Following our fake sports car awards, we're closing the year with a big batch of fake open-wheel awards that range from downright silly to being thoroughly deserved. And to help with the process, I've added a few gems delivered by Robin Miller [RM], RACER.com Editor Mark Glendenning [MG], and RACER Formula 1 reporter Chris Medland [CM].

Winners can pick up their awards – finely crafted 2015 aero kit shards – at their local H.H. Gregg stores.

The MOST IMPROVED DRIVER Award: Goes to Takuma Sato. It isn't even close. IndyCar's Mr. Bean did the impossible by turning his career around to record his finest body of work in his eighth season. At the age of 40, no less. On the way to finishing eighth in the championship – an improvement of 11 positions over his 2016 season – Taku destroyed the notion that old dogs and new tricks don't jive. The Indy 500 victory was his obvious highlight; prior to winning with Andretti Autosport, Sato's best finish at the Speedway was a lowly 13th, and 'finish' is the key word. The presence of his former KV Racing engineer Garrett Mothersead on the timing stand made all the difference, and he went on to achieve seven top 10s from 17 races. It was another all-time high for the Japanese gentleman. In a year packed with feel-good stories, Taku's rise topped them all.

The YOU OUT-DIXONED DIXON Award: Goes to Alexander Rossi for his masterful performance at Watkins Glen. Traditionally the personal playground of Scott Dixon, Rossi and his Andretti Autosport engineer Jeremy Milless nailed the setup in Upstate New York, took pole, then took command of the 60-lap race. As his co-owner Bryan Herta recently put it, "he out-Dixoned Dixon," and that's a mark of respect to be recognized.

The I CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING THANKS TO THIS SMILE Award [CM]: Daniel Ricciardo, for flipping the bird at Romain Grosjean in practice in Abu Dhabi and calling the Frenchman a c**t, but joking about it on Twitter within 12 hours. He also raised his middle finger at teammate Max Verstappen in Hungary, but everyone likes Daniel, so it's fine...

The MURDERING AND INDY 500 ENTRIES DON'T MIX WELL Award: Goes to Didier Calmels, whose program for Tristan Gommendy with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was derailed by Wikipedia. A quick perusal of the Frenchman's history, which includes killing his wife, was picked up by the general automotive media, and from there, the bad publicity ensured Calmels would be doing something other than spending his May in Indianapolis.

The BEST INDYCAR EVENT Award: Goes to Gateway, right? Here's the perfect example of what a passionate promoter and wildly enthusiastic event sponsor can accomplish when they approach the return of IndyCar racing to their region with a 'to make money, you've got to spend money' approach. Led by Gateway owner Curtis Francois and event sponsor Bommarito Automotive Group, the oval just outside of St. Louis set the standard for what's needed to make IndyCar a powerful force in every metro it visits.

The GOLDEN BOWLING BALL Award: Texas. Definitely Texas. Poor decisions and insane bravery collided in Fort Worth as crashes, sparks, and flared tempers left just nine out of the 22 starters running at the finish. It got to be so bad, someone could splice in Ryan Briscoe's Fontana 2015 barrel roll through the grass into the Texas highlight reel, and the mixed up footage might go unnoticed.

The THAT'S FOR CERTAIN SURE Award: Goes to Anthony Joseph Foyt for giving us so many unique words and phrases, Robin and I had to assemble a list and film a two-part video so future generations can learn about the "Mediate News" and other colloquialisms created by Super Tex.

The YOU LIVE A BETTER TRAVEL LIFE THAN I DO Award: Goes to the Borg Warner trophy. After watching BW PR man Steve Shunck post photo after photo of the giant silver obelisk traveling the world – and specifically, Japan, where F1 champ Jenson Button left his marks on the award – I was both jealous and saddened to realize the Indy 500 trophy saw more of the world than I did this year. That's a good New Year's resolution for me to consider: travel more than a trophy.