CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Blog by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Robert Laberge/Getty Images North America photo —
With the book on the 2014 season finally closed and a new year dawning, I thought it appropriate to take a look back at the top ten moments from the past year’s racing season.
This list encompasses all series of motorsports, and it was a hard one to compile, but here it is — the Speed Zone Top Ten from 2014!
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins The Daytona 500: How fitting a kickoff to the 2014 season was this? In Junior’s final season with crew chief Steve Letarte, the perennial Most Popular Driver made a return to NASCAR’s second-biggest stage and won the Harley J. Earl Trophy for a second time. It was the spark that led the No. 88 team on a championship run and Jr.’s first multi-win season since 2004, when he finished fifth in the championship on the strength of six wins. And, it allowed Junior Nation to have a week-long party (which may or may not have boosted early season ratings, we’ll never know). What’s not to like?
9. Will Power Finally Claims The IndyCar Championship: It took long enough, but it was nice to see Will Power take the top step of the championship podium at long-last this year. Three-runner up finishes had started to make a lot of us wonder if he would ever ascend that last rung of the ladder, and he finally did it. Love him or hate him, he didn’t give up until he got the job done — and now there’s only one thing to do: repeat.
8. Donny Schatz Passes Mark Kinser, Then Wins Eighth Knoxville Nationals: There’s a new king in town and his name is Schatz. The Tony Stewart Racing star wrapped up his sixth World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series title this year on the strength of a 26-win season, bypassed Mark Kinser for third on the all-time series wins list and won his eighth Knoxville Nationals crown in the last nine years. He’s the best of the new era, and I’m not convinced he won’t get to one or two of his teammate Steve Kinser’s records before he hangs up the helmet.
7. Erica Enders-Stevens Claims NHRA Pro Stock Title: Girlpower was abundant in the NHRA drag racing world in 2014, with both the 100-win mark by females being eclipsed and Enders-Stevens becoming the first woman to win a Pro Stock crown and join. She had a brilliant year, notching six wins, including the season-ending Auto Club Finals in Pomona, to claim the big Wally and join Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Shirley Muldowney (Top Fuel) as lady champions on drag racing’s biggest stage.
6. Jeff Gordon Wins Fifth Brickyard 400: If you weren’t a Jeff Gordon fan, you were at the end of July during Indianapolis weekend. Gordon joined the legendary Michael Schumacher as the only five-time winners at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a single division, making another mark on an already-illustrious career that includes four Cup titles and as of the end of 2014, 92 race victories. It was his first win at the World’s Greatest Race Course since 2004, and provided the spark that came up one position short of a championship bout in Homestead-Miami.
5. Marc Marquez Wins Second MotoGP Title: Marquez’s run to a second crown in two full-time seasons was as sensational as it was impressive. Ten straight victories, and thirteen overall on the year, allowed him to clinch the championship with three races to go — and his 13th victory in the Valencia finale broke Mick Doohan’s single-season record set in 1997 and gives him 19 career MotoGP wins in 36 starts. (That’s a winning average of 52.77% for all you math whiz-types out there.)
4. Villopoto Leaves Supercross to Chase World Motocross Crown: This story shocked the motorcycle racing world to its core in 2014, after Villopoto won his fourth-straight Supercross championship, sat out the outdoor season due to injury and then announced his move over to Kawasaki’s European arm to compete in the 2015 World Motocross Championship. It was the last step to potentially ascend for America’s greatest modern-era motorcycle rider, and was also shocking because Villopoto made it clear he would be hanging up the helmet following 2015. The move blew the Supercross ranks wide-open for the new year, and that fight will be fun to watch beginning on Saturday night!
3. Chase Elliott Wins Nationwide Championship as a Rookie: Everyone expected Chase Elliott to be good in his rookie season. Far fewer people expected the Georgia native to come out and win a championship in his first year at the NASCAR Nationwide Series level. But that’s exactly what Elliott did, scoring three victories and being a force to contend for the win almost every week en route to becoming the first rookie to ever win a championship in one of NASCAR’s top three series. Expect him to be in contention to go two-in-a-row in 2015.
2. The Tony Stewart/Kevin Ward Jr. Tragedy: One hopes a year is never remembered for a tragedy, but 2014 was partially defined by the incident that took place in August at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. The incident itself that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. and forever changed Tony Stewart’s life was heart-wrenching enough, but add into it everything that happened afterwards — the fan reaction, the investigation, the emotions — it was just simply a situation where little good could arise from the ashes. The countless rules changes that came about in response to the incident have been a small light in the darkness, but this was the moment that changed the course of the second half of the year. It was also one that I know so many of us will not soon forget.
1. Kevin Harvick Wins Homestead And Sprint Cup Title: This takes the cake as my number one moment of the 2014 season not because it’s the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but because this was, in my mind, the most entertaining race of the entire year. Who cares if there was a points reset? At one time, you had the four championship contenders at Homestead running in the top four positions! And to top it all off, you had a two man fight on the final lap that saw Kevin Harvick have to win the race in order to claim the title. If that’s not intense, dramatic and exciting enough for you? I’m really not sure what is.
All I know is this: it was a brilliant way to cap the North American racing season and a shot in the arm for the upcoming New Year!
