E N D L E S S R O A D
Road Chatter XXXIV
FAX: 301-497-3690
endlssroad@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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IN THIS ISSUE
* Car-Guy Trivia Questions
* Formula 1
* Playing in the Dirt
* Recent Receipts
* Car-Guy Trivia Answers
* 10% Off Next Purchase For Your Trivia Questions
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Car-Guy Trivia (answers are later in this email)
With it being Indianapolis season, we rounded up every Indy question we
had.
1) How many laps must a driver survive to win the Indianapolis race?
2) What five drivers won Indy and the world Formula 1 Championship?
3) Which driver has won Indy the most times?
4) How many women have competed in Indy?
5) One driver in the Winner's Circle refused Indy's traditional drink and
had orange juice instead. Who was the driver, and what is Indy's
traditional
drink?
--- Retreads ---
Usually, the last three questions we ask are from over two years ago. To
list all Indy questions this month, we listed questions regardless of when
we previously had them.
6) Lotus changed Oval racing in America in 1965 when Jimmy Clark won Indy
in
the rear engine Lotus 38. The weekend that Clark was winning, the car's
designer, Len Terry, left Lotus to go on to his next assignment, another
beautiful American open wheeler. What was that?
7) Juan Montoya won Monaco in 2003. He is only the second person to ever
win
Monaco, F1's crown jewel, and the Indy 500, considered by many to be
America's
biggest race. Who was the other driver to do this?
(Come on now, Larry I. and Bill C., you both should know this.)
8) The race at Indianapolis was originally going to be 24 hours. But they
cut it back to insure more finishers. Why did they choose 500 miles?
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Formula 1
FIA to Conduct a Survey with their F1 Fans
FIA is doing something surprising, to say the least. They are conducting a
survey for Formula 1 spectators; that's YOU and ME. Every F1 guy knows our
sport could be more entertaining; this may be our chance to do something
about it. The survey will coincide with this week's Monaco. The results
will
be instrumental in the sport's regulations beginning in 2008. Log on to
FIA.com this weekend to find the survey.
2005 Formula 1 World Championship
May 22 Monaco (Monte Carlo)
May 29 Europe (Nurburgring, Germany) CBS Taped
June 12 Canada (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal) CBS Live
June 19 USA (Indianapolis)
July 3 France
July 10 Britain (Silverstone)
July 24 Germany (Hockenheim)
July 31 Hungary (Hungaroring)
August 21 Turkey (Istanbul)
Sept. 4 Italy (Monza)
Sept. 11 Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
Sept. 25 Brazil (Interlagos)
October 9 Japan (Suzuka)
October 16 China (Shanghai International Circuit)
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* Playing in the Dirt
There are less than 20 Formula 1 races a year. None of them are close
enough
to be considered a day trip. Summit Point is close enough that you can be
there in about an hour. But, there are only a few races there a year that
cover a particular type of racing, be it sports car, motorcycle, Karting,
whatever is your poison. There is no way that you could attend a complete
season of a chosen racing sport.
But, there's great racing within driving distance all around us, if you
don't
mind a little dirt on your shoes and clothes and probably in your hair.
Dirt
ovals have some of the most exciting racing you can find. At an F1 race,
unless you have one of the better tickets (at nose-bleed prices) the best
view you will have is through a twenty-foot tall fence, or from a distance
that seems to grow with each season. With dirt track racing, you can get
so
close you feel the earth shake when the fender to fender pack of roaring
V8s
storm past, into a turn at a speed you expect them all to pile up on the
first lap. You smell the straining engines, the burning oil, the fresh
spilled beer, the cigarette smoke heavy in the air, and those beautiful,
greasy, unhealthy, but delicious, smells from the concession stands.
You may make extensive plans for a weekend to Indy or Canada, or possibly
an
airline trip to one of the other F1 tracks. Or, you can decide to go this
weekend to Martinsville, Cumberland, Budds Creek, or Hagerstown Speedway.
There are 800 dirt tracks in the country; there has to be one near you.
Sadly enough, tracks like Beltsville, Dorsey and Marlboro already have
moved
on to just sweet memories of our misspent youth.
At an F1 race, you may catch a glimpse of a driver you recognize from the
magazines and TV. At Hagerstown, you may bump into a driver that you
recognize as your plumber.
The F1 guys run within a few feet of each other at over 200 MPH; if they
touch, there is probably a caution-causing wreck. The dirt trackers run
within inches of each other at possibly over 100 MPH; if they touch, it's
probably just another mark of honor to their already much-dented machine.
In the multimillion$ F1, there is always fighting behind the scenes.
Michelin against Bridgestone, team against team, complaining to FIA about
the doings of the others. At dirt tracks fairness, hard work, and chivalry
are still valued.
In F1, the pole goes to the fastest qualifier, and passes are few and far
between, often the pole setter wins the race. Several dirt tracks put the
slower drivers at the front, forcing the faster cars to bull past the rest
of the pack to the front.
In all racing, money talks. An F1 two-car team averages $125 million per
car, per year. The team salary can run from $10M to $25M. A dirt track
'Late
Model' team can spend $17,000 for a car and $30,000 for an engine. A
sponsor
may kick in $15,000 for a season.
A 'Pure Stock' may run a 20 year old Chevy, at about $3000 a season. Their
'team' will be a few gung-ho friends that probably chip in a few bucks a
month for the cause.
I still love F1, but the down and dirty, street fight of dirt track racing
definitely grabs you by the gut.
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* Recent Receipts
Duel - DVD
They finally brought out this classic in DVD. Steven Speilberg's first
feature length was this high velocity film about a motorist terrorized by
a
semi out to do him in. It's a combination car chase & psychological
thriller
from the first few minutes to the bitter end.
Enzo Ferrari - DVD
A movie by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. A story of the man who created the
greatest automobile empire in history. He went from poverty to riches
through passion, ruthless and brutal character. We meet Ferrari as an old
man, disturbed by memories of the past and by all the things he lost on
the
way to success.
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Car-Guy Trivia Answers
1) The Indy 500 winner must run 250 two-mile laps.
2) The five drivers that won the Indy 500 and the World Formula 1
Championship were:
-Mario Andretti
-Jimmy Clark
-Emerson Fittipaldi
-Graham Hill
-Jack Villeneuve
3) Three drivers have won Indy four times: Foyt (61, 64, 67, 77), Al Unser
(70, 71, 78, 87) and Rick Mears (79, 84, 88, 91)
4) Three women have competed in the Indy 500 so far: Janet Guthrie (77-79)
Lyn St James (92-97-00), and Sarah Fisher (00-03). And possibly this year
will be Danica Patrick.
5) Emerson Fittipaldi refused Indy's traditional drink, MILK. I believe he
had an orange juice organization as a sponsor at the time. Larry I. please
correct me if I am wrong.
(Thanks to Monica, my wife and partner, for reminding me of this one.)
--- Retreads ---
6) Len Terry was on a contract to design the Lotus 38 Indy car. His next
assignment was with Dan Gurney to design Dan's beautiful snout nosed Eagle
Formula 1 car - the only car built and driven by an American to win a
Formula 1 race.
7) Juan Montoya and Graham Hill are the only two drivers to win Monaco and
Indy.
(I got this one from Speed Channel. I admit, I would have guessed it was
Jimmy Clark. Although, Jackie Stewart came close in 1966 when he won
Monaco
and almost won Indy the same year.)
8) The Indianapolis organizers decided that 500 miles was the longest that
they could run in one day and still have time to get the spectators in and
out during daylight hours.
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10% Off Next Purchase For Your Trivia Questions
Send us an interesting fact of just about anything on wheels: cars,
trucks,
F1, Drags, Muscle Cars, weird obsolete car thingies, whatever, and if we
use
it, then you get 10% off on everything on your next purchase.
Thanks,
Dave
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