Top 10 Most Welcome and Unwelcome Motorsports Moments of 2008

2008 was a remarkable year for motorsports. Things both truly awesome and downright outrageous were abound throughout the year. As things roll to a close, it's time to look back on the good and the bad of 2008.

This is my personal list made as a fan. This is no official list whatsoever. And I will also be limiting myself to events I have reasonable knowledge of, which means WRC is already off the list since I haven't been able to follow it this year. If your opinion differs from mine, feel free to comment on it, but don't be a whiner. Be polite.

That said, let's get cracking!

No. 10

Welcome: Jimmie Johnson's Three-peat

I put this one low on the list because some would argue that it's not a surprise, and some would argue that it's not welcome. But the simple fact is it takes skill to match and set records, especially when they're championship victory records. Even when a guy who has the skill we've always known Johnson to have, it's a surprise when such feats are achieved. And for that, Jimmie Johnson makes the list.

Unwelcome: Honda's withdrawal from F1

Being a recent announcement and not happening during the active season, some wouldn't count this. But it happened in 2008, so its valid for my list. Although many believe Honda's withdrawal spells doom for F1, one must keep in mind that up until the 200s, manufacturers weren't common in F1 except as engine suppliers.

A manufacturer withdrawal itself isn't as catastrophic as many would have you believe. But the possibility of losing a team in a series that occasionally gets questioned on its car count to begin with is never a good thing.

No. 9

Welcome: Lewis Hamilton's championship

Some don't like Lewis and believe that McLaren bought their championship by paying off Toyota. I say to these people to learn something about wet-weather racing before throwing such moronic accusations around. Nonetheless, blind luck did indeed play a very significant role in giving Lewis Hamilton his championship. And that's why it only makes the 9th most welcome surprise of 2008.

Unwelcome: Audi's withdrawal from ALMS

With Acura mostly stepping up to LMP1 and Porsche not participating in LMP2, Audi's withdrawal probably isn't horribly catastrophic. It's likely to be far less damaging to the ALMS than Honda's withdrawal will be to F1. So why is it less welcome than Honda's withdrawal? Because Audi is one of the worldwide leaders in promoting clean diesel, and their R10 changed many people's attitudes about diesel. I personally consider the R10 one of the most important racecars ever, and the limited activity from its successor is something I find much more heartbreaking.

No. 8

Welcome: Heikki Kovaleinen, Robert Kubica, Sebastian Vettel

Formula One's three first-time winners of 2008. Although many would argue that Kovaleinen and Kubica aren't surprises, first-time winners are always surprises in my book. You must have more than reasonable skill to win a race, even in the best available car. Proving one's skill decisively for the first time is always a surprise. I was tempted to give Vettel his own spot higher up on the list, but since some can argue he didn't have proper competition due to Hamilton's qualifying woes at that race, I felt it better to just lump it in with the other two.

Unwelcome: Controversial stewarding decisions

Spa-Francorchamps and Fuji. They will be known next year as sites of some of the poorest stewarding choices in history. Although many would argue that the choices were spot-on, I personally feel the incidents were too ambiguous to have warranted any penalties. You can easily blame either party in the two most well-known of the bad choices (Hamilton's corner-cut and SeaBass and Massa bumping), and normally such situations are classified as "racing incidents." I don't believe in the pro-Ferrari conspiracy since that would mean the FIA would have done a complete 180 from what they were doing just a few years ago, but if nothing else they made VERY poor choices of race stewards this season.

No. 7

Welcome: Danica Patrick's first victory

This would be higher up on the list were it not for the fact that we all knew it was coming the day she signed with AGR. Although the victory alone does not raise her above mediocre status by my criteria, she deserves credit where credit is due. Some say she got her victory unfairly because Helio Castroneves was forced to move aside. I say it doesn't matter, since she still had to stretch her fuel mileage to get the win after passing Helio.

Unwelcome: Danica Patrick's attitude

Danica has always gotten criticism for her attitude in the past. But after her first win it just got insufferable. Props to Milka Duno for not putting up with it.

No. 6

Welcome: Graham Rahal's first victory

One of the most surprising single victories of the year, Graham Rahal's win in his first IndyCar race at St. Pete was something nobody could have foreseen. Driving for a transitional team that was not expected to have any hope of being competitive until mid-season, Graham Rahal rebounded from missing the opening round due to a preseason test crash, to becoming ultimate proof that Champ Car drivers aren't as talentless as many IRL fans used to claim pre-unification.

Unwelcome: Graham Rahal's overall season

Sadly, the welcome surprise of Rahal's debut victory did not lead to a brilliant season. Sometimes it seemed like Rahal's car was magnetically attracted to the walls of any oval he raced on. This probably would not have made the list were it not for the welcome surprise of his first victory.

No. 5

Welcome: Kyle Busch

Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch was a very welcome surprise in 2008. If you hated him, you were glad to have someone to finally hate other than Jeff Gordon. If you loved him, you were glad to be seeing someone who raced his own way and didn't put up with BS. Either way, he injected a spark of excitement into NASCAR's regular season that it really needed. Too bad it didn't continue into the Chase.

Unwelcome: No Room for PT

With unification, many were looking forward to seeing Paul Tracy go head-to-head with Kanaan, Dixon, Wheldon, and all the others. But sadly, thanks in no small part to Gerald Forsythe, PT spent all but two races on the outside looking in, and even entered a NASCAR Truck race due to overwhelming boredom.

No. 4

Welcome: Felipe Massa's title run

In the past, Felipe Massa was a frequent target of criticism by F1 fans. Even as recently as the beginning of 2008, people questioned why Ferrari even kept him on the team. But, admittedly aided by a few bad stewarding decisions, Massa punched his critics in the face and mounted a title run that came down to the last corner of the last lap of the season. He did everything he possibly could to win the championship, and feel short. But that's racing, and the surprise of the run is why it's so high up.

Unwelcome: Busch bumped Junior controversy

Kyle Busch did not intentionally wreck Junior. He got loose and hit Junior trying to save the car. That's racing. Get over it.

No. 3

Welcome: David Brabham's win at Lime Rock

Why is this so high up? Because while nobody had any doubts that Acura would have an overall win before the season was out, everybody had given up on it occurring in that race. Even Timo Bernhard didn't see it coming.

Unwelcome: Spankygate

Even a lot of people who hate Max Mosley weren't happy when this rolled around. Despite being initially pleased with the possibility of him being removed from his position because of it, both supporters of Mosley and opponents still had 2007's Spygate fresh in their minds, and could only plant their heads in their hands and grumble, "Here we go again..."

No. 2

Welcome: Peugeot's near-victory.

Despite my affinity for the Audi R10, seeing the Peugeots come so close to breaking Audi's stranglehold on Le Mans was very nice to see.

Unwelcome: Peugeot's failure to seal the deal.

Le Mans traditionally has occasional periods of absolute dominance by a manufacturer, but Audi's time has been going on for way too long.

Well, are you ready for the #1 most welcome and unwelcome moments of 2008? Well, if you're not, then too bad. Because here we go:

No. 1

Welcome: "WE ARE UNIFIED."

The three most important words in American open-wheel racing in twelve years were uttered in late February. I don't drink alcohol, but I had a glass of wine for the first(and only) time in order to celebrate what is, quite simply, the most important day in modern US open-wheel racing.

Unwelcome: Unification

Sadly, the unification is not all sweetness and light. The unwelcome things were not with unification itself, but rather its timing causing a few too many problems. We won't be able to see the properly unified IRL schedule until 2010. With the majority of the IRL's contracts running out after 2009, we have to wait until they can do some serious venue shuffling before we can truly see the benefits of the unification.

Fans of great tracks like Cleveland and Road America are left wondering if they'll be able to shuffle things around sufficiently to bring them back, or if they'll have to settle for some of Champ Car's lesser venues.

And that's my Top Ten. Hope you enjoyed. Two complaints I expect to receive about this list that I'll just address right now are the lack of mention of the Dallara chassis as an unwelcome surprise, and lack of mention of the economic meltdown. As for the Dallara, as unwelcome as the choice may be, it most definitely was not a surprise, as of the two choices available it was the only one tested for and ready to do everything they needed.

It was also available in enough numbers to get cars to all the new entries. That's why it wasn't included. When it comes to the economy, we all knew years ago that a big recession was coming. Despite the timing, that fact on its own invalidates the economic meltdown in and of itself from being enough of a surprise to make the list.