From Florida and back, '07 had its shining moments (cont'd)

Hendrick Motorsports gave you all of the above, and more. Nextel Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and his teammate Jeff Gordon, a four-time series champion, did everything a fan could ask for during a season. They won races, they raced well with an absentee crew chief (sadly a growing trend), they posted top-five finishes, they raced hard on different types of tracks competing in two different types of cars, driving for the same owner while clinging to the wheel, charging for the checkers with one eye closed hoping they did not take each other out in the last turn of the final lap while dusting the other 41 guys.

Like it? You have to love it. You don't have to love them, but you have to love it. Johnson and Gordon are superstars. If they played a stick-and-ball sport they would be Jeter and A-Rod. Montana and Rice. Gretsky and Messier. Bird and anybody. Fans that didn't like their own team would come just to watch the Great Ones play, or in this case, race. There are other stars in the Nextel Cup Series, but right now Johnson and Gordon, or Gordon and Johnson, combine to act as the sun that allows all the other stars to shine. Of course, this is a team sport, and all the people at Hendrick Motorsports should be proud of what they have accomplished, and extremely motivated by where they have put the bar for 2008.

And now the sun has set on the 2007 season, but it will rise over Daytona Beach soon enough. In the quiet between dusk and dawn there are plenty of memories to keep us talking, and thinking. Harvick at Daytona. Mears at Charlotte. Truex at Dover. Edwards on the USS Enterprise. Gordon in the rain at Pocono. Montoya in the vineyard. Tony at the Brickyard. Biffle by a bumper. Johnson down the stretch. Kenseth and Reiser with a fantastic finish. And there were many more.

And what about next year? It is the most common question from fans and friends all winter long. I love looking ahead into the darkness, even when the light is still bright behind us. Why?

Here's why. Did you really think Brett Farve would be this good in 2007? Did you really think the Cowboys could be close to being this good this season? Can the Patriots really do it? Have you seen the start the Boston Celtics are off to? And the New York Rangers are battling for first place in the division. See? Anything can happen. Can anybody start 2008 like the Hendrick boys started 2007? Well, I guess almost anything can happen.

Enjoy the holidays. And here's hoping that 2008 brings the kind of competition the fans desire and many more of the racing memories we all cherish.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.