Another huge year ... what was sport's biggest moment in 2012? Source: FOX SPORTS
Foxsports.com.au has gathered the five moments that defined motorsport in 2012 and it's up to you to decide which was the biggest.
Check out our highlights video of the five big moments before heading to the bottom of the page to cast your vote - and then return on Monday, December 17 when the winner from each sport will go head-to-head in our bumper poll to find the ultimate sporting moment of 2012.
Have we missed any of motorsport's defining moments for 2012? Leave a comment with your most memorable moments at the bottom of the page!
MONTOYA BLOWS UP A JET-DRYER
There have been many "what the?" moments throughout the NASCAR year. Tony Stewart's helmet throw at Matt Kenseth in Bristol. Jeff Gordon deliberately crashing Clint Bowyer in Phoenix, promting a massive brawl in pit lane. But nothing quite matches former IndyCar and F1 star Juan-Pablo Montoya crashing into a jet-dryer during this year's Daytona 500. The Colombian and safety workers aboard the truck were lucky not to be hurt in the incident, triggered when a suspension failure pitched his car sideways at the end of the back stretch. The fiery explosion and race-stopping aftermath hit headlines around the world. It also caused NASCAR make a big impact on Twitter, when soon-to-be champion Brad Keselowski tweeted his thoughts while the field were stopped on the backstretch waiting for the race to restart. He gained 100,000 followers within minutes!
Chris Holder ... won the 2012 Speedway world title. Source: AAP
HOLDER'S WORLD TITLE WIN
After 11 Grand Prix and a punishing schedule of World Cup and club meetings, the Speedway World Championship boiled down to the start of the second semi final at the last round in Torun, Poland. The two title competitors would come out of side-by-side starting gates. Nicki Pedersen, the tough-talking, hard-riding Dane would start from gate two, needing to beat Australian Chris Holder, lined up to his inside at gate one, to keep his title hopes alive. At the start, Pedersen out-jumped Holder and tried to squeeze him off the track, but the Aussie would have none of it, holding his nerve and his line until the inevitable contact came. Their bump caused Pedersen to crash, forcing a restart, but the fiery Dane wanted Holder disqualified and told him so, a fight breaking out when Pedersen shoved Holder's younger brother during the argument. Retiring champ Jason Crump pulled the young Aussie aside and calmed him down, Holder repaying the gesture by running away with the restart to win while Pedersen finished third, sealing Holder's first world title.
POWER LOSES INDY TITLE ... AGAIN!
Six words will haunt the Toowoomba-born racer and his legion of fans for the rest of the summer: "Will Power is in the wall!" Nursing a slender IndyCar Series lead over Ryan Hunter-Reay, Power was shaping up to pass his title rival in the early laps of the California finale. Then disaster struck. Power ran over a seam in the track to help the car turn, and it did much more than that. The car slowly spun around before a hard, high-speed impact into the wall. With a jolting thud, Will Power's IndyCar title hopes went out the window for the third year in a row. Despite a desperate effort from his Penske team to get his wounded car back on-track for enough laps to gain a few more points, the title went to Hunter-Reay.
Casey Stoner ... hung up the leathers in 2012. Source: AAP
NISSAN, MERCEDES JOIN V8 GRID
For 20 years, Ford and Holden have had Australia's racetracks (and a couple of others overseas) as their own private battlegrounds. No more. In February, Kelly Racing announced they were partnering up with Nissan for the 2013 V8 Supercars season. Then in September, Stone Brothers Racing stunned their legions of Ford supporters by announcing a merger with Erebus Motorsport that would see them run a trio of E-Class AMG Mercedes next year. The defection of two teams so closely tied to Holden and Ford respectively ushers in a new era of V8 Supercars. Ford, Holden, Nissan and AMG Mercedes will all be effectively identical under the skin thanks to new Car of the Future regulations.
STONER RETIRES
On Thursday May 17, in the MotoGP press conference at Le Mans, Casey Stoner dropped a massive bombshell. He announced he would retire at the end of 2012. One of motorcycle racing's leading lights - heck, the reigning world champion - was so disillusioned with the sport he was willing to turn his back on it. Not even a reported $15 million dollar offer from Honda was enough to sway his mind. A bad crash at Indianapolis saw his hopes of leaving MotoGP with the title evaporate, but he fought through the pain barrier to be back on winning form for his swansong on home soil at Phillip Island. After a day which saw Australian riders stand on the podium in Moto3 and Moto2, Stoner concluded the fairytale script by winning his sixth-straight Australian MotoGP win, sending the massive home crowd into raptures.
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