Which race driver are you most closely connected to?

+16 votes
1.8k views

This week we're featuring race drivers in the Connection Finder, starting with Wendell Scott, famed NASCAR driver.

Featured alongside him are other racers:

Overall, who are you most closely connected to? If you're one of the 22,844,000 of us who are connected to each other on our big tree you can check with the Connection Finder.

You can check for shared ancestors with the Relationship Finder. Are you a cousin to any of them? Your Relationship Finder Quick Links page (see your profile pull-down menu under "Relationships") has quick links for several notable groups.

Let us know below! If you want to share your connection on social media with cousins and friends, click the "get shareable image" below the results, e.g. Diana Gaze and Betty Haig. Then just upload it along with the URL of your direct connection. (Please refrain from sharing your connection on the featured profiles, though. It clutters conversations on research and collaboration. Thanks!)

P.S. Help us choose and improve profiles for next week's feature: Declaration of Independence!

WikiTree profile: Wendell Scott
in The Tree House by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (718k points)
reshown by Chris Whitten

I have a tie for closest connection: 18 degrees from Clyde Lindley and also Wendell Scott.

These were interesting to go through. Several were connected to me through my paternal grandmother, but Wiki indicates a blood relationship to me through my maternal grandma. I find that very interesting.

With a direct line to a common ancestor, why would Wiki show the non-blood connection by default rather than the blood relationship? If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, shouldn't the connection shown be  the blood line?

I have an (allegedly) shared common ancestor with these four:

28 degrees from Karel Pieter Antonie Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort

22 degrees from Betty Haig

24 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve

21 degrees from Robin Shaules

I obviously just do not understand Wiki logic. :)

Just a comment about connections versus relationships.  It can seem odd, but the key is that blood relationships and connections are totally separate concepts.  In terms of genetics, connections are meaningless because they include relationships "by marriage" and such.  Am I closer to my cousin's husband, who I have visited with many times, or to a "blood relation" 4th cousin who I can track down online, but will never meet?   What if that 4th cousin turned out to be my cousin's husband?  There are two paths to the same guy, but which one you care most about is just a personal call.

I think the key on Wikitree is that you can look at either, your choice.  In these weekly posts, "connections" are more fun simply because they allow many more people to get positive results.
Thank you for your thoughts on this.

I do find these connection posts to be quite entertaining. :)

29 Answers

+8 votes
I am most closely connected to Wendell Scott and Clyde
Lindley at 25 degrees.
by Samantha Thomson G2G6 Pilot (252k points)
+7 votes

I always seem to pay the most attention to those I'm 20 or less to - well, unless there's no one in that range. But this week I had several, which is pretty cool. So I'm 17 degrees from Gaston Chevrolet and Clyde Lindley, 18 degrees from Betty Haig, and 20 degrees from Wendell Scott and Ronald Sox.

For blood relations, I couldn't find anything for Chevrolet or Lindley, but I'm a distant relation (13th cousins, 5x removed) to Betty Haig.

Scott is 28 degrees from Peter Brock17 degrees from Gaston Chevrolet26 degrees from Diana Gaze26 degrees from Karel Pieter Antonie Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort18 degrees from Betty Haig29 degrees from Graham Hill17 degrees from Clyde Lindley28 degrees from Ronnie Petersson20 degrees from Wendell Scott20 degrees from Ronald Sox21 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve

by Scott Fulkerson G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
+6 votes

I would if I knew who, apart from Gilles, Graham and Ronnie, they were, where are all the world famous Formula 1 drivers names from the past ninety years? crying

by Malc Rowlands G2G6 Mach 4 (47.9k points)

This feature includes drivers who competed in various motor sports, Formula 1 being only one of them, so nobody will be entirely happy: Formula 1 is unknown in the USA, while us European have hardly ever heard of NASCAR or Indycar. I'm like you: while I immediately identify Graham Hill, Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Petersson, I had never heard of any of the others before, though the name Chevrolet does ring a bell. But I'm sure our friends on the other side of the Atlantic will be exactly the opposite.

Several other big names of Formula 1 were suggested, unfortunately, none of them could be included because they're not connected to the global tree: Ayrton Senna da Silva, Juan Manuel Fangio, Niki Lauda, Jim Clark, and others...

Totally agree on your pick of Ayrton Senna!
+4 votes
Actually not any listed... i'm closer related to Genevra Delphine Mudge which could have been the first woman to ever race a car...
by Clyde Green G2G6 Mach 1 (11.8k points)
+7 votes
I am closest to Geneva Mudge, who's mother Delphine Mudge was my 2nd great grandfather's sister.
by Clyde Green G2G6 Mach 1 (11.8k points)
my first cousin 3 times removed
+6 votes
I've been filling in the ancestors for the mother of Ronnie Sox. I hope this will lead to some closer connections.
by Margaret Summitt G2G6 Pilot (313k points)
+4 votes
I am 20 Degrees from Betty Haig and 19 degrees from WT member Robin Shaules.
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
+5 votes
27 degrees from Peter Brock.

18 degrees from Gaston Chevrolet.

24 degrees from Diana Gaze.

26 degrees from Karel Pieter. 17th cousin 6 times removed. A little, as you would figure, uncertainty on both ends. MRCA Albrect (Wittelsbach) Bayern (1336- 1409)

18 degrees from Betty Haig. 13th cousin 5 times removed. MRCA James Stewart (abt 1442 -abt 1499)

29 degrees from; Graham Hill.

18 degrees from Clyde Lindley.

29 degrees from Ronnie Peterson.

12 degrees from Wendell Scott. 5th cousin once removed. MRCA Joseph E. Motley (abt 1719 - 1806)

20 degrees from Ronald Sox.

23 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve. 19th cousin twice removed. MRCA Hugh de Venables (1330 - 1383)
by Frank Blankenship G2G6 Pilot (123k points)
+4 votes
18 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve (9th cousins, 1x removed)
18 degrees from Clyde Lindley
19 degrees from Gaston Chevrolet
19 degrees from Wendell Scott
19 degrees from Ronald Sox
21 degrees from Betty Haig (16th cousins, 7x removed)
27 degrees from Diana Gaze
28 degrees from Karel Pieter Antonie Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort (20th cousins)
29 degrees from Peter Brock
30 degrees from Graham Hill
31 degrees from Ronnie Petersson
by Mike Wells G2G6 Pilot (131k points)
+4 votes
Robin Shaules, at 18 degrees, is a 7th cousin 3 times removed.
by Mark Weinheimer G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
For the drivers, Clyde Lindley is the closest at 20 degrees, no relation.
17 degrees from Robin Shaules. 14th cousin 3 times removed. MRCA Isabella (Gilbert) Grenville, born ca. 1455,
+4 votes
Gilles Villeneuve - 18th cousin

Karel Pieter Jan Hubertus - 19th cousin 1x removed
by Cortland Lowe G2G6 Mach 1 (14.1k points)
+2 votes
I am most closely connected to Brocky (18 degrees), with Diana Crick (20) and Betty Haig (21) close behind. Furthermost connections are Formula One stars Graham Hill and Ronnie Petersson both at 33 degrees.
by Kenneth Evans G2G6 Pilot (244k points)
+4 votes
I haven't checked relationship with any of those drivers, but about two years ago I was searching through newspaper archives and found an article from 1936 about the death of Al Gordon at the Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gordon-12446
by Living Notestein G2G3 (3.4k points)
+2 votes
20 degrees from Betty Haig
by Laura Bozzay G2G6 Pilot (817k points)
+3 votes
1234567890
by Sher Leetooze G2G Crew (480 points)
+3 votes
I was taking my grandson and his dog shopping.  At the first corner I went around Grandson hugged his dog as they slid across the width of the front seat.  "Don't worry, Louie," he said.  "Grandma thinks she's a NASCAR driver!"  He didn't say which one.
by Sher Leetooze G2G Crew (480 points)
+6 votes

Bruce McLaren (1937 - 1970) - 1st cousin once removed.

New Zealand born, formula one race car driver, designer, engineer and inventor.

I have not been able to access his profile to add his story.

by Michele Gregg G2G1 (1.8k points)
edited by Michele Gregg
Sadly, his profile is locked up like Fort Knox.
The profile has just been opened, so you can make it shine now :-)
+5 votes
I 20 degrees from Betty Haig.
by Marion Ceruti G2G6 Pilot (345k points)

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