As a fan of both F1 and IndyCar and their respective feeder series, for fun I put together a list of how I personally rate the top 20 open-wheel racing drivers in motorsport currently. There’s definitely more F1 drivers on this list, but I think there’s actually more IndyCar drivers than folks would expect. A few of them I think are knocking on the door of the very best, and just as a fan of motorsport if you love racing and want more then don’t limit yourself to just one series! 

For the most part I feel I’m pretty unbiased here. Only active or reserve drivers in an open-wheel series for the 2025 season are considered:

1st – Max Verstappen

2nd – Lewis Hamilton

3rd – Charles Leclerc

4th – Fernando Alonso

5th – George Russell

6th – Lando Norris

7th – Carlos Sainz

8th – Álex Palou

9th – Oscar Piastri

10th – Colton Herta

11th – Pierre Gasly

12th – Pat O’Ward

13th – Josef Newgarden

14th – Scott Dixon

15th – Scott McLaughlin

16th – Esteban Ocon

17th – Lance Stroll

18th – Yuki Tsunoda

19th – Nico Hülkenberg

20th – Alexander Rossi

??? these drivers could be in the top 20, but I’m not sure about and/or just don’t have enough information for me to rate yet:

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Liam Lawson

Franco Colapinto

Jack Doohan

Oliver Bearman

Gabriel Bortoleto

Kyle Kirkwood

Felipe Drugovich

I don’t watch enough Formula E or Super Formula beyond the occasional race and highlight to gauge if I’d rate any of those drivers up there. From what I’ve seen and know of the drivers I think only a few would possibly sniff around 15-20th on this list. Like Vandoorne and Wehrlein. Vergne and Buemi definitely back in the day, dunno if they’re still as high tier though after so many years outta high level open wheel racing. Formula E is only just now starting to get performance and competitiveness that I’d consider enough for me to rate at this level. Legacy talents in that series are a question mark for me. Especially if they aren’t fighting for wins and championships the last couple seasons.

While past results do influence my decision, it’s not the main factor. It’s why Dixon is a bit lower on the list despite having the best record in IndyCar, as I just think he’s a bit down on his prime, he was actually edged out by Franchitti back in the day, and today Palou is comfortably beating him. And Hamilton is statistically the goat, but Russell (who I rate a few spots below him actually as he’s consistent, but I don’t think has outshined the best of what Hamilton is capable of) has edged him out at Mercedes. I still think he’s got it in him and is impressive on his day, so we’ll see how the Ferrari move goes, but if he’s unsuccessful he might drop a few spots for me. I also try to keep in mind their team either holding them back or flattering them when considering the ranking. In IndyCar a “Penske Perfect” seat can elevate even a mediocre driver into contending for wins. Same goes for top teams in F1. Yes these teams attract top talent, but that doesn’t necessarily determine their ranking for me. Overall I think Verstappen is the greatest active open-wheel racer right now. While I can see debates for the rest of my list play out, I think at least that is pretty much agreed upon.

–

Here’s a handful of honorable mentions that I’d totally understand arguing for, but this is my list so kick rocks and go make yer own:

21st – Alexander Albon

22nd – Will Power

23rd – Valtteri Bottas

24th – Romain Grosjean

….aaand now you can complain about how your opinion is correct and mine is wrong.

-K

I hope your holidays were great, but mannn, I’m happy to be past em! Bring on the new year. There’s a lot I want to accomplish and I’m certainly over spending money I don’t have! Anyhoo, while I was busy with IRL nonsense, I casually chipped away at comic stuff. I finished a page of Driving Nowhere, and I have a fun six-part (!) mini comic I’m excited to throw together.

While working on that I observed and was reminded of the bizarre (to me..) culture of the current generation. A term I like being labeled for this nonsense, brain rot, made me think initially about how there’s no way my generation would be this stupid… then I thought more deeply about our cringe and… yeah we weren’t any better.

Every generation has their own pop culture cringe they try to forget about… they’re no worse than us…

Not any better either.

-K

I’m back… again! The website got compromised and I had to start from scratch, so I took the opportunity to build it back better than it was. While it was really annoying to go through this, considering how things were basically duct taped together outta hope and desperation before, it ended up being a blessing in disguise as this forced me to start over with a clean slate. Annoyingly this nonsense kinda put me on a holding pattern for comics/posts, but luckily when this happened I was already nearly done with a few pages anyway…

ANYHOO I’m super excited to be at this point with the comic finally. I was also mindful about making them flexible to cut up for social media. On here I’ll have the original full pages though.

I’ve looked forward to this arc for a while as one of my personal interests is sim racing, and I’ve simply never seen a good representation of it in media/comics before. While Driving Nowhere is about a broader ‘slice of life’ view of various characters living with different circumstances, on a personal note Layne’s interest in motorsport and sim racing is something I love. Making it has been challenging, but I’m having a blast! Of course, the first attempt at this had to be centered around Formula Vee.

I’ve always been a fan of Formula Vee since I first tried a simulation of one out. It’s just a good simple race car platform and one I always go back to when I wanna learn a track or something. Racing those things is a joy and I knew when the time came to illustrate racing in Driving Nowhere, the first one I’d tackle is Formula Vee.

It was a pleasant surprise to learn that my affinity for the category extended to my family who ran an entry during the 60’s. These vintage shots from Willow Springs are amazing. I love em.

-K

Lost everything. Site got compromised I guess and I had to reinstall wordpress. Was hoping my files would at least be saved, but yeah it’s all gone. I have the comics backed up and thankfully got those posts I was writing saved too. I’ll eventually get things sorted here… but yeah this sucks.

Stay tuned I guess. Might as well try and make the site better than it was since I gotta start from scratch anyway.

-K

The past week was a bit messy due to some IRL nonsense, so I just focused on drawing the comic. Since I don’t wanna go too long without updating y’all here with something, I figure a preview of what’s to come and a look at what I did prior is in order!

So for the most recent page in Layne’s room there’s a picture above his bed, which is supposed to be him as a kid on a podium where he won a karting race. The last time you saw this was early in the comic and that original drawing asset is pretty low resolution and it looked kinda… shit when I tried reusing it. So I decided to redraw that picture. Considering it was gonna be shrunken down a bunch I didn’t spend too much time on it, but I think it turned out okay!

I also redrew the picture on the wall of Mario Andretti’s Lotus F1 car to better fit the black and white art style I’m using now.

I’m really excited about the comics ahead! They’re coming along nicely. I’m also experimenting with a more flexible style of panels that I can still be dynamic with, but have the ability to cut em up easily for various social media platforms.

Now here’s a little insight into my obsessiveness. Take a look at the suspension details on this page:

I spent an entire day refining this to look ‘right’ to me. At first, it was just a rough take on what it looks like from the incar perspective on iracing. Then I cleaned it up a bit. From there it was just a bit too visually complicated and didn’t mesh well with the rest of the art, particularly with the other perspectives of the formula vee from farther away as those details ended up not making sense in comparison, so I had to sorta ‘simplify’ it while still somehow making it make sense mechanically. So I basically had to break down elements of the suspension into simpler shapes and leave out details that weren’t necessary. I’m glad I spent the time to do this as if I went with the initial version I’d be mildly annoyed every time I looked at this page..

There’s still a ton to do. I am really hoping sim racers appreciate what I’m doing here as I don’t think anybody has truly captured that excitement and fun we experience when sim racing. Either it’s seen as boring or they nonsensically exaggerate stuff and are silly with it… This arc is hopefully relatable to folks in the sim racing scene and I’m just aiming to create something that *I* would enjoy reading. Hopefully y’all will like it too. 🙂

I might have an update for next week, but with the whole election hysteria taking over, who knows? Whatever happens, keep calm and carry on.

-K

Motorized Testicular Fortitude

Board Track Racing is a fascinating bit of motorsport history that I’d like to talk about a bit. It’s largely a forgotten sport that was only active for a little over a decade during the early turning of the twentieth century. Why? Insanely dangerous and insanely expensive. During a time when World War I veterans with a death wish and a new level of adrenaline to chase along with the obscene amounts of money being tossed around during the Roaring Twenties, such an exciting form of entertainment was perfect for its era.

Now what WAS board track racing? Imagine oval racing… but scarier. 

Started on two wheels and expanded to four wheel competition, where my interest lies. It was called “board” track racing because the tracks were constructed with wooden boards, and with a minimal knowledge of the engineering behind it, the sketchiness of these tracks was an understatement. Later on there was some number crunching done by somewhat competent engineers, but what remained the same was the insane costs of construction and maintenance… and the speeds.

Indianapolis 500: 111.73mph

Fulford Speedway: 142.93mph

Same year.

With banking that’d put Talladega to shame, these guys took what amounted to basically lawnmowers with bicycle tires up to speeds that wouldn’t be seen at Indianapolis for decades. Where the 1950’s and 1960’s era of racing saw a tremendous amount of fatalities, what was seen during the era of board track racing was basically a blood sport for the spectator’s entertainment. Few survived long enough to retire.

When the Great Depression came Board Track Racing went. With few survivors from that era, there just wasn’t really anybody clamoring for it to come back when the world economy recovered. And with the increased focus on safety over the years we’ll likely never see anything like it again.

That said, the concept of essentially wacky hot wheels inspired track racing just seems fun. You see it in arcade racing videogames and people love the idea of it… but you won’t see anybody with a pulse race this way again… in reality. Perhaps iRacing could give it a crack? Would be pretty cool to see a realistic take on this largely forgotten style of racing.

If you’re curious like me, here’s a few documentaries I enjoyed that do a deep dive on the world of board track racing:

Suicidal Speed and Splinters: The History of Board Track Racing In America

Dancing with the Devil, Board Track Documentary.

Welcome to the Murderdrome | A Brief History of Board Track Racing

-K

With the nostalgia bug latching onto me recently, I’ve started revisiting some old favorites. Pokemon being one that pretty much every kid has at least one major experience with dumping countless hours of their life into.

As an overall property I didn’t watch too much of the anime, Digimon was my jam as a kid and I’ll die on the hill that its theme song blows Pokemon outta the water. Yet I wasn’t a total outcast as a kid, or at least tried not to be, so of course I collected the cards when they came onto the scene during the late 90’s. I was literally the exact target demographic and age. Resistance was futile. 

What saved me was not being able to keep up with my friends. I’d get like… one or two packs a month. I had a friend who would get cards all the time. His dad even took him to a niche collecting card spot and that motherfucker had BINDERS of cards. I think what ended my enthusiasm for card collecting was when we went to Blockbuster one time and my mom bought us each a pack of cards.

Dude pulled a holographic Charizard. Not. Fair.

As for the games… I went hard on those. I vaguely remember getting Blue as a kid and not really knowing what to do, but I ended up getting Yellow and a Game Boy Pocket (that my brother destroyed with a sharpie when he was a stupid baby… that’s a whole other story for a different time. I got a Game Boy Color shortly after that.) and I probably dumped hundreds of hours into each release from that point. Gold/Silver/Crystal was such a huge deal with its day/night cycle. Fire Red and Leaf Green introduced those little wifi warts that made trading on the school bus SO much easier. The last game I really was invested in was Diamond on the DS. After that I was too old and too cool for Pokemon games.

Guilty admission: Around 2004-2005 I used to run role-playing threads on the nsider forums as the ‘leader’ of Team Rocket. As embarrassing as that is to share, it really did cultivate my love for crafting stories. I actually was so involved with it that I grew to be friendly with the Nintendo of America staff that operated the nsider forums and when Twilight Princess was first previewed I got a print with the signatures of all of em on it lol. After so many years and so many moves, I’ve unfortunately lost it.. To be fair… it was kind of a crappy print. Probably off a cheap laser printer as an easy gift for an overactive user in their community lol.

Fast forward 15 years and I started hearing rumblings about a 3D Pokemon game and after getting a Switch to finally play Breath of the Wild with its sequel looming I was mildly curious. I didn’t think much of Arceus when I picked it up, but upon playing it holy crap. I was in. This was the Pokemon game I dreamed of as a kid. And I adored the new battle mechanics. Being even older and yet much less cool, I didn’t care what people thought about me playing Pokemon. It was fun! I even beat the dang game, which is quite an accomplishment for a known quitter like me.

…

When Scarlet and Violet were announced it was the first Pokemon games I actively was excited to see released in ages. They got roasted pretty bad when they finally came out, but I had fun with em. Yes, they were buggy. Yes, Game Freak struggles with the 3rd dimension (Seriously they should’ve adopted that retro 2D/3D Octopath Traveler / Dragon Quest HD-2D style. They used to be SO good at pixel art!), but the core gameplay was FUN. Especially if you played it at the same time with friends. Being able to adventure through the world and catch stuff with others was just a good time. The first DLC was crap. Second DLC was okay. Overall I enjoyed the experience. Enough that I had the craving for more. What about those games in the series I missed during my absence…?

I began my adventure looking back with Heart Gold. That game is quite possibly the most refined old school Pokemon experience you can have. After that, I played Black and Black 2. Peak sprite art from Game Freak and was a delightful play. The later games I’m dabbling with are okay, but if ya wanna go back to the older style those two generations were the peak of traditional Pokemon.

I actually like and prefer the new direction that Arceus introduced in the overall design. Scarlet/Violet was kind of a mix of that and traditional Pokemon. I hope Legends Z-A brings back and expands upon what Arceus started. I liked how much quicker and interactive the battles felt.

I will say there’s a certain charm to the traditional Pokemon formula. Funneling you through an obvious direction and straight up expecting you to grind away mindlessly. Those games ended up being kind of a fidget spinner for me when I wasn’t feeling great due to chronic pain. If I was having a hard time I could at least grind away and level up my pokermans. The end result was the longer I was in pain, the stronger my team would be! 

So while I have a newfound appreciation for that old formula, I still want them to pursue the quicker and more interactive style that Arceus introduced. With its sprawling open-world design… just hire better 3D artists/designers Game Freak. You can afford it.

-K

I’m so sorry America.

When it was rather cold last winter I craved a hot brew. Unfortunately, since I can’t have too much caffeine due to my heart problems and never liking a decaf cup of coffee, I decided to give tea a shot. It was pretty good… Wondered how a different flavor/brand would taste. Oh my. Lemon Ginger is tasty. Hmm… wonder what a bit of sugar and honey would do… lawd have mercy this is delightful.

What have I done.

I’ve really fallen in love with the ritual of preparing tea. Especially at night when I’m winding down for bed. Ever since I was a kid I struggled with insomnia. Like, it was really bad. I’d straight up not sleep some nights and end up pounding energy drinks to get through the day after…

The act of preparing my favorite cup of tea is extremely relaxing and the melatonin in the blend I drink seals the deal by knocking me out. It’s genuinely been a life changing habit. Wish I had this when I was a kid struggling to sleep due to stress over exams or whatever…

Since it’s so cheap I already have a dozen boxes of various flavors/brands of tea and I fear this disturbing trend has been escalating. I’ve already acquired an electric tea kettle and I’m curious about graduating from tea bags… I’m dangerously close to experimenting with obscure loose leaf teas and specialized kettles/teapots. My future is grim.

-K

The only downside to these things is they’re a bit chonky compared to modern laptops…

When my dad passed away five years ago I inherited his work laptop and ever since it has sorta collected dust in storage. I’ve always had a gaming PC and while I liked the keyboards on Thinkpads, this one always felt a bit slow with the spinny hard drive and 8gb of ram. Well lately I’ve been working on the comic and while I was thinking about better methods of writing I recalled how nice this Thinkpad keyboard was. Figured if I could at least make it responsive enough to not be infuriating to use I could try adding it to my workflow. 

Unless you’re replacing the network card (whoever designed the antenna leads for those things is evil) upgrading old laptops is pretty easy!

Well on a whim I spent $39 on a 240gb SSD and a 16gb ram kit and threw a fresh installation of Windows on it… holy crap! This thing is downright snappy now! 

Glancing over at my ultrawide monitor on my sim racing rig, I thought about how it’s generally unused otherwise, as my Mac Mini only supports two monitors. I wondered.. what’s the max resolution output of the Thinkpad T440p…? Ooh it can do 4k 60hz over display port? Hm. The dongle I need is only $10…

..aaand ordered.

What I learned from this is if all you want is a machine to browse the web and do basic office work there’s zero reason to drop a grand on a new laptop. Get something old (<10 years roughly) for under $100 or even free and spend less than $50 getting the ram to 16gb and replace the spinny hard drive with the cheapest SSD you can find. Then just throw on a fresh operating system installation free of bloat and you’re set!

The user experience between one of these machines upgraded this way and a modern $1000 laptop is virtually identical. No, you won’t be gaming on it. The screen is probably mediocre so you won’t be watching movies on this thing. But if you use your laptop for work, there’s no reason to have anything more than this. And in a way by having a mediocre screen and no gaming intentions, my laptop is strictly a focused work machine. No distractions. If I wanna watch videos or play games: I have my phone, gaming systems, TV, and desktop PC to choose from. I like this arrangement.

 -K  

..although when plugged into my ultrawide it makes for one helluva auxiliary media machine… That old 4th gen dual core i5 can even play 4k video on youtube!

I know this is shocking to hear, but I spend a lot of time playing videogames.

I don’t go out much being a homebody cripple, I never eat out, and I’m a single dude. What I do always have is a baller setup at home to play games. And last year I was due for an upgrade on my gaming PC. Typically I save up cash and I do a new build every 4-5 years. Well, that time came around and I honestly just didn’t have the enthusiasm to do it. My computer is still good enough for my sim racing needs on my 60hz ultrawide, and while I could go for the full-blown 144hz triple monitor / Virtual Reality setup… I’m not a competitive racer. I just like to hot lap and I’m honestly happy with my rig for that.

Gaming wise I just didn’t feel like a new computer would be worth it for the handful of titles I’d be able to maximize. I ended up finding a used Mac Mini for dirt cheap (M1 with 16gb of ram) and for non-gaming purposes, it’s been a fantastic machine. Plenty fast, ultra quiet, efficient, and if you’re as balls deep into the Apple ecosystem as I am… it’s pretty great. Funny how going this route ended up saving me a ton of money.

Soooo after that I had a few grand burning a hole in my pocket. Nearing my “mid-life crisis” as a cripple without a wife or kids, what could I possibly be interested in? Hmmm…

I grew up in the 90’s and had a Sega Genesis while my friend had a Super Nintendo. So I have a lot of nostalgia for that era and ended up getting those systems. After a few months I managed to get most of the games I loved from back then. Some titles are just stupid expensive, I have no intention of ever getting Earthbound, but you can still get a lot of good stuff for reasonable prices. Especially on the Genesis. For Super Nintendo, I actually had custom cases made for my games too. They mimic the cardboard box art, but instead use a durable plastic clamshell case. They look fantastic on my shelf!

While I was pretty much the N64 kid and would consider that my era, I’m self-aware enough to know those games don’t hold up as well. While I had an N64, collecting for that is a bit expensive too, so I ended up getting a PS1 and have picked up a few games that still interest me from that generation. 

After that I got a PS2 (region modified so I can play cheaper Japanese games…) as while I was also a Nintendo guy during that era when I was 13-14, there’s no goddamn way I’m collecting for Gamecube. PS2 is a lot cheaper. I actually missed out on a lot of PS2 games during that time too, so it’s been fun picking up titles occasionally and trying em out.

Oh and during all of this, I also started paying attention to optimizing my retro hardware. Which led me down the CRT rabbit hole. I have three now. Started with just a little desktop television, which I use now in my room on a lazy susan so I can play games in bed too.. I then got a 24” Sony Trinitron that I loved and used as my primary CRT for a year on a retro cart I built… before discovering a 36” Trinitron. The odyssey of getting that thing, bringing it into my house, and finding a piece of furniture that could withstand its weight was insane. I’ll never go through that again… but I have to admit playing retro games on this thing is an experience. Eventually, my brother and I will prolly go our separate ways and when I live alone I’ll likely go the retrotink 4k route as I have no intentions of dragging this beast with me. Hopefully it’ll be cheaper by then.

Anyhoo, during the PS3/360 era I was about 17-18. The collecting fever recently exploded on the 360, but I’m happy to have focused on the PS3. Bit cheaper to pick up games for that still and as a bonus I can watch blurays on that setup, which surprisingly comes in handy as in the retro corner I have setup I can watch movies on the little oled panel I have. Of which I got for $150 (!) during an awesome black friday sale. 

Games and movies look incredible on this thing.

I got a Wii too, those things are hella cheap to pick up, and while there’s a MASSIVE amount of shovelware on that system, there are some genuinely good games too if you dig. So while that system is never a big focus of mine, I always keep my eyes open to games for it.

Also, there’s a fantastic homebrew scene on the Wii and with the Gamecube controller ports scratching that Gamecube itch becomes a lot more affordable…

Wii U was one of the systems the nostalgia bug in me initially desired the most. I was all in during the Wii U era and have a lot of great memories. Yeah, that system was a flop for Nintendo, but man there are so many good games. Unfortunately not a LOT of good games. What I have though is pretty much everything I want and they’re all bangers. Only missing a handful of titles I’d like, but they’re just too expensive for me to justify picking up. Xenoblade Chronicles X, WarioWare, and Twilight Princess HD being a few. Fun fact: A lot of its games got ported to the Switch and are virtually identical, but if you have a Wii U it’s WAY cheaper. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Switch is rarely less than $40. On the Wii U? $12-14.

Funny enough right now the PS4 era is at its cheapest. If you wanna start collecting games, go for it! Despite being my least focused on console, I ended up with the second largest library in my collection being the PS4. When titles are only a few bucks.. it’s hard to just pass that up.

When I discovered how cheap PS4 Pro’s are (helps that they lack ultra hd playback that it SHOULD’VE had during its era) I picked up one of those to play my PS4 games at my desk on the same 1080p display I use for my switch. I absolutely LOVE this setup.

I finally got a PS5 last year and I’d argue with folks saying there isn’t enough games to justify it. There’s plenty of great experiences on there and outside of dropping a ton on a weird livingroom gaming PC setup, there’s no better way to game on a 4k television. Although, I am planning to sell my PS5 to my brother and go on a little PS5 hiatus for a few months. Going to pay off a card and be a bit financially responsible for a while before pulling the trigger on that stupid PS5 Pro…

 So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. The videogame collecting bug has bitten me pretty hard. Unfortunately, it seems the gaming industry is aiming to kill physical media, especially by requiring a separate purchase of the disc drive with the PS5 Pro, but even in the worst case scenario where it all goes the way of Steam with digital only releases and the values of all my games plummet… it makes me happy just looking at my games on my shelf. I know that sounds lame, but it brings me back to being a kid at Blockbuster browsing games to rent. 🙂

Speaking of Blockbuster… I made a “KEVBUSTER” case so my brother could borrow Switch games without me worrying about the case. Heh.

-K