Top 10 Stories in Motorsports for 2009

Unlike some so-so motorsports seasons earlier in the decade, 2009 was abundant with major story lines and compelling plots. Lackluster it was not.

For as much excellence behind the wheel -- Jimmie Johnson, Tony Schumacher, Mark Martin -- there was equally as much drama off the race track -- Kyle Busch smashing trophies, Danica Patrick's "would-she? wouldn't-she?" NASCAR foray, Tony George's Indianapolis ouster and then the great Michael Schumacher punctuating the year with his comeback announcement.

Here are FanHouse's selections for the top-10 motorsports stories of 2009:

10: It was a rough start to the year for IZOD IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves, who missed the opening race of the season awaiting trial for federal tax evasion. It wasn't long before the likable Castroneves' story turned from true-crime novel to pure storybook.

Despite long odds, Castroneves and his sister and business manager were acquitted of tax charges in April after a nearly month-long trial.

Only a couple hours after the Friday afternoon verdict, Castroneves was on a plane headed to the Long Beach Grand Prix, where despite being out of the car for the previous five months, he finished seventh. He answered with a runner-up in his famous No. 3 Team Penske car the next week in Kansas.

Life only got better in the coming months. Castroneves won the pole position for the Indianapolis 500. Two days before the race, he found out the lone undecided charge against him had been dropped and then he collected what was easily the most emotional race victory of any series this year -- his third Indy 500 win. The topper: Castroneves' girlfriend gave birth to the couple's first child, a healthy baby girl on Dec. 28.

9: It's a shame the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) doesn't get the attention it deserves when compared to NASCAR and IndyCar, but it consistently delivers a product every bit as good.

In another championship decided in the season finale, Tony Schumacher won his unprecedented sixth straight Top Fuel dragster title beating out Larry Dixon, whose first-year Al-Anabi Team is partially owned by Schumacher's former crew chief Alan Johnson and features the majority of Schumacher's crew from 2008. The two-point margin for Schumacher is the closest of any title in the history of the sport.

As incredible as that story goes, the best part came days after the finale, when Schumacher, who drives the U.S. Army-sponsored dragster, visited the Fort Hood, Texas, Army post. He gave his championship trophy to the soldiers there in a moving and emotional ceremony attended by many families of those killed in the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting spree.

"I don't think there's any question in the world where this belongs,'' the seven-time champ said.

8: Talladega Superspeedway has long been a source of must-see television with its tight racing and unpredictable finishes. This year, NASCAR's largest track was also the site for some of the most frightening accidents, inciting pleas from fans and drivers alike to re-examine the safety of the two-year old COTs.

In a last-lap collision during the spring race, Carl Edwards' Ford went airborne and landed in the front stretch retaining fence with debris from the accident injuring seven fans. Under massive national scrutiny, NASCAR promised to make the right moves from a safety perspective and the speedway increased the fence height.

However in a spectacular case of cruel irony, the most outspoken critic, driver Ryan Newman, ended up on an eerily similar E-ticket airborne, smash-and-roll ride near the end of the fall race. Neither Edwards, nor Newman, were injured in their accidents. Newman, who has an engineering degree, has met several times with NASCAR officials in an effort to make additional changes to the car and prevent this sort of thing from happening when the series returns in April. It will be a hot topic opening 2010.

7: After a brief and disappointing go in NASCAR in 2008, Dario Franchitti executed a perfect comeback by winning the 2009 IndyCar Series championship in a three-driver battle that came down to the final laps of the final race.

Franchitti, who won the 2007 IndyCar title and then left for NASCAR, won five races in 2009 for Target Ganassi and used a fuel millage strategy to wrap up the championship over teammate Scott Dixon and Penske's Ryan Briscoe. At 36, Franchitti is the oldest IndyCar champ.

"I'm absolutely where I should be,'' Franchitti said after the trophy ceremony. "But I wouldn't trade anything that's happened. It was a good lesson, just kind of what the other side of the fence looks like.''

6: The most successful performance turned in by a woman this year wasn't from the most famous name and face -- Danica Patrick. Instead, it came from Ashley Force Hood who made history in NHRA's toughest division, the Funny Car class.

Hood, who in 2008 became the first woman in the sport's history to win a Funny Car national event, backed it up with a a pair of victories this year and became the first woman to win the NHRA's Super Bowl, the U.S. Nationals. She tied Tony Pedregon with a season-best, eight final-round appearances and had a Funny Car class best six No. 1 qualifying efforts.

Ultimately Force Hood -- daughter of 14-time NHRA champ John Force -- came 66 points shy of becoming the first woman to win a Funny Car championship. Had the series been using the championship format prior to the three-year old Countdown to One system, Force Hood would have won the title.

5: Mark Martin will be the first to admit, he hasn't always savored success along the way. That changed this season as the 50-year old veteran turned in one of his most amazing driving performances en route to a runner-up finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. In his first full season back after a two-year part-time schedule, Martin won five races, and a series-best seven pole positions.

More significantly, Martin proved his grit regularly besting drivers half his age to collect his fifth career championship runner-up while bringing smiles to the faces of a whole new fan base of 40- and 50-somethings rallying around his effort.

Martin so enjoyed his year that he re-upped for two more seasons with the Hendrick Motorsports organization and promised at the year-ending banquet to be more prepared than ever in 2010 -- a daunting notion for his competitors.

4: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher announced just before Christmas that he is returning to Formula One after a three-year retirement. Not only is it news that the sport's all-time winningest driver (91 victories) will be competing again, but it also noteworthy in the impact it can have on a sport struggling with organizational turnover and cheating allegations.

Schumacher is re-teaming with Mercedes Grand Prix boss Ross Brawn who guided him to all seven F1 titles (two with Bennetton and five with Ferrari). Even at 41 -- the oldest driver on the grid -- Schumacher's presence should reinvigorate the most sophisticated form of racing in the world and put the emphasis back on the track, not on the embarrassing scandals and reorganization that went on behind closed doors this season.

3: Like him or hate him -- and most people have strong opinions either way -- Tony George was the face of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the past two decades. And frankly, for the good or the bad, the face of IndyCar racing in general. Many blame him for the open-wheel split of the mid-1990s and the ensuing luster lost on the Indy 500.

With his ouster at Indy -- voted out of executive position by his own Hulman-George family in June -- the sport doesn't have a true leader, a public go-to guy. George led the unification charge in 2007 and oversaw its fruition last season as the sport and the world's greatest race, the Indianapolis 500, began to reclaim its former glory.

The series has recently signed a major title sponsor in IZOD, but the future remains quite tenuous as de facto leaders navigate a course and establish identity. The impact of George's forced resignation as Chairman of Indianapolis Motor Speedway hasn't been fully felt yet. For the good or the bad.

2: Will she? Won't she?

After announcing in May prior to the Indianapolis 500 that she was open to all offers, Danica Patrick's racing future became a recurring theme for the rest of the season. She openly flirted with NASCAR teams while leaking her plans to remain in IndyCar. It became hard to tell who was courting who and toward the end of the season, an increasingly testy Patrick had little patience with the whole ordeal.

In the end, Patrick has what she surely sees as the best of both worlds. She re-upped for another three years with Andretti Autosport in her quest to win the Indy 500 and the IZOD IndyCar Series championship. And in her downtime Patrick will get acquainted with stock cars before possibly moving to NASCAR full-time at the end of her IndyCar contract.

Patrick, the most famous face in IndyCar, is teaming with the most famous face in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr., to compete for his Nationwide Series team. Patrick will make about a dozen stock car starts -- primarily before and after the IndyCar season. She'll debut in the Feb . 6 ARCA race at Daytona Speedweeks and depending on how confident she feels then, either compete in the Feb. 13 Nationwide season-opener at Daytona or wait until the Feb. 20 race at California Speedway.

If you think there was a lot of hype surrounding her decision-making, prepare for a level of unprecedented hoopla when Speedweeks kicks off in February in Daytona. Suffice it to say, you'll be hearing a lot about Danica in 2010.

1: Unquestionable, the biggest and best story of 2010 starred Californian Jimmie Johnson who became the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive Sprint Cup Series championships. Johnson was the first racer selected by the Associated Press as the Athlete of the Year and his accomplishments during the past four years have come during NASCAR's most competitive era with a championship format designed to make it harder for someone to dominate as Johnson has.

He won seven races in the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet and again proved himself a master under pressure, reaching victory lane four times during the 10-race playoff. His 16 top-fives is tied for a series high.

Most remarkable? The 34-year old Johnson has to be considered the favorite for 2010.

Honorable mentions: Tony Stewart's incredible debut as owner-driver in the Sprint Cup Series. He led the points standings up until the Chase for the Championship and was a contender from the drop of the first green flag, ultimately finishing sixth in the standings while teammate Ryan Newman was ninth. ... Kyle Busch won four races prior to the Chase, but failed to qualify for the 12-driver playoff in what may be one of the biggest meltdowns since the new championship format began in 2004. ... Earnhardt Jr. suffered through the worst season of his 10-year Cup career while his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates finished a historic 1-2-3 in the championship. The good news for him: it shouldn't be hard to improve on a 25th-place ranking in the final standings and only five top-10 finishes.