Edwards beats Schumacher in Race Of Champions; wins best racer in World award


(By Greg Engle)

Posted: Monday,December 15th, 2008

Team USA members, Freestyle MX champion Travis Pastrana (L) and NASCAR racer Carl Edwards (R), wave as they prepare for the Race of Champions event at Wembley Stadium on December 14, 2008. The Race of Champions is an international motorsport event held at the end of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. The race is unique in that it pits specialists from Formula One, World Rally Championship, NASCAR, Le Mans and touring car championships against each other, head-to-head in identical cars. AFP PHOTO / Leon Neal (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)NASCAR star Carl Edwards will have plenty of fond memories to take away from his first trip to the Race Of Champions in London this past weekend.

Chief among them was beating seven-time world Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in the second round, arguably the biggest upset of the entire event.

“It’s amazing, it feels like I’ve won a championship - I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live,” Edwards said. “Just the chance to be able to race with him, and fortunately to be able to beat him.”

The win came while racing specially prepared rally cars and was made even more impressive considering the Edwards had crashed in a previous race.

“He didn’t get a chance to practice in that car today, only in the rain yesterday,” he said. “So just like my first run today he was at a big disadvantage. That car is different to anything I’ve ever driven and I’m sure it’s the same for him.”

The event began on a high note for Edwards when he was awarded the inaugural TAG Heuer Racing Award at Saturday’s preview press conference.

The Award determines who is statistically the best racer in the world. A team of eight jurors statistically analyzed the weekly performances of more than 150 drivers from F1, GP2, NASCAR and the World Rally Championship.

 Edwards’ nine victories in this year’s NASCAR championship saw him finish ahead of drivers such as five times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb and 2008 F1 World Champion champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Sebastien Loeb won his third Race of Champions title by defeating Formula One driver David Coulthard in the final at Wembley on Sunday.


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