Apologies for the slight gap in coverage whe=ile I was out on vacation – but noraml service will be resumed with coverage of this weekend’s events.

In the meantime I have still been tracking the results from F1, NASCAR, IRL, ChampCar, World Rally and the NHRA. By the end of July, 135 different drivers had qualified to be included in The Speed Blog’s overall driver ranking calculations.

The Top 10 are:

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

By the end of June 127 Drivers from F1, NASCAR, ChampCar, IndyCar, NHRA and World Rally had qualified to be included in the Speed Blog calculations to detrimine an overall performance ranking.

At the end of June the Top 10 ranked drivers are:

1. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
2. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
3. Dario Franchitti (IRL)
4. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
5. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
6. Denny Hamlin (NASCAR)
7. Fernando Alonso (F1)
8. Scott Dixon (IRL)
9. Marcus Gronholm (WRC)
10. Ron Capps (NHRA)

By the end of May, 111 drivers in F1, NASCAR, IRL, ChampCar, NHRA Drag racing, and World Rally had qualified for inclusion the THE SPEED BLOG Overall Driver Rankings.

The Top 10 Drivers at the end of May are:

1. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
2. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
3. Denny Hamlin (NASCAR)
4. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
5. Fernando Alonso (F1)
6. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
7. Marcus Gronholm (WRC)
8. Scott Dixon (IRL)
9. Ronn Capps (NHRA)
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.

By the end of April, 94 drivers from Formula One, NASCAR, World Rally, NHRA Drag Racing, IndyCar and the ChampCar World Series had qualified for inclusion in the Speed Blog Driver Rankings calculations.

The Top 10 ranked drivers at the end of April are:

1. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
2. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
3. Jeff Burton (NASCAR)
4. Matt Kenseth (NASCAR)
5. Scott Dixon (IRL)
6. Dan Wheldon (IRL)
7. Ron Capps (NHRA)
8. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
9. Kimi Raikonnen (F1)
10. Kyle Busch (NASCAR)

Here at The Speed Blog we thought it might be a fun exercise to come up with a method for comparing and ranking the achievments of  drivers across the various series we cover.

We have set up a scheme that compares top 10 finishes in Formula 1, World Rally,  NASCAR, IRL, ChampCar and NHRA, and aggregates scores based on the number of events competed in. Each month, between March and November, we will present the Driver Rankings for that month, plus the Year to Date rankings.

As March is the first month, then this month’s results also reflect the year-to-date results.

Speed Blog Driver Rankings – Top 10 (March 2007)

1. Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
2. Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)
3. Jeff Burton (NASCAR)
4. Matt Kenseth (NASCAR)
5. Tony Stewart (NASCAR)
6. Kyle Busch (NASCAR)
7. Dan Wheldon (IRL)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (F1)
9. Ron Capps (NHRA)
10. Sebastian Loeb (WRC)