Every year as it comes to a close we tend to joke that the next year surely can’t be as bad as the one we’ve just lived through. And every year the universe tends to show us just how wrong we can be about that. 2019 was a pretty awful 12 month span, so let’s try to end it on a high note, shall we?

My favorite memory is captured in this picture right here. I trekked my big fat ass all the way out to the Karussel during the middle of the night at the Nurburgring 24. It was a great time, and I’ll remember that feeling for the rest of my days.

What I said about the experience back in July: “For several hours I was out in the middle of nowhere, exploring and enjoying. Drinking in the local culture and several bottles of Bitburger. While I normally enjoy poring over time tables, sector times, and gaps between competitors, it was refreshing to dive into the murky blackness and know nothing of what was happening in the race aside from engine notes and headlights. Trackside, it’s nearly impossible to follow the race. And once I came to grips with that, I felt okay.”

Hardly a more enthusiastic troupe of ne’er-do-wells has existed than the quarter-million strong who

I want you to think about all the cool car/truck/motorcycle shit you did this year and fill the comments below with some representation of the story. Did you buy a new car? Get an old one running? Go on a great road trip? Win a racing championship of some variety? Finally fulfill some life-long desire to see some event or another? Tell. Me. Everything.