Where does Peter Brock stand in Australia's pantheon of sporting legends?

Brabham and Doohan can't be missed.

WALLY LEWIS is officially a LEGEND. Always has been, always will be and really has to be top 5 in the last 40 years.

Wally Lewis is top ten.

Ponting ahead of Greg Chappell. Not in the same league.

poor article mate, you've done better...leaving Warne out of the cricket greats but putting him at 13 of all time? Cadel has to be there and have you ever heard of a blokes called Coventry, Carey and Dunstall?

How about "The Polariser"? Deserved no.1 for that alone.

In terms of motor racing, Brabham and Alan Jones's achievements surpass Brock's. I don't really understand this article. Lordy obviously has a bee in his bonnet about Brock or motor racing in general. Maybe the rugby isn't going too well or something? Last week I was watching some of the old Bathurst 1000's they were showing on Fox Sports. 1977, 1984 and 1987 I think they were. I was gobsmacked by the lack of safety (trees lining Conrod Straight, no pitwall, nothing to protect you from rolling down the "mountain" at some points). And the cars were so primitive (as you would expect). The in-car shots showed them on the limit, constantly having to make big corrections to the car through the simplest of corners. Really they were family cars with powerful engines. Nowadays the engine and chassis are built to work in unison. On that alone I respect the drivers from that era greatly because they were brave, drove for the pure love of racing, and drivers had such well developed car control from years of driving relatively primitive machinery (compared to the cars today that are engineered on a computer). Go watch on youtube Brock driving in the wet at Bathurst 1987. Whatever you think about his achievements, you can't deny that isn't wonderful wet weather driving on the limit in a 1000 km race where one mistake and your race is over.

I agree. He was the Bradman of Billiards, perhaps better! On the international stage, Bradman ONE, Lindrum TWO.

Your AFL top list does not include Wayne Carey? Have you even watched a game of AFL?

Plus one.

He was a Kiwi

I m a Motorsport enthusiast and I agree that Petr Brock was undoubtedly a gifted driver with a huge list of achievements, the view that other factors contributed to these is valid, eg other co-drivers, his cars etc. Apart from this during his dominant years in th 80's, his team, HDT, had by far the best cars, resources in no small part from their Malboro sponsorship and ongoing Holden factory support. By comparison Ford sponsorship was spasmodic at best and other 'privateer ' teams of both marquees relied upon other sponsorship from time to time eg Alan Grice - Chickadee Chickens, from Graeme Bailey. On technical note, two of Brock's Bathurst wins resulted from: 1) taking over his team-mates car after his expired and 2) Being promoted to winner status after coming 3rd months after the 2 Sierras were excluded or technical infringement. Finally, there are a number of other Motorsport Champions that could be argued as legends above him (and possibly included in your list) that you have not mentioned for eg: Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mick Doohan, that have all won World Championships on the international stage.

Phar Lap? What about him?

Without wanting to rag on David's list, but I definitely would have tried to limit the amount of footballers and cricketers in the list and incorporated some of our more internationally recognised dominant athletes. Yes, Layne Beachley is a terrific example. Lauren Jackson as well. And of course, big Dave Foster.

Wally Lewis was never even capable of being a standard rugby league player, he would have been better in union, he was never fit enough and had to be carried by his teammates in every match. He invented his own onfield armchair position as a counter defender. Thats why he avoided playing in the NRL till he knew he had a team and coach under his control to hide behind..Wayne Bennet's lucky break happened when Gold Cost outbid Brisbane and took Wally Lewis off their hands enabling Bennet to win his first NRL title, 2 more years of Wally and Bennet would have got the sack and would never have another shot at coaching. Evans has done more in a bigger sport.

Easy to get sidetracked here into the listing of athletes rather than the question at hand, which is can a driver who relies on a support team and a vehicle be included as a great athlete. In David's list, John Bertrand would be in a similar position. I believe the answer is yes. It's a sport, he is the best at it, whether by assembling the best team or backers, etc. Therefore he is in the discussion. Also, the stamina and concentration to steer those things around Mt Panorama for a bunch of hours is probably pretty extreme. I'm no expert but apparently they lose a lot of weight over the course of a race from heat and exertion. Brock would I assume not have had the advantages that drivers today have as well with advances in steering, tyres, comforts for the driver (I have no idea), etc. Brock also did win as a privateer against factory back teams.

Cadel Evans is like the soccer players mentioned above. Very good in a massive international sport, but not the world's best. so if they get in the list, so should Evans.

When the entire rules of a sport have to be changed to stop one person winning 100% of the time, I'd say he was a great in his chosen field, yes.

Yeah, I couldn't count Cadel in my Top 30 and I would have had Layne Beachley in there and might have even found a spot for Karrie Webb. I'll need to actually do a big list like David has obviously done and do a cull back to 30.

@ Don and Omega Yes, indeed subjective. I certainly would have had Wally Lewis in my top 30, and Jack Brabham. Not only was he a dominant driver, he was also a dominant constructor: a now impossible fusion. I’m not disparaging anything that Cadel has done, and he certainly needs to be recognised for his achievements. However, I view his successes more in line with Cathy Freeman’s. They both owned a particular moment of Australian sporting history and should deservedly be remembered for that for generations, but they never really owned an era. When you look at Cadel and Cathy, they were both frequently beatable athletes and neither replicated their great successes per se either. But when you compare them to someone like Herb Elliot – never beaten over the mile. Ian Thorpe, never beaten over 400m. Tony Lockett will hold a record that will never be beaten, no one will best Shane Warne, no one will best Margaret Court. My personal opinion is that Craig Alexander should be in the list. A triple Hawaii Ironman champion and record holder in the event. Mark Richards probably also deserves a mention. Unprecedented success at the top of surfing for a long time. Good conversation starters though. This is what the roar is meant to be about.