by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: November 25, 2007, 2:12 PM EST 29 comments

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I think that when the year is over with, you always kind of look back and say, "Okay, what happened this year? What's impressed — or in some cases — depressed me? What's this year been all about?"

The first thing that strikes me in 2007 is a lot of winners. There's no questions there's a lot of things that were good this year.

But before I go there, one thought that comes up is my loses. We just had Thanksgiving this past Thursday and one of the first things I think about is my friends passed away earlier this year: my dear friend Bill France Jr., Bobby Hamilton, Benny Parsons, Bruce Kennedy and most recently, Billy Hagen. There have been a few of my racing buddies who have gone on to be with the Lord. I think about them in a way, not in a sad way, but in a grateful way because of what these men meant to me, my career and my life.

There's no better mentor, no better teacher, no better person that led by example than Bill France Jr., and certainly Benny Parsons and Bobby Hamilton fall in that category as well. The relationships I had with those guys and the things they taught me, like Benny Parsons, who was not only a great driver but also a great TV commentator, I learned a lot from listening and watching Benny. Going back to Bill France, we started in this sport together as he took over the sport in '72 and I came in the sport the same season, he meant a lot to me and that's one of the biggest losses I think in racing that I've suffered, and that the sport has suffered as well. It's the loss of his friendship and leadership, and it's going to be hard to replace what he brought to the table. There's people like that in your life that when you look back — for me it's been my father-in-law, my dad and Bill France — that meant a lot to you, they taught you a lot and you respected and cared about them a lot.

Then, of course, it's been a great year for my driver buddies. To see the battle that Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had this season. I don't care if you are a Jeff Gordon fan or not, what stick out in my mind is what a mentor, what a friend and what a relationship that the two drivers have formed. When I think about how Jeff took Jimmie under his wing, and how Jimmie went to Jeff and asked him "What should I do?" and Jeff said "Let's see what we can work out." The following year, Jeff gave Jimmie and crew chief Chad Knaus all of his winning race cars to get him started, to get him off on the right foot. It's just been that type of relationship with those two guys ever since they've become teammates. I think it's phenomenal to see what Jeff Gordon has done for Jimmie Johnson. It'd be like Tiger Woods teaching somebody everything he knows about golf or Michael Jordan teaching somebody everything he knows about basketball. To learn from one I think of one of the, if not the, best stock car drivers I've ever seen, is a big honor for Jimmie. By the same token, it's one thing to have a great teacher, but you've got to make a great student.

I think about an instance two or three years ago at Daytona when Jimmie was struggling on the Superspeedway restrictor plate races. It seemed like he was real frustrated, saying "It seems like I always make the wrong move, going the wrong way at the wrong time." And I remember how Jeff really talked to him on the radio and on the racetrack and really worked hard with Jimmie to say, "Here's what you need to do here, here's what you need to do there, here's what you are doing wrong, etc." It absolutely transformed Jimmie into the great driver that he is. It's just amazing how that relationship has not only worked, but the results it's produced. It's been phenomenal. When I think of the amount of not just wins, and not just top-10s that both those guys had this year, but wait until you see the grand total of amount of money won by Jimmie, Jeff and teammates Casey Mears and Kyle Busch as well. When it is all set and done with championships and wins, it's going to be a phenomenal amount of money that Hendrick Motorsports has won this year, more than anybody could have imagined ... at least in my time.

Speaking of time, it's the way our sport goes, it's the way it's always been — you have 10 years of dominance. That doesn't mean you get 10 years and done, but drivers that are great have about a 10-year run dominating the sport. When I think of Richard Petty from 1965-75, he dominated the sport. Then I came along from 1975-85 and I dominated the sport. From 1985-95, Dale Earnhardt dominated the sport. From '95-2005, Jeff Gordon has dominated the sport. And now from 2005 to probably 2015, it looks like it's going to be Jimmie Johnson that's going to dominate the sport.

That's just how it goes.

Wanna know how you can tell? Because during any of those periods of dominance, you have huge, huge wins — you win a lot of races, more races than anybody. And you win championships, and you accomplish things in that period of time that no other driver has ever done before. That's domination, that's dominance of your era, that's your 10 years. Jimmie's just starting his, Jeff's just coming off of his, I'm thankful I had one, but that's the way the sport has always gone. Every 10 years you'll have a changing of the guy at the top of the sport. It's Jimmie's time at the top of the sport. And in those periods of time you can look back and usually see that driver who has a special relationship with his crew chief. You think of me and Jeff Hammond, Earnhardt and Kirk Shelmerdine, you think about Gordon and Ray Evernham and now you think about Johnson and Knaus. That's being at the right place at the right time and surrounding yourself with the right people. That's how you accomplish dominance. You've seen it over and over again, and you are seeing it this year.

Looking back, it's been an exciting year. In a lot of ways it's been a disappointing year, there's a lot of work to do going into 2008, but I'm excited the fact that FOX has the Daytona 500 starting in February. I'm so proud of my team, and they are another thing I am thankful for. We all work so hard to bring the fans an experience when you watch a race on FOX, we try to bring it to you all as race fans. I'm a race fan, I've been racing ever since I was a kid, so has Mike, Larry and Jeff. All of us are race fans and we try to bring it to the guy at home just like he's one of us and we're just kind of having that experience with him. I'm so proud of the work the FOX team has done.

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I'm thankful for all my great friends, I have a lot of great friends and some of them are people that have worked for me for years: From my pilot to coach driver, my business manager or my secretary and treasurer — my sister Carolyn. The guy who works at the "Boogity" store. Those are people who have worked for me for years — my sister has worked for me for over 30 years. These are people that have stuck by me. They see me win, they've see me lose, they've seen me healthy, they've seen me hurt and they've hung with me. And for that, I am grateful for my friends.

For all my driver buddies, some struggled this year: Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards at different times, Kevin Harvick, who had a great year in the Busch car, and Ron Hornaday an old buddy from the past, Mike Skinner. These are all buddies of mine who I've had good relationships with through the years.

But most of all, I'm thankful for my family. My wonderful, beautiful red-headed wife, Who has absolutely been my strength, my encouragement, my inspiration on so many occasions. If I hadn't had the redhead, I don't know what I would have done. And of course, my two beautiful children.

I am a lucky man, I am a blessed parent. I get to do what I love to do, go to the racetrack and do TV every Sunday, talking about something that I'm passionate and crazy about. I've had a great career, I've been blessed in so many ways, and I just wanted to share that.

There's always opportunities, and I want to be somebody that's there to take advantage of the opportunities. I want to continue helping to grow the sport, I can grow with the times, but I'm always constructive. I've never been a whiner. If I've complained, I've had a solution. It might not be what somebody wants to hear, but I never complain just to complain.

And that's what I'm going to continue to do and I look forward to 2008, where my new motto is, "it's all going to be great in '08."