MOORESVILLE, N.C. — From big-time winners to first-time champions, veterans capturing their old form and others leaving the sport behind, it was quite a year in the motorsports world.
Let’s take a look back:
– After dominating the dirt-track universe in 2020, Kyle Larson returned to the NASCAR Cup Series full time and — as predicted in this space in February — turned in a stellar season en route to winning the Cup Series championship for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson won 10 Cup Series points races and the NASCAR All-Star Race, but when he wasn’t winning on the NASCAR circuit, he was racking up significant dirt-track triumphs.
Larson won one of the two Kings Royals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway and the Knoxville Nationals at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway in a sprint car, topped the Chili Bowl Nationals and the BC39 in a midget and won the Prairie Dirt Classic in a late model.
In all, Larson had won 30 races at the time of this writing.
– Already a household name on the USAC sprint car and midget circuits, Tyler Courtney made a huge splash in his first full season racing winged sprint cars.
“Sunshine” joined Larson as a first-time Kings Royal winner, and won nine features en route to claiming the All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car title.
– Sixty-year-old Greg Anderson became the winningest driver in NHRA Pro Stock history, with his 98th triumph in the factory hot rod class. For good measure, Anderson concluded the season with his fifth NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock title.
– Brad Sweet became only the third driver in the history of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series to win three consecutive series championships, joining Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz. Kinser and Schatz each turned the trick multiple times, with Kinser winning a series-best six consecutive championships from 1983-’88.
– There was a great deal of sadness this year as well. We in the motorsports media mourned the deaths of many of our friends and colleagues, including Doug Auld, Bob Jenkins, Robin Miller, Greg Stephens, Dave Dalesandro and Todd Ridgeway.
– Brandon Overton and Jonathan Davenport continued their domination of the dirt late model world. At this writing, Overton had 30 victories this season and Davenport had visited victory lane on 26 occasions.
– Josh Berry did what many short-track champions dream of doing. He parlayed winning the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parks Weekly Racing national title into a part-time ride with JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and won twice along the way. He will race full time in the series next year.
– Best wishes to throttle-thumping sprint car driver Parker Price-Miller as he battles B-cell lymphoma.
– Several years ago, the NFL’s Carolina Panthers coined the phrase, “Keep pounding.” NHRA Top Fuel sensation Steve Torrence has adapted that slogan in a sense as he keeps pounding the opposition into the pavement. Torrence romped to his fourth consecutive NHRA Top Fuel title this season, while winning 11 national events.
– Daniel Hemric showed tremendous promise when he won the Legends Million Legend Car race on the quarter-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a 19-year-old in 2010.
Hemric finally fulfilled that promise by winning the season-ending NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway and securing the series championship.
n For the first time in years, seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was challenged on a weekly basis. At press time, Max Verstappen had won nine races to Hamilton’s eight. They enter the season finale tied for the series championship lead.
– Michael McDowell opened the season with an upset for the ages when he won the Daytona 500 for the underfunded Front Row Motorsports team and qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
– Racing in the Indianapolis 500 for an organization other than Team Penske for the first time, Helio Castroneves made history by driving the Meyer Shank Racing No. 06 to his fourth victory in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Castroneves became the fourth driver to win the prestigious race four times, joining A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.
– The Camping World Superstar Racing Experience made its debut with six midsummer events. Old hand Tony Stewart claimed the championship, but the series saw strong crowds and solid television ratings, while giving future stars such as Eddie Francis Jr. and Luke Fenhaus a national stage.
– Arguably the most popular sprint car driver of all time, Jac Haudenschild called it a career after running a limited schedule of events. “The Wild Child” gave his fans a thrill by starting on the front row for the Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway — site of many of his biggest victories.
Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen and NASCAR Xfinity Series shoe Michael Annett are among others to hang up their helmets.