Jalopnik's Ten Most Popular Stories Of 2008 [Jalopnik 2008 Year In Review]

Out of thousands of news stories Jalopnik ran in 2008, the following ten were the most popular. Two of them involve basements, but we're proud to say only one of them was a sex dungeon.

Yesterday we ran our list of the top automotive stories of 2008, but here's the flip-side of the coin — and ultimately, more important of the two "year in review" lists we've run — the ten most popular posts of 2008. Where'd your favorite story rank? Did it rank? We want to hear what you have to say in the comments below. Additionally, we've tried to divine what these stories say about the average Jalopnik reader at the bottom of the list.

Click On The Images Below To Read The Stories

10.) The Horrifying Scott Kalitta Funny Car Crash Video As Shown By ESPN2

The Story: Drag racer Scott Kalitta is tragically killed doing what he loved: going really fast. Kalitta, age 46, had a long and successful career, including back-to-back championships in the NHRA POWERade Series Top Fuel series.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: 6th
How Many People Read This Story: 225,289

9.) The Ten Ugliest Cars Currently Sold In The United States

The Story: We took a look at the ten cars conceived in some sort of parallel universe where a Chrysler Sebring Convertible is attractive and everyone loves body cladding.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 244,209

8.) Giant Vulva Bicycle Taxi Is Freudian Wet Dream

The Story: We have Finnish artist Mimosa Pale for introducing us to a form of transportation uncomfortably disturbing and yet somehow familiar. The construction is first class but the photos are somewhat NSFW.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 252,795

7.) The $2,500 Tata Nano Unveiled In India

The Story: Who knew one of the smallest cars would be one of the biggest stories for 2008? The Tata Nano will be the cheapest car in the world when, and if, it goes on sale.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: 4th
How Many People Read This Story: 358,026

6.) America's 10 Most Confusing Traffic Signs

The Story: The variety of driving conditions and situations arising from unique traffic patterns requires some improvisation on the part of state and local governments in regards to sign-making. Here are the ten most confusing and perplexing attempts.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 362,555

5.)Boyd Coddington, Hot Rod King, Dead At Age 62

The Story: Boyd Coddington represented not only a generation of tuners, he helped shape an aesthetic of car customization. His impact on car culture can easily be seen in the great reach the sad news of his passing, broken here on Jalopnik.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 448,501

4.) The Ten Scariest-Looking Cars Of All Time

The Story: With halloween on our doorstep we delved into the archives to find the scariest, spookiest and creepy cars ever to be stamped in steel. Don't click on the image above if you have a heart condition.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 505,546

3.) Hand-Made Lamborghini Built In Basement Finally Sees Light Of Day

The Story: Ken Imhoff inspires and shames a generation of car lovers by building a replica of a Lamborghini Countach in his garage over the course of 10 years. Just wait to see how he got it out.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 527,794

2.) Six-Wheeled Covini C6W Heading To Production

The Story: The Covini six-wheel car took three times as long as the basement Lambo to come to reality, but the results are both stunning and perplexing. The story behind the engineering of the C6W is one for the ages.
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: Not Ranked
How Many People Read This Story: 563,274

1.) F1 Boss Max Mosley Caught With Five Hookers In Nazi Orgy Video Scandal

The Story: Max Mosley, head of the FIA, was caught in a basement having sex with five hookers dressed in a way to suggest a Nazi prison camp. Oh, and Mosley's dad was the most famous British Nazi of WWII. The biggest surprise of the whole story came, months later, when Mosley survived nasty infighting to keep his job. It just goes to show you can't keep a pervy British dude down and you can't stop people from wanting to watch the incriminating video. No, zank you Max Mosley!
How It Ranks In The Overall Automotiverse: 10th
How Many People Read This Story: 1,264,465 troubled individuals...

We guess it isn't a huge surprise the biggest automotive stories of the year were not also the most popular Jalopnik stories. Especially given the biggest automotive stories of the year were, often, kind of depressing. The stories which attracted the most attention, break down into three categories: features, breaking news, and offbeat news. The most popular stories combined at least two of these categories. The Max Mosley saga, the Tata Nano and the Covini are all some combination of breaking news and offbeat news. The "Basement Lamborghini" and the "Ten Scariest Cars" are both features we created (or did a lot of groundwork on) but were also offbeat news. OK, so basically, almost all the stories drawing the most attention happened to be the most offbeat. Makes sense to us. So what's that say about the average Jalopnik reader? You tell us.

Related posts:

• Scanning the Auto Blogosphere
• The Chevy Suburban (And The Politicians Who Love It)
• How is the Ford Focus out selling its Big 3 competitors?
• AutoblogGreen for 12.18.08
• PCH, Get Rich In The Limo Business Edition: Nun-Stretched Dart Wagon or Monster Cadillac? [Project Car Hell]

Related posts:

• Slow sales affecting Asian Auto Manufacturers as well as American
• Spy Shots: Dodge EV caught late-night testing
• Whatever Happened To Eagle? [Car Brands]
• 1.9% financing for 60 months is available on Dodge trucks.
• The Detroit 3's problem is really... "vehicle density"?