Racing Legend Quotes

When I was a kid, we all knew who Niki Lauda was. He was a hero, a living legend in Germany. Everybody knows him.

Michael [Schumacher] was a phenomenal driver but for me, Ayrton Senna was the greatest ever. If I could get one world championship that would be great; if I could win three, the same number as Ayrton did, that would be a dream. But I want to be the best driver there has ever been.

My favorite was Jeff Gordon. I just followed him growing up because I started watching racing when he came on the scene.

Dale Earnhardt was the best race car driver there will ever be in NASCAR. I would hope you don't expect me to replace him because nobody ever will.

Juan Fangio was the great man of racing, whilst Stirling Moss was the epitome of a racing driver.

At the end of the day, I got involved in all this because I enjoy driving cars and driving them as fast as possible. If I was going to be remembered for anything, I would like it to be for that.

My big ambition was to be Richard Petty.

Why make a movie about Ayrton Senna? Someone who drove around in circles at 200mph in a car that looked like a giant cigarette packet? Why would anyone who isn't already a fan of Formula 1 care?

When I was a kid, we all knew who Niki Lauda was. He was a hero, a living legend in Germany. Everybody knows him. And he's still very present on TV because he's commenting for Formula One.

Sir Gordon Richards was the most successful jockey - flat or jumps - there's ever been: champion jockey for 26 years. He set a record of 269 winners in the season 55 years before I broke it. That was my greatest achievement.

Lewis [Hamilton] is a hero in the UK. The British love Formula One. Sebastian (Vettel) is also not doing much for F1. People hardly recognize him on the street.

Dale Earnhardt was kind of a hero of mine.

If you weren't on Chris Economaki's radar screen, you probably weren't on anybody's.

I'm Valentino Rossi. And I want to be a person, not an icon.

I started off riding motorbikes and at that point my hero was Valentino Rossi.

Well, when you think of Dale Earnhardt, you think of determination. You think of grit. Just a blue-collar, working-class guy that got out there and fought for the checkered flag and fought hard for it. And I got so much out of him. He inspired me.

I built my team with Dale in mind. He lives with me. He's part of who I am because I just appreciated who he was and how he went about things. People worked on his cars at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated before I got there. When Dale would walk by you could just tell people were thinking, 'these are Dale Earnhardt's cars.'

I feel that I'm in good company behind the wheel of the Williams FW08C. It was the first F1 car to be driven by the great Ayrton Senna, and it won the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix.

Being compared to the best driver in F1 history is the goal you want to achieve, and to have that as my idol and father is very special.

My team and I used the actual footage to create a three-act story of the life of Ayrton Senna. There are no talking heads and no voiceover. Senna narrates his own epic, dramatic, thrilling journey.

If I only had one day left in my life and it was riding a race or owning the Gold Cup winner, I'd ride a race.

Ayrton Senna was an incredible legend who will be remembered and admired forever.

Jules Bianchi was my racing godfather, and he spoke a lot to Ferrari about me.

The way I see it Bill Elliott is just another way of saying fast

Ayrton Senna was my favorite driver who I wanted to be like.