With just a couple weeks left of 2009, our imaginations have already drifted (no pun intended) to next year's start of the motorsports season. It happens every year round this time; after enduring another season's worth of high drama on the circuit, we just can't wait until engines are fired again and cars are mixing it up on track. It's one of the cool aspects of this gig - being constantly reminded why we love racing.

There were plenty of stars from the season that just finished, though. Herewith are 10 hot shoes who thrilled us in 2009, in no particular order.

Chris Forsberg
Formula DRIFT

After campaigning a Z33 for the last few years and seemingly always finishing strong in the points tally by season's end, we knew it was only a matter of time before Forsberg would get that first championship. Even so, guys like Ryan Tuerck in his Gardella Racing Mobil 1 Pontiac Solstice, Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken 350Z and back-to-back series champ Tanner Foust in the Papadakis Racing Rockstar Hankook Scion tC never made it easy, pushing the points race all the way to the last event of the series' sixth year.

It was tight, but at the end Forsberg in the unmistakable orange and blue NOS Energy Drink Maxxis Z had just enough for the crown. His championship-winning total of 527 points - a slim six more than Tuerck in second - came from three podiums, two of those victories, and finishes no worse than Top 16 all season long. Forsberg also claimed for a second time in his career the Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize and became the first driver to win both the championship and the Triple Crown in the same season. His title marks the first time that the FD champion has come from a pure drifting background; all prior champions - Sam Hubinette, Rhys Millen and Foust - had other motorsport experience.

Billy Johnson
Redline Time Attack, Super Lap Battle, Grand-Am KONI Challenge

Where does one begin with Johnson? We knew him in '09 mostly as the ass-kicking time attack driver that piloted the FXMD Cricket Acura NSX to victories in both Super Lap and Redline, claiming top honors in both. At the SLB final in November, Johnson took the Unlimited FR season title by some three seconds; then days later, he mopped up the RTA closer with a track record and overall event win. Johnson and FXMD were undefeated in all five RTA starts in 2009, clinching the series' 2009 Unlimited RWD Championship.

When Johnson wasn't time trialing, he was racing the Valvoline Oil Ford Mustang GT with Jack Roush Jr. and Horsepower Ranch in KONI Challenge's Grand Sport class. He competed in 10 of 11 KONI Challenge races in 2009, collecting wins for two different teams en route to eighth in points (he began the year with Motorsport Technology Group). His contributions helped Horsepower Ranch secure fourth in the 2009 KONI Challenge team standings.

Jenson Button
Formula 1

Obviously we would have preferred it if Button had won his first world championship in a Honda, but regardless of which car it was in, the title was a long time coming. After the big H's most recent rise and disappointing collapse in F1, many in the motoring press believed Button's last best opportunity to snag a title was gone with the automaker.

At the outset of 2009 it didn't look like he would even be in the running; the team, bereft of Honda financial support, appeared to be taking its last breaths when technical director Ross Brawn got the resources together to buy the squad and lease motors from Mercedes. Even then the promise of a successful season looked farfetched, until Brawn GP started winning - led by Button's five victories from seven starts to kickoff the year.

There was controversy and cries of cheating when Button looked unstoppable early on (mostly due to a questionable aero device Brawn had come up with for its cars), but in the end he'd managed enough of a defense to secure the Drivers' Championship at the Brazilian GP with still one race of the season to go.

Since the close of the season, Button has left Brawn to sign a multi-year deal with McLaren and joins 2008 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, as the team's primary pilots. The partnership marks the first time in F1 history that a team has started the new season with a lineup featuring the two most recent successive World Champions

Shaun Carlson
Sport Compact Racing Icon

If it's true that only the good die young, then Carlson was clearly one of the best. The likable sport compact racing innovator and owner of Nuformz was just 35 when he succumbed to a heart condition in October, the news of which sent the entire industry reeling.

It was said at his memorial that although he was only halfway through his 30s, Shaun had already lived more than a full life. His contribution to motorsport remains a testament to his influence; in the '90s, he started Nuformz to produce the first Honda engine sleeves for big power, and closed the decade by fabricating the first FWD tube chassis race car for Stephan Papadakis, a Honda Civic that was the first to complete 9- and then 8-second passes.

Carlson's mechanical talents opened doors to other race cars that he would campaign himself: the Meguiar's Ford Focus ZX3, the Mopar Dodge Neon SRT-4, and seats in the NHRA's Pro Stock class. More recently, Shaun got involved with Sam Hubinette and drifting; the Nuformz team found its second wind helping the Crazy Swede collect Formula D season titles in 2004 and again in 2006.

Shaun's passing left an enormous hole in the hearts and lives of many. There will never be another like him.

Chris Rado
Redline Time Attack, Super Lap Battle

Rado makes the list for the second year in a row because, in part, he lived up to the potential we saw in him last year. In an entirely revamped time attack Unlimited FWD WORLD Racing Scion tC, one running an enormous front wing as well as other speed-producing tweaks, he managed to shave enormous amounts of time from his personal bests and break some track records, too.

At the Super Lap finale, for instance, his 1:49.703 was one of the few times in the 40s and beat his next closest threat, Tage Evanson in the HASport KSport Civic, by over three seconds. His time also shattered the 1:58 record set by GM in its Cobalt SS at the 2005 event (for comparison, Rado's time at last year's Buttonwillow round was a glacial 1:56.126).

The unorthodox bit of aero protruding from the front of the car is said to generate something like 800lbs. of front down-force once the Scion hits over 100mph, helping the team set records at seven consecutive time attacks, including the final six Redline Time Attack events of '09. The performances earned Rado the Unlimited FF season title in Super Lap and the Unlimited FWD season championship in RTA.

Compass360 Racing
Grand-Am KONI Challenge

Compass360 and its trio of Skunk2-sponsored Civic Sis claimed the Grand-Am Street Tuner champion title October 4 at VIR and went on to nab first in both Driver Points and Manufacturer Points. The win marked the first championship for the Skunk2-backed C360R team, as well as for Driver Points champ Christian Miller and Manufacturer Points winner Honda - not a bad little hat trick.

After 10 races across eight states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada, and nearly 2,000 miles of racing completed, the C360R team closed out 2009 as the top-finishing Honda at all 12 races, scoring every point possible for the title manufacturer. Furthermore, Miller, who co-drove the C360R No. 74 Civic Si along with Randy Pobst, had a total of five podium finishes, including victories at Homestead Miami Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park, where the team clinched a three-way victory earlier this year. Way to go, C360R!

Forrest Wang
D1 Grand Prix USA Professional Drift

We can say this of Mr. Wang's 2009 drift efforts: he probably deserved better. He was undoubtedly the class of the field among D1's USDM pilots, mixing exacting precision with an unflinching aggressiveness behind the wheel of the Full Race DMax S13. Unfortunately, to many, it seemed like skill had little to do with advancing in the upstart American drift series.

We saw the first signs of BS at the season opener in Anaheim, where Wang clearly won his semifinal battle against D1 Japan star Nobushige Kumakubo in one of the Team Orange Imprezas, but the judges caved in to a crowd that apparently wanted the J driver to move on. Wang would have to be happy with third place in Round 1 of 4, a tolerance that would help him in Round 3: Chicago, as well, when he found himself in the middle of another brouhaha again involving Team Orange. In Chi-town, Wang escaped with second.

Wang would finish the D1 season third in points, but like we said earlier, deserved better. That's why we're stoked to hear that things are happening for the Hawaiian; we've read that he will be teaming with Drift Emporium for 2010 in a G35, and recently he won the Southeast Drift Association's Thanksgiving Day event. We're hopeful that Wang will get a fairer shake in Formula D next year.

Freshman Class
Formula DRIFT

Kudos to Formula D for the Top 32 elimination format this year. It's made the show a lot more entertaining and allowed many to get to know some of the upset-minded rookies a little better, drivers like Eric O'Sullivan in the Rockstar Hankook Seibon Gruppe-S STI, Mike Essa in his V8-motivated Tech Trix/DTC/G1 Design FC RX-7, and Matt Powers in his privateer S14, among several other.

O'Sullivan in particular, who like Darren McNamara commutes from Ireland, broke through at the 2009 Seattle round, snagging second place for his first series podium. Powers meanwhile had the run of his FD career at the Irwindale closer, just missing the podium in fourth place. We've watched all of these guys develop over the year and are truly impressed at how far they've come - but they'll need to come far if they have any chance of succeeding against the old hands of Millen, Foust and Forsberg. Go get 'em, kids!

Sebastian Vettel
Formula 1

So close - Vettel missed the F1 world championship by 11 markers, and was in the running all the way until the Brazilian GP, the next to last contest on the schedule. The youngest F1 driver ever to win a race put together an impressive season, collecting eight podium finishes with half of those for first place. Along with teammate Mark Webber, the duo also kept Red Bull Racing in the Constructors Championship hunt all the way to the bitter end.

Vettel got some revenge on the champ at the 2009 Race of Champions in China. Paired with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, the Team Germany twosome claimed their third consecutive ROC Nations Cup, beating the Autosport Team Great Britain pairing of Jenson Button and World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx in the final. The one-off race may be of little consolation to Vettel, but we're certain there will be no lack of fire in the young German's belly when the 2010 F1 season dawns.

Bergenholtz Racing
Sport Compact Racing Icons

Legitimacy - it is one of the elusive qualities that enthusiasts of sport compact motorsports establish when they set out to race. We do what we do not because it is novelty, or trend, but because we believe these cars and this type of racing are worthwhile and should be taken seriously.

The permanent display at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum of the Bergenholtz Racing 1989 Honda CRX FWD drag car is just the latest symbol of sport compact motorsport legitimacy. The life-sized diorama, which was added in November, features a plethora of Bergenholtz Racing memorabilia, the central memento being the brothers' iconic car, a groundbreaking racer that Ed piloted to a best ET of 8.76 seconds and top speed of 172mph.

The team got there by developing a 1,000 horsepower turbo B18 bullet for the car, but their biggest contribution to the sport came from Ron, who dreamed up using a wheelie bar for the FWD uni-body chassis to curtail traction issues. In May 1999, with bars attached and dialed in, Ed ran a 9.76 at 147.1 at LA County Raceway, marking the first successful implementation of the device. It forever changed the way tuners approach setup for FWD drag racing.

It also secured the Bergenholtzs place in motorsports history. It's a fitting tribute to two brothers who continue to work tirelessly at whatever they do (more time attack and drift, these days) and remain some of the nicest, most approachable guys in all of racing.