What will you remember about the 2012 racing season?

I did something like this at the end of last year, and since the world didn't end, I'm going to do it again (we might as well pass the time doing something while this site's leagues are still in off season...).

This year, thanks in part to both Facebook and MiniDrivers, I found interest in Formula One as well as NASCAR. I quickly found interest in Kimi Raikkonen, what with his first year back in the series driving for Lotus-Renault. He was easily the funniest guy on track all season after getting lost at Interlagos and assuring his team he knew what to do.

Mind you, NASCAR, as it always does, had it's share of controversy, excitement and hilarity. Numerous examples being:

-DANICADANICADANICA
-Juan Montoya confuses a jet dryer for a taco stand.
-Junior snaps a 129-race winless streak by beating Brad Keselowski on a foot race to the restroom at Daytona under red flag.
-Keselowski tweeting under red flag. ^_^
-Kenseth winning the Daytona 500 again, and actually racing for it this time!
-Kurt Busch. Nuff said.
-Allmendinger fails a drug test because of one of his stupid friends.
-John Wes Townley makes the shortest Sprint Cup debut on record -- he didn't even make it one lap in practice!
-Bullshit calls by NASCAR in the NW Series' inaugural race at Indy.
-Trucks at Rockingham!
-Mark Martin kills a cone at Michigan. SAVE-A-CONE DOES NOT APPROVE.
-I still feel terrible about all the hate Jeff Gordon's getting from Phoenix.
-Marcos Ambrose kicks everyone's ass at Watkins Glen.
-Amber Cope being a moron at Loudon in the NW Series.
-HERE WE GO AGAIN ON MY OWN -- BUM BUM, GOING DOWN THE ONLY ROAD I'VE EVER KNOWN.
-Divebombing the leaders on a restart at Martinsville totally works!
-Jimmie Johnson loses! AGAIN!
-Brad Keselowski wins the title, and gets drunk on Miller Lite afterwards.

Other than all this, despite my short attention span for IndyCar and ARCA, I listened to almost all of the Indy 500 while being a thousand miles away from home, including the part where Franchitti dumped Sato on the last lap, and watched everyone wait until the finish to run out of talent during the ARCA Daytona race, resulting in GERHARTWINSLOL.

There are still lots of memorable moments from this racing season that I didn't cover -- post some of your favorites!

>Mark Martin almost kills self
>More worried about the cone

Fuck your cone.

That Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis still gives me nightmares, gosh it was so horrible.

Chives5150 wrote:

That Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis still gives me nightmares, gosh it was so horrible.

Why couldn't they just race at IRP?!

Quite honestly, next to nothing. Brad getting drunk, AJ failing his drug test, and the misadventures of Kurt Busch is really it.

Mr. Dr. Professor Mech wrote:

>Mark Martin almost kills self
>More worried about the cone

Fuck your cone.

cone

Chives5150 wrote:

That Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis still gives me nightmares, gosh it was so horrible.

>IRP not on the schedule
>The only major NASCAR race in my area worth going to

Well, at least I have Eldora now, which is actually just a bit closer than IRP by about 15 minutes.

kensethfan wrote:

-Mark Martin kills a cone at Michigan. SAVE-A-CONE DOES NOT APPROVE.

OK, just fucking stop with this... It's really not funny anymore, nor was it very funny to start with.

But, for some of the stuff I'll remember:

Suffering through most of the oval races
Bringing Eric (Webler) to the Glen with me and watching Edwards win N'Wide, but then witness one of the best race finishes in NASCAR history IMO.
JPM hitting the jet dryer
Me Brad K with his championship and heavy Twitter/Miller Lite usage
Eric McClure's brake failure at Talladega
Danica's wrecking and media saying it wasn't her fault
Xxxtreme, SS Motorsports and America-Israeli failing hysterically
Junior winning at Michigan on fuel mileage
Indycar finale, which was exciting like always
Dario running Takuma into the grass to win the 500
Takuma's bad luck in general
RWR and Key filling up the back of the NNS field
Buescher dominating ARCA and Dale Shearer pulling a Waltrip and wrecking out of the pits
Lightning strike at Pocono (August)
etc.

However, I still don't like the general direction NASCAR is heading. Trying to make the cars look even more like street models and... sponsorship on the roof? Really...? Indycar seems to be gaining popularity, but I feel like the cars they used to run were fine. Don't know why they thought that just taking Las Vegas off the schedule wasn't enough.

Casey Lester wrote:

kensethfan wrote:

-Mark Martin kills a cone at Michigan. SAVE-A-CONE DOES NOT APPROVE.

OK, just fucking stop with this... It's really not funny anymore, nor was it very funny to start with..

KAY.

Casey Lester wrote:

Indycar seems to be gaining popularity, but I feel like the cars they used to run were fine. Don't know why they thought that just taking Las Vegas off the schedule wasn't enough.

They're there to keep the cars from getting airborne like that for future races. Plus, I felt it was time for a change.