Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Wytheville, VA(December 26, 2009) -- This Holiday Season(off season for the racers) RACE22.com decided that we wanted to do something a little different, rather than just give you the normal breaking news as it comes, that we wanted to keep you entertained daily ... That's why we've been counting down the Top Ten UARA-STARS Series Drivers and that's why we'll break down each and every one of the Late Model Stock Car champions seasons in detail starting the first week of January.

We also will begin giving you the "Best 9 of '09" featuring the Best Nine Drivers, Best Nine Moments, Best Nine Finishes, Best Nine Races, Best Nine Crashes and more categories from the 2009 season and those will start tomorrow, December 26th with the Best Appearing Cars category! Today on Christmas Day of all times were also going to give you a little entertainment with the Best & Worst of 2009, a spin on the best and of course worst story lines of the 2009 season with a little comedy and little harsh criticism to keep you laughing and in case you are one of the worst nine, maybe a little crying.

Sit back and enjoy as we countdown the Best & Worst of 2009 and you want to share your thoughts on what your best and worst moments were send them to langley@RACE22.com and your comments may also get published during this off-season ....

BEST of 2009 #6 ...
~LIVE Coverage of Races here on RACE22.com
OK, yes we're patting ourselves on the back a little here, but not because of how great we thought our coverage of LIVE races through the CoverItLive services were this year, but because of how you responded. Many of you thanked us countless times during or after our coverage from the races, practices and even test sessions this season and many more sent us emails asking us if this was something we intend on doing more of in the future.

First off, I want to thank you guys for checking us out and it's for you the race fans as well as drivers and team members who can't make it to the races that we do this for. Second I want to thank the tracks and the series for having the wisdom to see that the services we offer aren't going to hurt attendance, but rather help in future attendance at their track or of their races. Also a big thanks to the drivers who helped us out throughout this coverage by keeping us up to date as to what was going on with them so that their fans would know as many team members told me that our coverage made their families ability to keep up with the races so much better than texting.

One of the most important elements to the LIVE Coverage this year was the services that were performed at each and every event this season first by Kimberly Smith, who manned our first event at Motor Mile and then more often by Mason Dunn at future events, who was your play by play guy so to speak. Corey Latham helped provide photos from many of the events as did Chris Owens toward the end of the season and who can forget some of the awesome quotes that our very own, Doc Love got for us during the season finale at Motor Mile Speedway. I also want to thank the photographers who sent us photos this year including Debra & Greg Manter, Russ Calabrese, Lori Hopper, Bill Carr and Bruce Albin among others and John Bowen for doing LIVE coverage via our twitter service at many events this season, Chris Romano for his many post-race write-ups and many other people who contributed this year and I'm sorry if I didn't personally name you, it was great to work with each and every one of you.

It was a total team effort as I believe that you can't do this right with just one person at the races and hopefully you're going to see more of our team doing LIVE race coverage in 2010 with races at least once every week during the season. Plus, we've got many more new and exciting features headed your way during the 2010 season and as soon as we can announce many of them we will.

WORST of 2009 #6 ...
~Halloween Trophy Girl for the UARA
Regretfully there is photo evidence of UARA-STARS Series announcer, Doc Love's Halloween costume as he dressed up as Miss UARA for the Halloween day event that was eventually rained out. Fortunately for this writer, I had left the track after the race was called because I had to drive nearly three hours back to Wytheville, VA from the Concord Speedway in Concord, NC, when Doc decided to put his outfit on and "strut his stuff"(terrible visual) for the UARA guys who were still there.

Everyone had a good laugh with the costume, but I think the consensus among everyone who saw him live and those of us who the photo was passed around to, is that Doc would have made one very ugly woman and we're all hoping that he doesn't try to relive his Halloween fun again in the coming year!

BEST of 2009 #5 ...
~Motor Mile Speedway's Points Battle
It was one of the closest points battles in the history of Motor Mile Speedway as wiley ole' veteran, Philip Morris worked hard to fend off the challenges of another veteran driver and another former speedway champion, Frank Deiny, Jr. Add to that excitement the fact that three-time track champion, Chad Harris and a young South Carolina driver were within striking distance almost the whole time and the title battle went right down to the wire.

Morris was already a six time track champion of the Motor Mile Speedway and the last champion not named Morris was none other than Deiny and neither of these two guys were going to go down without a fight. Morris started off the 2009 season like he had many of them before by winning the season opening race and looking early on as being unstoppable, but after winning four of the first five races, the veteran driver was shutout of victory lane for eight races. However, on one August night that all changed as the veteran broke back into victory lane, but they way he did it left fans divided and left his arch rival, Deiny talking trash and looking for a chance to back it up.

What did Deiny say? Pretty much everything you would expect a guy who had just been bumped out of the lead on the final lap to say and he was vowing to deliver payback in the season's final four races. Deiny's chances at payback never really came as in the next two races, twins on the same night a week later, he was fighting handling and never was a factor. Then in the next race he dominated it and was never behind Morris and in the season finale he was dumped by Doug Godsey, who he believed Morris had hired to wreck him and thus Morris took home the title with Deiny's misfortune. Was Godsey hired by Morris? No one knows, but those two, but the trash talking from Deiny and the possible hired gun from Morris was enough to have the whole Late Model Stock Car world buzzing!

WORST of 2009 #5 ...
~Caution Laps and No Green, White, Checkered repeat ruins Debut of Late Model Stock Cars at "The Rock"
When the UARA-STARS Series announced that they would stage a Late Model Stock Car race on the one-mile high banked Rockingham Speedway, everyone was excited about the race and everyone was curious as to how the cars, engines and parts would hold up. The cars, the engines, the tires and all the parts would be a non-issue as they would withstand the demands of the track, which was almost twice the size of any that a Late Model Stock Car had competed on.

The UARA-STARS officials however weren't as prepared as their competitors and their cars as a new team of officials had only one race worth of experience under their belt and they had a hard time keeping from running laps under caution to ensure green flag action for the fans. Many laps were run under caution and the drivers and teams were mad about the over abundance of caution laps following the race and despite one of the best races when the caution wasn't waving with two young drivers battling hard for the lead.

The battle wouldn't be seen to the finish however as the race was completed under caution as the UARA-STARS series officials had declared the final restart as a green, white, checkered despite running more caution laps than green flag laps in what could have been one of the greatest Late Model Stock Car races ever. Rockingham is a great venue for the UARA-STARS Series and in 2010 the series will have two dates there, both double-headers with other touring series and hopefully with a year of experience under their belt the series officials will help the fans see more green flag laps this season.

BEST of 2009 #4 ...
~Rising to Stardom
In 2009 there was five drivers in particular that caught my eye as the "Rising Stars" of Late Model Stock Cars starting with a couple of guys who weren't running Late Model Stocks full time. 14-year old, Clint King picked up four wins in Late Model Trucks this season including a victory in the PASS Truck Series and on his wins came on three different tracks. King made his mark on the Late Model Truck contingent right away and while he only competed in one Late Model Stock Car event, he has already proved to be one of the up and coming stars. King looks to be headed toward competing for the UARA-STARS Series Rookie of the Year in 2010, if sponsorship can be found to help fund his effort.

Michael McGuire is a third generation driver whose father, Tim is a former Late Model Stock Car champion at Motor Mile Speedway and whose uncle, Tony is a two time winner of the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville Speedway, Late Model Stock Car racing's crown jewel race. The younger McGuire at the ripe old age of 13-years old went a long way toward proving himself worthy of Late Model greatness as well this season as he captured numerous wins at Orange County Speedway on his way to winning the track's Limited Late Model championship as well as a lone victory at Franklin County Speedway in a Late Model Stock Car. McGuire is anticipating being one of King's competitors for the Rookie of the Year award on the UARA-STARS Series in 2010 and could be some stiff competition.

This season Brandon Dean began asserting himself as a force to be reckoned with as he competed full time at Motor Mile Speedway and was in the thick of the great championship points battle with three other veteran drivers until the final race. Though Dean wasn't able to pick up that elusive first career Late Model Stock Car win, he was able to put himself in a position to compete for it each and every week this season despite making a team change around mid-season. Dean first drove his family owned team before joining Kiker Motorsports for the second half of the season after they released their first driver, Shaun Mangum. Dean hasn't announced his plans for the 2010 season yet, but we fully expect him to be a threat to win no matter where he races next season.

Brennan Poole wasn't exactly a household name heading into the 2009 season, but once he and his Fat Head Racing team got acquainted with one another and figured out what Poole needed in a car, they were challengers everywhere they went. Poole picked up his first and only Late Model Stock Car win to date on May 8th at Tri-County Motor Speedway, but struggled for much of the first half of the UARA-STARS Series season having only first strapped into a full-size, full fendered asphalt stock car in March during a test with Fat Head Racing. Poole got on a roll in the second half of the season and racked up six top tens in the final eight races of the UARA season as well as a third place finish in the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville Speedway, LMSC racing's marquee event. Poole will be back running for the UARA-STARS Series championship in 2010 and could be one of guys right there battling at the end of this season especially with the fire and determination he showed in 2009.