As has been the case in recent years, there have been so many incredible highlights and memorable races and freestyles this season that the awards will be presented in this space in two parts. So, let's get on with the first half of this year's honorees:

TEAM OF THE YEAR - RACING
Winner: MADUSA & SUPERMAN - Considered as a team in this category since they traveled together and shared the same crew chief and crew, the World Racing Champion and maybe the sport's most improved racer get the nod here. Madusa has moved to the top of the sport in a relatively short period (at least in terms of actual seat time), a tribute to her natural talent and unique ability to grab the spotlight. It is no fluke that she won the World Championship in racing. Consider this: Only Dennis Anderson, Tom Meents, and now Madusa have won a world title in both racing and freestyle. Chad Fortune jumped into the Superman truck in January and became an immediate impact player and was third behind only the legends, Anderson and Meents, in round racing wins during Speed Channel televised events in 2005.
Runner-up: TEAM GRAVE DIGGER - Led be the icon himself, Dennis Anderson and his team of elite Grave Digger drivers were the winningest team in the sport during the 2005 campaign, and Anderson came up just short of winning his second straight World Championship. Top to bottom Team Grave Digger is the deepest and most talented unit ever created in the sport.

TEAM OF THE YEAR - FREESTYLE
Winner: 2 EXTREME RACING - Jimmy Creten drove Bounty Hunter to the World Freestyle Championship, and his wife and teammate Dawn made the Scarlet Bandit a top freestyle contender every time out. Jimmy has been near the top of the Monster Jam racing world for years and he is still a legitimate threat to win racing every time out. Laying down the fastest qualifying run at this World Finals is proof that he is still among the top favorites at race time. But it is his elevation of Bounty Hunter freestyles while maintaining the racing excellence that has propelled this team to the top of the sport.

Runner-up: TEAM MEENTS - Adding in veteran Guy Wood to a team that already included: the best (or at least second best, depending on where your loyalties lie), Meents; one of the strongest new freestylers to enter the sport in the last few years, Phil Foster; and a newcomer that clearly has that Team Meents aggressiveness, Kevin Lewis, made this a banner year top to bottom for this unit. While the team experienced more equipment troubles this season than in the past, they were unbelievable almost every time in freestyle and they continue to re-define what sic air really is.

DRIVER OF THE YEAR - RACING
Winner: DENNIS ANDERSON - With all due respect to the new World Racing Champion, Anderson start to finish had another stellar year, and as the icon approaches 25 years in the sport it is clear he is not backing off. Conversely, like fine wine, Anderson gets better with age. We got used to seeing Anderson's winning runs again this year on Speed Channel where he amassed a phenomenal 30 wins and seven losses record. More wins in round racing and more event wins than any other driver in 2005 give Anderson the nod here.
Runner-up: TOM MEENTS - Were it not for the previously noted mechanical issues Meents would have been tops here. When the equipment was right he was nearly unbeatable. Tom actually had the best winning percentage in round racing on Speed this season with a 21 and 2 record and five event victories. Again in 2005 Tom kept filling up his trophy case.

DRIVER OF THE YEAR - FREESTYLE
Winner: TIE - ANDERSON AND MEENTS - The only way I can separate the best two freestylers in the universe is to look at the results, and each won five freestyle competitions on Speed Channel this season. What is amazing about Dennis and Tom is that as other drivers in the sport elevate their freestyle game to take a run at the big two, Dennis and Tom react by constantly raising the bar to previously unseen heights. And what used to be a bitter rivalry between the pair has turned into mutual respect where they push each other to take it to a new level every week in freestyle.
Runner-up: TONY FARRELL - Let us not forget that in any previous year we would be calling Farrell a World Champion. His score in Las Vegas actually tied Creten, but he lost the tie-breaker (by the way let me say here that the addition of the tie-breaker in the World Finals would get my award as the best rule change in the sport this year). Like Creten, Farrell's emergence to championship caliber freestyling was not just a one night Vegas fluke. Blue Thunder won several freestyle competitions in '05, televised and non-televised, and Tony rates as one of the pre-season favorites, along with Creten, Anderson, Meents, and Madusa to take the 2006 freestyle world title.

UPSET OF THE YEAR
Winner: MADUSA DEFEATS GRAVE DIGGER, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas - Madusa shocked the world but she did not shock herself or her team. They came to Las Vegas supremely confident and backed it up. Madusa used her head and her foot, handling the slick conditions in Sam Boyd Stadium at the World Finals brilliantly. While she was smooth as silk all night, very few observers though she had a chance in the championship race unless Anderson made a mistake. Anderson did not make a mistake. He ran a great race. But at that moment, Madusa was a little bit better and pulled off the year's biggest shocker and claimed the first World Racing Championship for a female driver in the sport's history.
Runner-up: PREDATOR WINS RACING, Georgia Dome, Atlanta - Allen Pezo has been at this game a long time and certainly has claimed his share of wins. Still, it had been a long time since the Monster Jam television audience saw Predator take a major stadium victory. That changed in January with yet another sold out house well over 65,000 on hand to witness Pezo drive Predator to the event racing win, defeating Fortune and Superman in the finals.

CRASH OF THE YEAR
Winner BRUTUS & GUNSLINGER, Superdome, New Orleans: - One of the biggest WOW moments in the history of this sport, period. Although Scott Hartsock hates hearing this, there is no single moment that people will remember more from 2005 that this one. USHRA officials created a unique, exciting course on the massive Superdome floor, starting the trucks side by side and having to scale a table top before heading into the first turn. Off the start Hartsock got the hole shot on Chris Bergeron in Brutus, who never backs away from any challenge. Just as Hartsock and Gunslinger scaled the table top Bergeron lost control, Brutus shooting into the other lane and crashing into Gunslinger, causing the big Florida Ford to flip wildly. Bergeron was apologetic but Hartsock was livid. And the fans were on their feet in amazement.

That fills the space for this week. Next week it's Scotty Awards Part II, with more categories including Freestyle Performance of the Year, Freestyle Move of the Year, Most Improved Driver, Best New Truck, Save of the Year and more.