As the 2022 IndyCar offseason continues on, there is no better time to reflect on what a season 2022 was. A first time Indy 500 winner, a first time IndyCar winner and Will Power winning his second career championship. We saw last lap passes, tempers flying and even Gwen Stefani in concert. From red flags to green tires, the 2022 season didn’t disappoint.
We would like to introduce you to the 2022 Burnout Awards! We pulled a few other media members to help with this and also asked our followers on Twitter to chime in as well. Some categories had obvious answers and others came as a surprise. We even added the O’Ward Award because it rhymed.
I want to thank The Indy Boys Podcast, Chris DeHarde, Pit Lane Parley, Eric Smith from Racereviewonline.net and Derik Vance from Push to Pass Podcast for voting in all categories as well.
Without further ado, the Burnout Award goes to...
2022 Best Livery: Alex Palou 2022 Indy GP (Race 2) American Legion Honda
An absolute gorgeous chrome livery. It’s too bad IndyCar didn’t race under the lights to really make this one pop.
2022 Best Social Media Interaction: David Malukas @MalukasDavid
Malukas earned several new fans in his rookie season and was a presence on social media. The young up and coming star in Indy gained numerous new followers when he wasn’t given the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Award and made light of the situation with Jimmie Johnson on Twitter. His daring pass late at Gateway earned him several more followers as he celebrated a career best 2nd place finish.
2022 Best Social Media Channel/Series: Bus Bros
Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden bring you a unique look from the drivers side of the RV lot. They try food based on the location of the race, share laughs and tour other drivers and owners' buses. It became a must watch every week for all IndyCar fans.
2022 Best Track to Attend a Race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indy 500
Not a shock here as everyone who voted selected the Indy 500. If you haven’t been to the Indy 500, what the heck are you waiting for?
2022 Best Celebration: David Malukas runner up finish - Gateway
Yes, the winner's milk celebration at the Indy 500 is always number one but the celebration for Malukas after finishing second on an oval was over the top on pit lane. It was such an enjoyable scene.
2022 Under Pressure Moment: Josef Newgarden last lap pass of Scott McLaughlin at Texas
Other votes went to Colton Herta in the rain at Indy Grand Prix and Marcus Ericsson’s Indy 500 win, but the award goes to Newgarden and his last lap pass of teammate Scott McLaughlin to take the win.
2022 Most Popular Driver: Scott McLaughlin - Team Penske
Scott McLaughlin bursted into 2022 with his first career win on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. He proceeded to fall in his celebration and then chug a Miller High Life from his driving boot. He really showed his personality and took us on a journey into American culture on Bus Bros. I don’t think he will be ordering Nashville Hot chicken wings again.
2022 Feel Good Story: 2022 Indy 500
The return to normalcy has been an overused term in 2022. Seeing a driver like Marcus Ericsson win the race in front of a full crowd inside The Greatest Race Course in the World made everyone smile and a hot, sunny afternoon in late May.
The O'Ward Award: Bromance with Felix Rosenqvist
Pato O’Ward shared plenty of laughs in 2022, from a thrilling 2nd place finish at the Indy 500 to double dogging it on scooters with teammate Felix Rosenqvist, our favorite O’Ward moment of the season was seeing the true friendship he had with teammate Felix Rosenqvist, almost seeming going to bat for his teammate that wasn’t sure if he would be in IndyCar beyond 2022.
Funniest Moment: Video Board Collapse at Portland
We have seen animals on the course from time to time bringing out a red flag, but things got weird at Portland when an issue with the video board caused a red flag to practice session 1 of the weekend. Just when you thought you'd seen it all.
Driver you would want to road trip to Laguna Seca in an RV with: Ed Carpenter & Jimmie Johnson
Look, I speak for all of us, a road trip with any driver would be a great way to explore the country. Why not do it with craft veterans and fathers. Think about it, both are very funny (Ed’s is more of a dry humor) plenty of snacks and hours and hours on end of endless stories. Sign me up, I’ll drive.
Non IndyCar Driver you want to see run the 2023 Indy 500: Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch received the most votes and is the most realistic candidate outside of Kyle Larson. Busch would bring NASCAR viewership with him if he decided to run the double in May. I think he can find a competitive Chevy entry and shouldn’t take too long to get up to speed if given the opportunity. Other drivers receiving votes included Kamui Kobayashi, Daniel Riccardo and Ricky Taylor.
2022 Code Brown Moment: Colton Herta’s save in the rain at Indy Grand Prix en route to the victory.
It happens in every race multiple times. The steering wheel breaks to the left or the right and the driver has a split second decision to make to correct the car. In the rain, Colton Herta had the wheel turned as far left as he could to make the save as he approached turn 8. The save in the rain ultimately led to Herta’s only victory in 2022.
Thank you all for reading the inaugural version of the Burnout Sports Award for IndyCar in 2022. Please interact on Facebook and Twitter with some of your picks for the above categories. We are already counting down the days not only to the green flag in St. Pete but also the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.
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