberg (WRC)
6. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
7. Ryan Newman (NASCAR)
8. Jari-Matti Latvala (WRC)
9. Sebastian Loeb (WRC)
10. Greg Anderson (NHRA)

It’s been way too long since I managed to post anything here on The Speed Blog, but I have definite plans for this blog during the 2008 season. Instead of trying to keep up and report on teh races (as there are lots of online resources that already do that) we’ll be focusing on the men and women who make this sport so great – The Drivers themselves. Look out for more Driver Profiles and “Racers Past” type articles next year.

I’ll also be continuing to run an overall Drivers Ranking program.

But before we get to the 2008 season, here’s

The Final 2007 Overall Speed Blog Driver Rankings :

160 drivers qualified to be included in the overall listings during 2007, based on a top ten finish in ChampCar (20 drivers), Formula One (22 drivers), IRL (22 drivers), NASCAR (40 drivers), NHRA (26 drivers) or World Rally (30 drivers).

The final Top 10 of 2007 were:

• Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
• Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
• Denny Hamlin (NASCAR)
• Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
• Fernando Alonso (F1)
• Matt Kenseth (NASCAR)
• Lewis Hamilton (F1)
• Sebastian Loeb (WRC)
• Kimi Raikkonen (F1)
• Mikko Hirvonen (WRC)

By the end of September, 146 drivers from ChampCar, IndyCar, Formula One, NASCAR, NHRA, and World Rally have qualified for inclusion in The Speed Blog Driver Rankings.

After several months at the top, this month Jeff Gordon is bumped by team-mate Jimmie Johnson while Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa and World Rally star Marcus Gronholm drop out of the Top 10.

Here are the Top 10 Drivers at the end of September:

1. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
2. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
3. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
4. Scott Dixon (IRL)
5. Dario Franchitti (IRL)
6. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
7. Fernando Alonso (F1)
8. Denny Hamlin (NASCAR)
9. Kimi Raikonen (F1)
10. Tony Kanaan (IRL)

Positions are calculated based on championship race results and number of events participated in each month. These are then added together and normalized for the year to date totals.

By the end of August the total number of drivers who had qualified to be included in The Speed Blog Overall Driver Ranking calculations had reached 140.

The current Top 10 Ranked drivers are:

1. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
2. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
3. Scott Dixon (IRL)
4. Denny Hamlin (NASCAR)
5. Dario Franchetti (IRL)
6. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
7. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
8. Fernando Alonso (F1)
9. Tony Kannan (IRL)
10. Felippe Massa (F1)

Positions are calculated based on championship race results and number of events participated in each month. These are then added together and normalized for the year to date totals.