Fastest NFL players ever?

[The30YardSlant]

? source?.....I read (+/- .3 ) in the st.petersburg times......Who told you ( +/- .1 ) ??

If it's (+/- .1 ) I guess it makes me look better

In 2003 they did a show on ESPN about the combine and a pro scout said they give the runner plus or minus .1 seconds in the 40 because of human reaction time.

 

[Nors]

In 2003 they did a show on ESPN about the combine and a pro scout said they give the runner plus or minus .1 seconds in the 40 because of human reaction time.

It is also customary to round up or down to a 10th. Hand times are not accurate to 100's of a second. Think about a second. Think about 1/100 of a second, then up to 1/10th of a second. IE - A 4.34 is a 4.3 a 4.35 is a 4.4. But it is NOT exact.

I ran a 7.65 electronic 55M meter hurdle in high school. Good enough to be ranked nationally. I was extra quick but not "fast". I beat the #1 Hurdler in the nation to the first hurdle running that time. He was by me at the 3rd and "pulled away" to a 7.35 time. I truly believe Carl Lewis ran faster after the 40 like that......... Not the quickest but at full gear the FASTEST.

If that was a 110 meter race he went on to run mid 13.5's and I struggled to get under 14.9.

 

[Nors]

...it's what I'm hearing about Michael Vick, the first choice in this weekend's draft. The word starting to make the rounds on the Virginia Tech quarterback is that he can run the 40 in less than 4.3 seconds. I never saw Vick run a 40, and I wasn't at his workout at Virginia Tech. But one thing I can guarantee is this: Vick cannot run the 40 in under 4.3 seconds. Heck, he can't run it under 4.4, either. Yet when the NFL begins its march of draftees on Saturday you're going to hear how one running back ran a 4.32, a wide receiver peeled off a 4.34 or some 350-pound lummox breezed through a 4.85. It makes for good copy. But so did Paul Bunyan. O.J. Simpson might have been the fastest back to play the game. Go ahead and make a case for Bo Jackson. Maybe Herschel Walker, too. But Simpson ran a leg on Southern Cal's 440-yard relay team, one that set a world record, and if he were in this year's draft he'd be the fastest running back by far. Faster than Big-10 sprint champion Michael Bennett. Faster than LaDainian Tomlinson. Faster than Deuce McAllister. Any idea what Simpson ran for a 40? I do. Try 4.5. If you don't believe him ask. He said it shortly after he left USC. The fastest starter I ever saw was sprinter Ben Johnson, and at the 1988 Seoul Olympics track and field's fastest starter ran the 100 meters in a blistering 9.79 seconds, a time that later was disallowed after Johnson tested positive for steroids. Know how fast he covered the first 40? It was 4.69 seconds. Forty meters is approximately 44 yards, which means Johnson ran the first 40 in 4.26. So, now, let's see if I have this straight: The chemically enhanced Johnson, the fastest starter in track history, ran the fastest 100 in history, only it was one-tenth of a second slower than Laveranues Coles a year ago and three one-hundreths of a second ahead of Sanders' NFL combine record. It makes you wonder. It makes you wonder why anyone believes this stuff.

 

[Nors]

The Top 50 Fastest recorded 40-yard dashes of All-Time (under 4.3
seconds on a grass or artificial turf surface)

1. Ben Johnson*
2. Darrell Green
3. Renaldo Nehemiah
4. Johnny Lam Jones
5. Bullet Bob Hayes*
6. Carl Lewis
7. Maurice Green*
8. Bruny Surin
9. Tim Montgomery*
10. Joey Galloway
11. Lee McRae*
12. Leroy Burrell*
13. Dennis Mitchell*
14. John Drummond*
15. Curtis Dickey
16. Alexander Wright
17. Andre Action Jackson
18. Calvin Smith*
19. Donte Stallworth
20. Phillip Epps
21. Ron Brown
22. James Jett
23. Michael Bennett
24. Raghib Rocket Ismail
25. Deion Sanders
26. Willie Gault
27. Laveranues Coles
28. Bo Jackson
29. Houston McTear*
30. Sam Graddy
31. Stanley Floyd*
32. Herschel Walker
33. Calvin Smith
34. Andre Cason*
35. Tim Harden*
36. John Capel
37. Mike Marsh*
38. Randy Moss
39. James Trapp
40. Cliff Branch
41. Emmit King
42. James Sanford
43. Mel Lattany
44. Rod Woodson
45. Brian Lewis
46. Henry Neal
47. Brian Cooper
48. Michael Green
49. Marvin Harrison
50. Brett Perriman

*Official times were never recorded at this distance

Note: Hand times were taken by using either mechanical stopwatches or
manually operated stopwatches or electronic devices with digital
readouts.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Hayes was the fastest "comparative" player in football history. He was so much faster than his contempories it wasn't even funny.

Green or Sanders in their prime were probably as fast as Hayes in his, at least close, but they had others in their era that rivaled their speed. Hayes didn't.


3.9 is pure poppycock. Not from a dead stop. The fastest 0-10m (that's about 9.12 yards) split in track history is 1.62 seconds. Add in the legal allowable reaction time of .100, and a person would need to run the remaining 30.88 yards in 2.18 seconds. Given that the fastest 10m split ever is .82 seconds (and that was after 50M of building momemtum), the math still wouldn't add up.

So to run a 3.9, a person would have to have the best start in history, achieve maximum speed after on 10 yards, then run the fastest splits ever. Sorry if I don't buy it happening.

BTW, Crockett's official 100 time was 9.0 not 8.9.

 

[Merlin]

No, you're Wayyy off base here. The fastest people at 100 m also happen to be the fastest at 50 m or 40 y or any particular yardage in between.

Lewis, like every other sprinter, accelerates up to about 60 m or so then tries to maintain their speed through the last 40 m to the best of their ability. He simply maintained better than most, hence the appearance of a "kick".

Clueless. There are several guys that can run 40 or 60's in very fast times that can compete with the fastest 100m guys in a 40 yard dash. Hint: There is a big difference between 40 yards and 100m. The guys who are usually real quick out of the blocks usually get run down because they dont have that extra gear. You maintain your speed in the 400, the 100 is an all out sprint. They would have strong 40's times because they are fast out of the block.

 

[Nors]

Clueless. There are several guys that can run 40 or 60's in very fast times that can compete with the fastest 100m guys in a 40 yard dash. Hint: There is a big difference between 40 yards and 100m. The guys who are usually real quick out of the blocks usually get run down because they dont have that extra gear. You maintain your speed in the 400, the 100 is an all out sprint. They would have strong 40's times because they are fast out of the block.

To my post that in a 10 -15 yard burst I could beat world class hurdlers. By 20-30 Yards they were on me - by60 Yards would beat me by 3-5 tenths of a second. When that race went another 60 yards I was losing ground faster.

Great Troy Brown on speedster Bethel Johnson. When asked if he could beat him in a 40. Answer, no - but he can't beat me in a 10 yard dash.

Quickness in the shorter runs - thats where shuttle times come in as well.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Clueless. There are several guys that can run 40 or 60's in very fast times that can compete with the fastest 100m guys in a 40 yard dash. Hint: There is a big difference between 40 yards and 100m. The guys who are usually real quick out of the blocks usually get run down because they dont have that extra gear. You maintain your speed in the 400, the 100 is an all out sprint. They would have strong 40's times because they are fast out of the block.

Perhaps you could try a little research. Learning never hurt anyone. A great place for you to start would be Run-Down.com..

I'm bringing documentable facts, you're bringing your unsubstaniated guess. If you feel that 100M isn't a good barometer, let's talk about the 50M indoors. For any meet you choose, you'll find that the same people who are competitive in the 100M are winning the 50M.

 

[jterrell]

No, you're Wayyy off base here. The fastest people at 100 m also happen to be the fastest at 50 m or 40 y or any particular yardage in between.

Lewis, like every other sprinter, accelerates up to about 60 m or so then tries to maintain their speed through the last 40 m to the best of their ability. He simply maintained better than most, hence the appearance of a "kick".

You are actually inaccurate here. Football players get about .15 or .20 of free reaction time because the field catches them when they cross the line not at the gun.

But 60 indoor guys are often not good 100 meter guys. They might be fast but world class at one sprint doesn't always translate. Its actually more common to see guys win both the 100 and 200 then it is to see them win the 60 and 100. There are of course guys like Maurice Greene who excelled at both but it is more rare then it is common.

Many of the players in the NFL are going to better 40 yard guys then say Michael Johnson because all of their training is explosion based and the first ten yards are their strength. Michael was of course the world's best in the 200 and 400 as well as being strong in the 100. Darrell Green actually owned Carl Lewis in college track.

The fastest ever 40 recorded on an electronic track is a low 4.0 and it has been equaled many times by both track stars and football players. One thing you may have misinterpreted is that track uses METERS not yards. So 44 yards as compared to 40. Ben Johnson has run that in 4.06 splits and is considered an extremely good starter with great explosion.
From a post on letsrun: "
Legitimate college programs and the NFL combines actually use FAT to time 40's. However, there is no gun so the clock starts when you cross the start. You're not taking into account the reaction time.

There was a similar thread to this last year on letsrun, and somone posted a link to the top 10 all time 10m increments run during 100m races. That is, top 10 times for the first 10m, for the 2nd 10m, etc. From the last you could determine the fastest ever first 40m and interpolate 40y times. I can't find that list now.

However, the following is on the HSI homepage. If you remove the reaction time from the equation(as they do at the combines) Mo's time would have been approx 3.92 sec.

Maurice Slpits from his 9.80 run at the '99 WC

10m 1.86
20m 2.29
30m 3.81
40m 4.69 ( equal to a 4.05 40yd)
50m 5.55 ( he came through 5.54 during his WR post)
60m 6.39 (equaled his indoor WR)
70m 7.24
80m 8.09
90m 8.94
100m 9.80

Fastest 10 meter split .84 (50-60 meters)
Reaction off the blocks .132".....




Hand held times are totally unreliable. As are rubber tracks, wind-aided. 40 times are overblown because they don't run them in pads. And because they get the free reaction time which can be about 2.0 to 2.5 on average. That is also why a guy like Jerry Rice or Emmitt Smith may actually run the same speed or faster then someone who is quicker between the white lines because they react faster.

 

[jterrell]

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=378723&thread=378680


These are the best incremental splits ever recorded for 100m, which add up to 9.46 for 100m (assuming perfect reaction time of zero) Add .10 (allowable reaction time), and you get 9.56 for the "perfect race."

0-10m: 1.69s (Minus RT),
Raymond Stewart (9.96s Tokyo WCH 1991, w+1.2m/s),
Frankie Fredericks (9.86s Lausanne GP 1996, w-0.4m/s),
Maurice Greene (9.79WR Athens GP 1999, w+0.1m/s & 9.82s Edmonton WCH 2001, w-0.2m/s) &
Tim Montgomery (9.85s Edmonton 1.69+WCH 2001, w-0.2m/s)
(Note: 1.69s, also by Ben Johnson Seoul OG 1988 DQ*, 9.79s w+1.1m/s)

10-20m: 1.00s, (2.69)
Bruny Surin (9.84s Sevilla WCH 1999, w+0.2m/s) &
Maurice Greene (9.82s Edmonton WCH 2001, w-0.2m/s)
(Note: 1.00s, also by Ben Johnson Roma WCH sf. 1987 DQ*)

20-30m: 0.89s, (3.58)
Maurice Greene (9.87s Stockholm GP 1999, w+1.3m/s)

30-40m: 0.86s, (4.44)
Maurice Greene (9.97s Crystal Palace BGP 1999) &
Tim Montogmery (9.84s Olso GL 2001, w+2.0m/s)
(Note: 0.86s, also by Ben Johnson Seoul OG 1988 DQ*, 9.79s w+1.1m/s)

40-50m: 0.84s, (5.28)
Carl Lewis (9.86WR Tokyo WCH 1991, w+1.2m/s),
Frankie Fredericks (9.86s Lausanne GP 1996, w-0.4m/s),
Maurice Greene (9.93s Lausanne GP 1999) &
Tim Montgomery (9.78WR Paris GP Final 2002, w+2.0m/s),
(Note: 0.84s, aslo by Ben Johnson Seoul OG 1988 DQ*, 9.79s)

50-60m: 0.82s, (6.10)
Maurice Greene (9.85s Roma GP 1999, w+0.8m/s, 9.86s Berlin GL 2000, w-0.2m/s & 9.87s Sydney OG 2000, w-0.3m/s)

60-70m: 0.83s, (6.93)
Donovan Bailey (9.93s Lausanne GP 1996) &
Maurice Greene (9.86s Berlin GL 2000, w-0.2m/s 9.87s Sydney OG 2000, w-0.3m/s & 9.82s Edmonton WCH 2001, w-0.2m/s)

70-80m: 0.83s, (7.76)
Carl Lewis (9.86WR Tokyo WCH 1991, w+1.2m/s) &
Maurice Greene (9.86s Berlin GL 2000, w-0.2m/s & 9.87s Sydney OG 2000, w-0.3m/s)

80-90m: 0.85s, (8.61)
Carl Lewis (10.03s Roma WCH sf. 1987,w-1.4m/s, 9.93WR Roma WCH 1987, w+1.0m/s, 9.97s Seoul OG sf. 1988,w+0.6m/s, & 10.02s Stuttgart WCH 1993, w+0.3m/s) &
Maurice Greene (9.79WR Athens GP 1999, w+0.1m/s, 9.80s Sevilla WCH 1999, w+0.2m/s & Sydney OG 2000,w-0.3m/s)

90-100m: 0.85s, (9.46)
Carl Lewis (9.99s Los Angeles OG 1984,w+0.2m/s & 10.02s Stuttgart WCH 1993, w+0.3m/s) &
Maurice Greene (9.79WR Athens GP 1999, w+0.1m/s)


"Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise" by Peter McGinnis, has splits for Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis during the 1988 Olympic 100m final.

Ben Johnson
position.....elapsed time......interval time
10m..........1.83...............1.83
20m..........2.87...............1.04
30m..........3.80...............0.93
40m..........4.66...............0.86
50m..........5.50...............0.84
60m..........6.33...............0.83
70m..........7.17...............0.84
80m..........8.02...............0.85
90m..........8.89...............0.87
100m.........9.79...............0.90

Carl Lewis
position.....elapsed time......interval time
10m..........1.89...............1.89
20m..........2.96...............1.07
30m..........3.90...............0.94
40m..........4.79...............0.89
50m..........5.65...............0.86
60m..........6.48...............0.83
70m..........7.33...............0.85
80m..........8.18...............0.85
90m..........9.04...............0.86
100m.........9.92...............0.88


Rome '87 wind +1.0

Ben Johnson 1.84 2.86 3.80 4.67 5.53 6.38 7.23 8.10 8.96 9.83
1.71 1.02 0.94 0.87 0.86 0.85 0.85 0.87 0.86 0.87
Reaction Time: 0.129
Carl Lewis 1.94 2.96 3.91 4.78 5.64 6.50 7.36 8.22 9.07 9.93
1.75 1.02 0.95 0.87 0.86 0.86 0.86 0.86 0.85 0.86
Reaction Time: 0.193


Seoul '88 wind +1.1

Ben Johnson 1.83 2.87 3.80 4.66 5.50 6.33 7.17 8.02 8.89 9.79
1.70 1.04 0.93 0.86 0.84 0.83 0.84 0.85 0.87 0.90
Reaction Time: 0.132
Carl Lewis 1.89 2.96 3.90 4.79 5.65 6.48 7.33 8.18 9.04 9.92
1.75 1.07 0.94 0.89 0.86 0.83 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.88
Reaction Time: 0.136
Linf. Christie 1.92 2.97 3.92 4.81 5.66 6.50 7.36 8.22 9.09 9.97
1.05 0.95 0.89 0.85 0.84 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.88
Reaction Time: ?


Tokyo '91 wind +1.2

Carl Lewis 1.88 2.96 3.88 4.77 5.61 6.46 7.30 8.13 9.00 9.86
1.74 1.08 0.92 0.89 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.83 0.87 0.86
Reaction Time: 0.140
Leroy Burrell 1.83 2.89 3.79 4.68 5.55 6.41 7.26 8.12 9.01 9.88
1.71 1.06 0.90 0.89 0.87 0.86 0.87 0.84 0.89 0.87
Reaction Time: 0.120
Dennis Mitchell 1.80 2.87 3.80 4.68 5.55 6.42 7.28 8.14 9.01 9.91
1.71 1.07 0.93 0.88 0.87 0.87 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.90
Reaction Time: 0.090
Raymond Stewart 5.54 9.96
Reaction Time: 0.114

Atlanta '96 (hand-time?)
------------------------

Donovan Bailey 1.9 3.1 4.1 4.9 5.6 6.5 7.2 8.1 9.0 9.84
Reaction time: 0.174

Athens '97
----------
MG 1.71 1.04 0.92 0.88 0.87 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.88
0.13 1.71 2.75 3.67 4.55 5.42 6.27 7.12 7.98 8.85 9.73

DB 1.78 1.03 0.91 0.87 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.90
0.14 1.78 2.81 3.72 4.59 5.44 6.29 7.14 8.00 8.87 9.77

TM 1.73 1.03 0.93 0.88 0.86 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.88 0.90
0.13 1.73 2.76 3.69 4.57 5.43 6.29 7.15 8.02 8.90 9.80

FF 1.73 1.04 0.93 0.89 0.87 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.88 0.89
0.12 1.73 2.77 3.70 4.59 5.46 6.32 7.18 8.05 8.93 9.82

AB 1.72 1.05 0.93 0.89 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.88 0.90 0.92
0.12 1.72 2.77 3.70 4.59 5.46 6.33 7.20 8.08 8.98 9.90

Best 10m Segments
0-10m 1.71 M. Greene '97, B. Johnson '87*, L. Burrell '91
D. Mitchell '91 (1.70 B. Johnson '88*)
10-20m 1.02 C. Lewis '87, B. Johnson '87*
20-30m 0.90 L. Burrell '91 (D. Bailey 0.91 '97)
30-40m 0.87 C. Lewis '87, D. Bailey '97, B. Johnson '87*,
(B. Johnson 0.86 '88)
40-50m 0.84 C. Lewis '91, (B. Johnson '88)
50-60m 0.83 C. Lewis '88 (B. Johnson '88)
60-70m 0.84 C. Lewis '91 (B. Johnson '88)
70-80m 0.83 C. Lewis '91
80-90m 0.85 C. Lewis '87
90-100m0.86 C. Lewis '87, '91

- Carl Lewis' best splits & reaction time add up to 9.74, while his PB was 9.86. A 0.12 difference. Notice Lewis has the fastest times in every split except 0-10m and 20-30m.

- Ben Johnson's best splits & reaction time add up to 9.73, while his PB was 9.79. A 0.06 difference, and considering that he let up in '88, he probably would have run 0.04s faster in the last 20m and matched his '87 splits. That adds up to a time of 9.75, only 0.02 off of his best splits added up. This leads me to believe that Ben simply learned to open his energy envelope larger than Lewis did. It's interesting to note that Ben really wasn't that much better than anyone in the actual acceleration, he just had the ability to accelerate fast without feeling the effects on his nervous system.

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/KatarzynaJanuszkiewicz.shtml

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cach...novan+bailey+splits+atlanta+96&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 

[Merlin]

Perhaps you could try a little research. Learning never hurt anyone. A great place for you to start would be Run-Down.com..

I'm bringing documentable facts, you're bringing your unsubstaniated guess. If you feel that 100M isn't a good barometer, let's talk about the 50M indoors. For any meet you choose, you'll find that the same people who are competitive in the 100M are winning the 50M.

Darrell Green had world class speed.

http://www.lindyssports.com/features/pro_tfn11.html



As a senior at Jones High School in Houston, Green's 10.08 100-meter time was second to Carl Lewis, the most decorated U.S. trackster in Olympic history. In 1991, the all-state runner was crowned "World's Fastest Athlete," this, after winning the "NFLs Fastest Man" competition four times against such notables as Tim Brown, Herschel Walker and Willie Gault.




There are probably several guys that could beat Carl Lewis in a 40 yard dash. I am certain Darrell Green and Deion Sanders in their prime could have done it. Carl Lewis was a slow starter. Not all sprinters are slow starters though. My whole point is that you cant stereotype every world class sprinter and say that they would be faster than all NFL players in the 40. That is not true.
Where are your facts that any world class sprinter would be faster than a NFL player in the 40? I haven't seen them yet.

 

[Nors]

Darrell Green had world class speed.

http://www.lindyssports.com/features/pro_tfn11.html



As a senior at Jones High School in Houston, Green's 10.08 100-meter time was second to Carl Lewis, the most decorated U.S. trackster in Olympic history. In 1991, the all-state runner was crowned "World's Fastest Athlete," this, after winning the "NFLs Fastest Man" competition four times against such notables as Tim Brown, Herschel Walker and Willie Gault.




There are probably several guys that could beat Carl Lewis in a 40 yard dash. I am certain Darrell Green and Deion Sanders in their prime could have done it. Carl Lewis was a slow starter. Not all sprinters are slow starters though. My whole point is that you cant stereotype every world class sprinter and say that they would be faster than all NFL players in the 40. That is not true.

Bob Hayes ran a 10.05 in the day. These two on all my research are the fastest NFL players ever. Carl Lewis was a slow starter but on second 50 meters gunned people down.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Maurice Slpits from his 9.80 run at the '99 WC

10m 1.86
20m 2.29
30m 3.81
40m 4.69 ( equal to a 4.05 40yd)
.

I'll dispute this little nugget from your two lenghty posts although there is much more that is disputable, I simply don't have the time to refute everything.


Basic math tell us that a 4.69 40M does not equate to a 4.05 40 yard. Using the assumption that 1 metre equals 1.0936 yards (at least in my universe), how could anyone with a basic understanding mathematics make such an obvious faux paus.

One cannot get an accurate 40 yard time using a 40 metre split (because a sprinter is still accelerating through the 3.5 (roughly) yard difference , hence simple computation results in a slightly lower 40 yard time), but using those numbers, best case scenario results in a 40 yard time of 4.29 (4.69/1.0936) (but probably more realistically a 4.31 or so).

Even if we disallowed any time of reaction time, I'm to believe that one of the best sprint track athletes of all time who has trained exlusively to run fast quickly is slower than NFL players?

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Bob Hayes ran a 10.05 in the day. These two on all my research are the fastest NFL players ever. Carl Lewis was a slow starter but on second 50 meters gunned people down.

Just FYI, Lewis was a national champ at 60M also so to claim that he was a slow starter is a bit of a stretch.

 

[trickblue]

Gets me upset to this day what a bust he was.

If Skip Bayless hadn't befriended him and alluded to him being gay... he mighta concentrated more on catching the rock...

 

[AdamJT13]

The fastest 100-meter times for any NFL players are Bob Hayes' 10.06, Ron Brown's 10.06, Alvis Whitted's 10.07 and Darrell Green's 10.08. If Ivory Crockett ever ran 100 meters, he never did it in less than 10.10 seconds.

Nobody who has ever played in the NFL has run the 60 meters in 6.60 or less, so that puts the 6.62 by Terence Newman and Samie Parker as possibly the best ever by an NFL player.

 

[AdamJT13]

Basic math tell us that a 4.69 40M does not equate to a 4.05 40 yard. Using the assumption that 1 metre equals 1.0936 yards (at least in my universe), how could anyone with a basic understanding mathematics make such an obvious faux paus.

You're correct, of course. The 30m split quoted was 3.81, and the 40m split was 4.69. In order to get the supposed 4.05 for 40 yards (36.576 meters), he would have had to have run meters 30 to 36.576 in 0.24 seconds, which is .036 seconds per meter -- 62 miles per hour! Then he would have had to have run the next 3.424 meters in 0.64 seconds, which is 0.187 seconds per meter -- the average speed of a 6.84-second 40-yard dash.

One cannot get an accurate 40 yard time using a 40 metre split (because a sprinter is still accelerating through the 3.5 (roughly) yard difference , hence simple computation results in a slightly lower 40 yard time)

You're wrong here. If you have the splits at every 10 meters, you can determine the runner's time at 36.576 meters (40 yards) with pretty good accuracy -- certainly within a hundredth of a second.

For example, here are Ben Johnson's splits during his 9.79 100 meters --

RT 0.13 (0.00 running time, 0.13 total time)
10 1.70 (1.70 running time, 1.83 total time)
20 1.04 (2.74 running time, 2.87 total time)
30 0.93 (3.67 running time, 3.80 total time)
40 0.86 (4.53 running time, 4.66 total time)
50 0.84 (5.37 running time, 5.50 total time)
60 0.83 (6.20 running time, 6.33 total time)
70 0.84 (7.04 running time, 7.17 total time)
80 0.85 (7.89 running time, 8.02 total time)
90 0.87 (8.76 running time, 8.89 total time)
100 0.90 (9.66 running time, 9.79 total time)


As I stated above, 40 yards is 36.576 meters. He was at 30 meters in 3.67 seconds running time (3.80 total time), then covered the next 10 meters in 0.86 seconds. Given his rate of acceleration, he covered those initial 6.576 meters in 0.57 seconds, putting him at 4.24 seconds running time (4.37 total time) when he was at 36.576 meters, or 40 yards. So his actual running time over 40 yards was 4.24 seconds.

We know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.58 seconds, because that would leave only 0.28 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have to go from an average speed of 0.882 meters per second to an average of 0.818 -- a HUGE change, attaining a speed much faster than anyone has ever run from meters 30 to 40 OR from 40 to 50, which usually are faster.

And we know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.56 seconds, because that would leave 0.30 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have gone from 0.852 meters per second to 0.876 meters per second -- accelerating tremendously, then actually slowing down significantly for about a stride and a half -- before regaining speed and accelerating again. That's highly, highly unlikely.

Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that he covered meters 30 to 36.576 in 0.57 seconds and the next 3.424 seconds in 0.29 seconds -- going from an average speed of 0.867 meters per second to 0.847 meters per second, which falls in line with his rate of acceleration during the race.

Unless you're going to debate over thousandths of a second -- which aren't even used to measure world records -- then a 4.24-second 40-yard dash for Ben Johnson during his 9.79 100 meters is entirely accurate.

 

[AdamJT13]

We know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.58 seconds, because that would leave only 0.28 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have to go from an average speed of 0.882 meters per second to an average of 0.818 -- a HUGE change, attaining a speed much faster than anyone has ever run from meters 30 to 40 OR from 40 to 50, which usually are faster.

And we know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.56 seconds, because that would leave 0.30 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have gone from 0.852 meters per second to 0.876 meters per second -- accelerating tremendously, then actually slowing down significantly for about a stride and a half -- before regaining speed and accelerating again. That's highly, highly unlikely.

Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that he covered meters 30 to 36.576 in 0.57 seconds and the next 3.424 seconds in 0.29 seconds -- going from an average speed of 0.867 meters per second to 0.847 meters per second, which falls in line with his rate of acceleration during the race.

Unless you're going to debate over thousandths of a second -- which aren't even used to measure world records -- then a 4.24-second 40-yard dash for Ben Johnson during his 9.79 100 meters is entirely accurate.

I messed up in there, and I can't edit it anymore. When I cite the "meters per second," it should be "seconds per meter," and the decimal should be one more place to the left. (I had converted the speeds to the equivalent of 10-meter splits, then forgot to convert them back when I posted it.)



Here's how it SHOULD read --

-------------------------------------------------------------------

We know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.58 seconds, because that would leave only 0.28 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have to go from an average speed of 0.0882 seconds per meter to an average of 0.0818 -- a HUGE change, attaining a speed much faster than anyone has ever run from meters 30 to 40 OR from 40 to 50, which usually are faster.

And we know that his time from meters 30 to 36.576 couldn't have been 0.56 seconds, because that would leave 0.30 seconds for the next 3.424 meters. He would have gone from 0.0852 seconds per meter to 0.0876 seconds per meter -- accelerating tremendously, then actually slowing down significantly for about a stride and a half -- before regaining speed and accelerating again. That's highly, highly unlikely.

Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that he covered meters 30 to 36.576 in 0.57 seconds and the next 3.424 seconds in 0.29 seconds -- going from an average speed of 0.0867 seconds per meter to 0.0847 seconds per meter, which falls in line with his rate of acceleration during the race.

Unless you're going to debate over thousandths of a second -- which aren't even used to measure world records -- then a 4.24-second 40-yard dash for Ben Johnson during his 9.79 100 meters is entirely accurate.

-------------------------------------------------------------------


All of my conclusions were correct, even though I messed up the post.

 

[Merlin]

Just FYI, Lewis was a national champ at 60M also so to claim that he was a slow starter is a bit of a stretch.

He was a slow starter compared to the other world class sprinters. That is your standard for determining the fastest athletes. No one said that he was the worst starter, he was usually not with the fast starters after the first 10 m. Check out his record splits for confirmation of this and those are his best races. Compare them to Ben Johnsons record splits. It is not a fair comparison because Ben Johnson was one of the fastest starters ever and he was on steroids but you like comparing apples and oranges anyway. Jon Drummond was also a fast starter, Dennis Mitchell too and a host of others.

Carl won the indoor 60 yard dash at the collegiate level in 81. http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/oldBios/1997/lewis.asp (You like facts so there you go.)
Those are collegiate athletes, some of them may turn out to be world class sprinters but the vast majority are not. He also won the USA Indoor 60 in '83. Not sure what type of competition he faced in that race. You will have a hard time convincing anyone that the 60 yard dash was Carl's best race.

Facts are usually meaningless if they are not comparable.

 

[Juke99]

Too damn lazy to read this entire thread...but Willie Gault was pretty quick...and for us oldtimers, Homer Jones could flat out fly...in fact, there were discussions of a proposed race between Jones and Bob Hayes...