1,000 Greatest Drivers: Steve Soper
Boy, do the Brits overrate this guy.
It’s rare for me to say something like this about a touring car driver because I think in general most touring car drivers are vastly underrated since most racing fans seem to care about open wheel, sports car, and stock car racing at most while ignoring other disciplines, but this might be an exception. Don’t get me wrong, Soper was a great driver and he is higher than a number of British Touring Car Champions in my touring car model, including some all-time greats like Jason Plato, Gordon Shedden, and Matt Neal, so I am definitely not saying he wasn’t championship-caliber. But despite competing for a long time, he only ever won one title in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, which that year had decent but not overwhelming competition (it was certainly shallower than any era of DTM or most eras of the BTCC). This sort of reminds me of how Paul Tracy had a number of wins that was impossible to dismiss but only one championship against not the greatest competition. Yet I see no one hyping Tracy as the best IndyCar driver of all time, while the British press thinks that not only is Soper the best driver to never win a BTCC title, but also the best touring car driver in history. Sure, that was only through 2005, but here are some names for you that are unquestionably better, even at that point: Laurent Aïello, Peter Brock, Ingo Hoffmann, Dick Johnson, Craig Lowndes, Klaus Ludwig, Roberto Ravaglia, Jim Richards, Andy Rouse, Bernd Schneider, Mark Skaife, and that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure I could expand that list from there if I thought about it harder, including drivers who peaked just before 2005. Having said that, I still rate Soper very highly, but it’s weird to choose a guy who won a relatively minor title over all these guys who won multiple titles in more prestigious series. He was never the highest-rated DTM or BTCC driver in a season in my model, nor did he ever rank in my global top five. But he was very good for a long time and still belongs on the list.
Well, everybody’s gotten over COVID on Mom’s wing of the nursing home and everybody made it through. I was really worried about that especially since the nurse was accusing me of bringing COVID to her wing when I’m not convinced that I brought it into the nursing home when it was already on other floors before that. That certainly relieved me. I don’t have much more to say tonight and need to get some other work done. I probably won’t be watching the 12 Hours of Sebring.
STEVE SOPER…………………………..UK
Born: September 27, 1951
Best year: 1991
Best drive: 1992 24 Hours of Spa
One of the most reliably consistent touring car drivers of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Soper won prolifically in numerous different series, winning multiple sports car and/or touring car races every year from 1987-1997. The British Motorsport Magazine even absurdly voted him the greatest touring car driver of all time in 2005. Soper debuted in the British Saloon Car Championship in 1982, earning five class wins and finishing third in the championship in an Austin Metro.
This attracted the interest of Tom Walkinshaw, who hired him alongside Pete Lovett and Jeff Allam as part of a three-car Rover stable. While they swept all ten races and Soper himself won five and scored the most points, all three Walkinshaw drivers were disqualified from the championship for using adjustable rockers, but they were allowed to keep their wins. Soper also won that year’s RAC Tourist Trophy with three-time Dakar winner René Metge. From 1986-88, Soper raced in the European and World Touring Car Championships for Eggenberger Motorsport. He won the 1987 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the Bathurst 1000 on track before another disqualification, but his best ETCC performances came in 1988 when he won a season-high six times but lost the title to Roberto Ravaglia, who had three fewer DNFs.
After the ETCC folded, Soper primarily raced in the German DTM for BMW while also often entering British Touring Car Championship races that didn’t conflict. In 1991, he won three races in both series and averaged more points per race than the BTCC champion Will Hoy. He left DTM in 1993 to fully commit to the BTCC, but he narrowly lost the title to his teammate Joachim Winkelhock. Afterward, he switched to the Japanese Touring Car Championship, winning his only major league title in 1995. Along the way, he won the 1992 and 1995 24 Hours of Spa, running down Eric van de Poele, the race’s only five-time winner, on the penultimate lap to win in 1992. He then won the 1997 Macau Guia Race and three American Le Mans Series races before his relationship with then-BMW motorsports director Gerhard Berger fizzled out, ending his relevance.
I recognize that Soper was a great sportsman and widely admired as a human being, but I still think his career is a little overblown by the British press since they rate him over many multi-time champions. I don’t think he was the best BTCC non-champion either, which is also frequently claimed, but at least that’s a better argument. He almost certainly would’ve won a BTCC title if he’d run full-time more than three times, but his unwillingness to commit to one series certainly proves his versatility. I think he had a lower ceiling than most other touring car legends as he never was the highest-rated driver in a year in any series in my model, but he certainly outlasted most of his peers and 65 wins are hard to argue with. While he isn’t the best touring car driver ever, you still can’t dismiss him.
Touring car model: #214 of 1676 (.191)
Teammate head-to-heads: 178-112 (7-4 vs. Jeff Allam, 1-0 vs. Andrew Bagnall, 4-1 vs. Ray Bellm, 1-1 vs. Thierry Boutsen, 3-0 vs. Gianfranco Brancatelli, 12-0 vs. Alexander Burgstaller, 2-3 vs. Johnny Cecotto, 8-2 vs. Pierre Dieudonne, 1-0 vs. Marc Duez, 5-6 vs. Dan Eaves, 1-0 vs. Franz Engstler, 15-5 vs. Armin Hahne, 2-8 vs. Tim Harvey, 0-1 vs. Will Hoy, 2-0 vs. Eddy Joosen, 2-6 vs. Peter Kox, 7-6 vs. Jacques Laffite, 6-3 vs. Pete Lovett, 6-6 vs. Klaus Ludwig, 1-0 vs. Neil McGrath, 9-0 vs. Jorg Muller, 1-0 vs. Siegfried Muller, Jr., 1-1 vs. Matt Neal, 4-4 vs. Klaus Niedzwiedz, 4-2 vs. Kris Nissen, 5-1 vs. Jonathan Palmer, 0-3 vs. Win Percy, 10-7 vs. Emanuele Pirro, 2-0 vs. Tony Pond, 6-3 vs. Dieter Quester, 2-2 vs. Roberto Ravaglia, 2-1 vs. Manuel Reuter, 1-0 vs. Jean-Louis Schlesser, 2-0 vs. Bernd Schneider, 1-0 vs. Aaron Slight, 0-1 vs. Frank Sytner, 1-1 vs. Antonio Tamburini, 13-0 vs. Leopold von Bayern, 0-3 vs. Tom Walkinshaw, 28-31 vs. Joachim Winkelhock)
Year-by-year: 1982: E-, 1983: C+, 1984: C-, 1986: C-, 1987: E-, 1988: E, 1989: C, 1990: C, 1991: E, 1992: E-, 1993: E, 1994: C+, 1995: E-, 1996: E, 1997: E, 1999: C+