Top Ten Coolest Open-Wheel Racecars

In the history of motorsports, there have been more racecars of more types than one could ever hope to count. So after some not-horrible-in-depth research, I've come up with not one, but FOUR lists of the best and worst from two of my favorite types of racing: Sportscars, and Open-wheelers.

Now before you get all whiny and start complaining about leaving a car off of a given list, just remember: These are MY lists! ....And my lists are great.

But if you think I've left off a car that really needs some love(or hate), please feel free to comment and link to a photo.

I'll comment as best I can, but for the most part I'll let the images do the talking.

Remembering that this list's criteria are based mostly on looks, lets get started with D-Boy's Top Ten Coolest Open-Wheelers EVER!

#10: Wolf WR1

In the 1970s, F1 was filled with cars known as "DFV kit cars." Simple cars built around the Cosworth DFV engine. Although many label the Wolf WR1 as one such car, there was far more to it than that. Three victories in the hands of Jody Scheckter in its debut season, the car was still capable of qualifying for a race in late 1978 amongst all the ground-effects cars in the hands of Bobby Rahal. Some say that shows more about Rahal's skill than the car, I say it speaks volumes about BOTH.

#9: Lotus 78

Held back a bit by its somewhat similar appearance to the Wolf WR1, the Lotus 78 is one of the most well-known shapes in all of F1 history. The car that pioneered ground effects happens to also be one of the coolest-looking cars of all time.

#8: Minardi PS01

The sleeper on this list, the Minardi PS01 was a stunningly badass F1 design that sadly was always in the background due to it being a Minardi. Helped significantly by the paintjob, the front end of this car has often been described as "disturbingly lethal-looking." Had this car been a frontrunner, seeing it in your mirrors would have been the F1 equivalent to Dale Earnhardt's mustache.

#7: Lotus 72

The Lotus 72 was the first big step towards the modern F1 car with its sidepods. Not only beautiful-looking for its time, the design is still eye-catching to this day.

#6: McLaren M16

Why does a car that was designed to be an oval-track version of the Lotus 72 beat out the original? Because it just looks that much better than the Lotus.

#5: Brawner-Hawk

One of the greatest examples of old-school racecars, the Brawner-Hawk doesn't look much different from most late 1960s open-wheelers, but its get bonus points for it being the only car that an Andretti has driven to Indy 500 glory.

#4: 2000-2002 G-Force IndyCar

The only IndyCar that actually looked BETTER than the Champ Cars of the same time, its a damn shame the current IRL cars don't look as good.

#3: Lotus 56

A car that never went anywhere, but was just plain awesome to behold.

#2: Panoz DP01

Taking everything cool about modern F1 cars and throwing out everything that could be construed as ugly in any way, the Panoz DP01 is a thing of true modern beauty which has no modern equal.

#1: Lola T93

Raced at the height of the CART IndyCar World Series' popularity, this beautiful machine defines the history of US open-wheel racing.