Despite skyrocketing inflation, high gas prices and lingering supply-chain issues, fans from coast to coast flocked to motorsports events from January to December as the 2022 season offered a prime buffet of racing entertainment.
Among the marquee events, fans saw rookie Austin Cindric win the Daytona 500, Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson top the Indianapolis 500 and Donny Schatz claim his 11th Knoxville Nationals trophy.
The flow of off-track racing news was almost constant throughout the year, ranging from new sponsors entering the sport to the increasing availability of streaming video.
Continuing a SPEED SPORT tradition that dates back more than 40 years, here are 10 stories that had a major impact on the industry during 2022.
1. Mixed Reviews For Next Gen
NASCAR’s long-anticipated Next Gen race car generated an endless stream of headlines — both positive and negative — during its inaugural Cup Series season.
“It has done everything it was supposed to do from a competition standpoint,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said in October. “Nineteen different winners, five first-time winners. We’ve had more green flag passes for the lead than we’ve ever had in the history of the sport since we’ve been doing Loop Data.”
But there were issues, specifically with energy transfer to the driver during a crash.
Championship contenders Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman suffered sidelining concussions, and 44-year-old Busch later stepped away from full-time racing.
After several tense weeks between drivers and officials, a line of communication calmed the situation as NASCAR engineers addressed the problem.
According to Phelps, some potential fixes were discovered during an early October crash test.
2. Million Dollar Man
Dirt late model superstar Jonathan Davenport banked the richest first-place prize in short-track racing history June 9 when he earned $1,002,022 for winning the return of the Eldora Million at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., held off a late charge from Chris Madden to cash the big check in the event that was run for the first time since Donnie Moran won the inaugural Eldora Million in 2001.
“I haven’t even thought about the money yet,” Davenport said. “I’m not really going to think about that until it gets into the bank account. It’s just another crown jewel here at Eldora. That just makes it all of them I’ve won except for The Stream, and I don’t think we’ll run that again.”
Heading into November, Davenport had won 21 times, nine of which paid a minimum of $50,000.
3. Bold Schedule Moves
With an assist from Speedway Motorsports’ Marcus Smith, NASCAR President Steve Phelps proved he is willing to make bold and daring decisions in selecting venues for future NASCAR Cup Series events. The sports world was buzzing in February when NASCAR’s premier series ran a non-points race on a temporary quarter-mile track inside the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, one of the world’s iconic sports stadiums.
Joey Logano held off Kyle Busch to win the Busch Light Clash on Sunday, Feb. 6.
An encore is set for Feb. 5.
Late in the season, Phelps and Smith revealed that next year’s NASCAR All-Star Race will be run at legendary North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The Speedway Motorsports property has not hosted a NASCAR-sanctioned race since Jeff Gordon won there in 1996.
The Cup Series will also go street racing in 2023, competing on a temporary circuit in downtown Chicago.
4. IndyCar Engine Must Wait
Due to supply-chain challenges that impacted development and delivery of hybrid system components, officials delayed the implementation of the NTT IndyCar Series’ new 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine with hybrid technology for one year.
Instead of being introduced in 2023, the engine’s debut has been moved back to the 2024 season.
“We are very encouraged by the progress our team and our partners have made, but an immediate decision needed to be made to ensure we are prepared for the 2023 season utilizing our current 2.2-liter engine package,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said in announcing the delay.
“Thanks to our great partners at Honda and Chevrolet for working through this challenging supply-chain situation. We are going full speed ahead with the 2.4-liter hybrid engine and cannot wait to have it on track in 2024.”
5. Tire Shortage Has Impact
Extremely high demand, supply-chain issues and staffing difficulties combined to create a tire shortage that was the talk of the motorsports industry early in the season.
“The situation that we’re running into right now is primarily a shortage of nylon,” Scott Junod, director of racing for tire manufacturer American Racer said on Feb.1. “When you don’t have nylon, you can’t build your tires. It’s not that the industry has been shut off. Demand has been super high.”
Much like hand sanitizer and toilet paper in 2020, or bread and milk the night before a storm, panic buying sped up the impact. The result was that a handful of events were either postponed or canceled while a few sanctioning bodies adjusted their tire rules.
“We’re trying to turn over every rock to continue to produce the tires we need to get our customers supplied,” Junod noted.
6. World Supercross Debuts
After fifty years of entertaining race fans in the United States, Supercross assumed its place on the world motorsports stage Oct. 8 when the World Supercross Championship debuted with the British Grand Prix in Cardiff, Wales.
Americans swept the top step on the podium with Eli Tomac (450cc) and Shane McElrath (250cc) claiming the victories.
Organized by Adam Bailey, Ryan Sanderson and Tony Cochrane of Australian-based SX Global, the FIM-sanctioned series plans to feature 10 international teams with 40 riders, 20 in each class. A 2023 schedule of at least nine races is anticipated.
In this country, Feld Motor Sports and MX Sports Pro Racing partnered to create the SuperMotocross World Championship. The two companies will work together to grow both Supercross and motocross, creating a new championship platform that will reward the sport’s best riders with a $10 million purse.
7. New Tires For Dirt LM Racing
In a show of unity among the division’s major stakeholders, Hoosier Racing Tire introduced a national tire program that will encompass all dirt super late model racing beginning next season.
Amending the previous complex tire program, new offerings will be reduced to only three 90-inch tires and three 92-inch tires. Subsequently, the former four-digit numbered compounds will now be simplified, represented by 1, 2, 3 or 4.
The tire is designed as a no-groove, no-sipe program and will be the only dirt super late model tire offered by Hoosier.
“Creation of the NLMT program and beginning a consolidation has been part of Hoosier’s vision and was accelerated with the help of our partners, including Lucas Oil and World Racing Group,” said Hoosier’s Paul Menting. “They saw the need for this type of program and really started the ball rolling for us.”
8. Sebastian Vettel Retires
Four-time world driving champion Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of the Formula 1 season.
The 35-year-old German ranks third on the list of Grand Prix winners with 53 victories. He made his F-1 debut with BMW Sauber in the 2007 United States Grand Prix.
“I have had the privilege of working with many fantastic people in Formula 1 over the past 15 years – there are far too many to mention and thank,” said Vettel. “Over the past two years I have been an Aston Martin driver – and although our results have not been as good as we had hoped, it is very clear to me that everything is being put together that a team needs to race at the very highest level for years to come.”
Vettel became a champion while driving for Red Bull Racing, where he won four consecutive titles starting in 2010.
9. Endurance Racing Milestone
Toyota Gazoo Racing topped the 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at France’s famed Sarthe Circuit, winning the prestigious endurance race for the fifth consecutive year.
Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and rookie Ryo Hirakawa shared the winning No. 8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid. It was Buemi’s fourth Le Mans victory and the third for Hartley. Toyota swept the Hypercar class as the No. 7 machine driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez finished second.
“The whole team, and our crew, executed a perfect race without any mistakes and no damage to the car,” Buemi said. “It’s an incredible feeling to win Le Mans for the fourth time, and the fifth time for Toyota Gazoo Racing. It will take a little bit of time before it sinks in because it’s hard to realize what we achieved today.”
10. Quarter Midget Cooperation
Two of the nation’s premier sanctioning bodies, NASCAR and USAC, have joined forces to create a series of nine quarter-midget races that will run primarily in conjunction with NASCAR Cup Series events next season.
The NASCAR Youth Series is a joint effort to grow the motorsports community, while offering unique opportunities to young racers and their families. It will be recognized as a NASCAR Regional Series
“When we started the USAC.25 Series in 2009, our goal was to provide a safe, fun, yet competitive youth racing series that provided families with a way to create lasting memories,” said Kevin Miller, USAC president. “Since we began incorporating NASCAR races on our schedule, families across the country have been able to experience amazing opportunities. We realize that partnering with NASCAR to create the NASCAR Youth Series will provide even more unique experiences and opportunities for our families.”