Full Throttle

Here’s a few questions for the trivia masters that I failed to post prior to the weekends event in Sonoma.

1. Why was the primary sponsor of the Marcos Ambrose/Woods Bros #21 Fusion Motorcraft and not the usual Little Debbie Cakes?

2. Who was the first Australian driver to race a Ford at Infineon?

3. What Australian driver is credited with the highest Cup finish ever, where and when did it take place?

As a side note, Ambrose makes his second Cup start this weekend at New Hampshire.

IN OTHER NEWS YOU CAN LOSE: Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart will be in Kenseth’s home state of Wisconsin Tuesday night racing in the Super Late Model division at Madison International Speedway. Also on hand will be Matt’s 14 year-old son Ross who will be running in the Limited Stock Division. The Super Late Model 100-lap feature pays $10,000 to win.

IndyCar is jealous of NASCAR’s practice of finishing under green flag conditions. Not specifically the G/W/C solution, but after the last two events finished under yellow Tony George/Brian Barnhart are having to do a rethink.

Did ya know “Nascar is better than F1?” And BTW, “Lewis who?”

“Go West Young Man” NASCAR. ISC has slowed the search, but still has designs on a facility in the Denver area.

That is all… now back to the site design grindstone!

Technorati Tags: Tony Stewart, NASCAR, Auto racing, Infineon Raceway, Matt Kenseth, Sports, Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Full Throttle

“Your mission, Jim (and “Jane”), should you decide to accept it, is…”

…to identify the driver whose late model (Toledo 1976) is pictured below.

Before moving into NASCAR he was a short track terror in the south and occasionally trucked north to raise hell and checkered flags in the mid-west and Canada.

He competed in both the Cup and then named Grand National series’ and has a strong historical tie to Dover. He scored his first ever Cup win at The Monster Mile and it was also the first win at that level for his then car owner.

“As usual, should you or any member of your I.M. Trivia Force be captured or killed, the secretary the Half-Vast™ Staff of Full Throttle will disavow any knowledge of your existence,” dock you 150 pts, suspend the wife (or “house-husband”) from entering the kitchen, and confiscate your TV remote.

And have a good NASCAR Nation day!

This edition of trivia involves the “number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9.”

And no, before you ask, I haven’t turned Full Throttle into a Beatles anthology blog.

A clue to the drivers name pictured can be found within the lyrics of the Beatles Revolution 9. In fact more than just a clue but his “actual” given name can be found there. Sort of, you’ll have to be foolish enough to trust me on that.

By day this driver was a florist from Long Island, New York.

By night he was at the wheel of the Geisha Girl #9 modified stock car at the now defunct Islip Speedway and reigned as a Modified Champ at the historic 1/5th mile bull ring.

His NASCAR Grand National career consisted of three starts as either the driver or driver/owner, a single start in 1960 at Charlotte and 2 starts at Daytona in 1961.

Your final clue are the initials DFD, they are not related to his name directly, meaning his name for example isn’t Dave Fred Daytona or something similar, but the acronym is very much in the news today and that’s where the connection is.

That’s it for clues, good luck, you’ll need it.

The title is about all you get for a clue.

Just who is that man in that race car? The driver attained so much fame that giving even the slightest, most obtuse hint may give the farm away. And hell, I’m on a roll, the last edition of trivia was so off the wall it scared the bejesus out of the lot of ya and had not a single guess attempted. (Bunch of wimps! -ed)

The driver of this car replaced someone who had a very short NASCAR career, but also attained a fair amount of stardom.

And finally, the owner’s surname is the same as a famous TV personality.

Lotsa luck, although I suspect this edition won’t be nearly as hard as the previous stumper. If your brave, you take a stab at that one also.

Your mission should you accept it is to name the NASCAR driver who drove the car pictured, what race it competed in and the year[s] and venue[s].

That’s it, that’s all you get for clues, ’cause I’m damn tired of posting what I think is the most trivial trivia in NASCAR Nation and having it thrown back in my face quicker than an undersized Bass at the Bassmasters Classic.

Assuming you’ve become stumped for an answer and your once thick mane is partially in a heap on the floor, here’s a bit of comical relief.

Are you Carl Edwards? And did you get a call recently?

Did you know Chad Knaus was Jimmie Johnson’s “second wife?”

Don’t say I never gave you anything. Aside from that pile of displaced curly locks on the floor of course.

If you had 10,000 people and they burned their way through 100 clutches, 800 cases of oil, more than 900 brake pads and more than 4000 tires in a single year, where would they be?

That’s it, I said it was the quicky version. You didn’t believe me.

Think ’60’s-’70’s driver.

Then think today.

With Daytona just around the corner I thought this week’s Old Timer’s Trivia would head to the opposite end of the country.

Just who is at the wheel of the #77 1956 Chevy, and what long dead dirt track is he blasting around?

This driver once held a record now held by F1’s Fernando Alonzo as the youngest man to win a Formula One Grand Prix.

His open wheel exploits include both the old AAA (both Sprint and Championship divisions) and USAC Championship Car series. In 12 Indy 500 starts he had one win with 2 top fives and 2 top tens.

In stock cars he competed in the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) series finishing in the top ten 5 times with a best finish of third.

This drivers family tree has strong and deep roots in racing. A son was killed while testing an Indy car and a brother moved to the mid-west to first compete on Michigan short tracks and later moved on to have a distinguished NASCAR career.

The race track featured in the photo was originally built on the site of a city dump. While in operation the half-mile track featured tight semi-banked turns, long straightaways, and a tacky surface that was conductive to excellent sprint and midget racing.

Three NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) events were held at the track, the first won by Eddie Pagan. The second NASCAR event was a 500 lap event won by Parnelli Jones. In the final event Eddie Gray lapped the entire field for the win.

So… who’s the driver and what track is he racing on. And who’s brave enough to admit they’re old enough to remember any of this?

Present Old Goat excluded of course. I must admit I was lucky enough to have attended several events over the course of the tracks last nine seasons.

This edition of trivial trivia is all encompassing because the subject manufacture has produced race cars in so many different forms of racing.

With 2008 being it’s anniversary year as Great Britain’s longest-serving manufacturer it has produced winning machines in the club classes to Formula One, endurance sports racers and Indy Cars.

The most famous version of the marquee was produced between the years 1965 through the 1969 sports car season. If you must know the model depicted is not that version, it was produced in the late fifties. The most well known version would be a dead give away to many people.

The Marquee holds nine CART/OWRS championship titles, three Indianapolis 500 wins and one USAC Triple Crown, eight US/European/Tasman Formula 5000 titles, a victory in the Monaco Formula Junior Grand Prix, the Can-Am Challenge series, the Daytona 24 Hours, the European 2-litre Sportscar Championship, five successive Can-Am titles, eight Japanese Formula 3000 crowns.

A diverse line-up of drivers piloted this brand that including John Surtees, Roger Penske, the late Mark Donohue, Jo Bonnier, Brian Redman, Al Unser, David Hobbs, Jo Siffert, Hitoshi Ogawa. In later years they were wheeled to victory by Arie Luyendijk, Mark Blundell, Nigel Mansell and Ukyo Katayama.

There you have it. What manufacture is it?

The first person with the correct answer will win your choice of a 1975 AMC Pacer (origin unknown, condition unknown), or a luxurious 1950’s style bath tub.

If you happen to correctly identify both the manufacture and the correct model and year of the car pictured above you will be eligible to carry home both prizes.

(DISCLAIMER: For those that may happen to believe the prizes are redundant, that an AMC Pacer and a bath tub are too similar, to bad, get over it. Although similar in speed, looks, and shape, a ’50’s style tub came in a single color, the Pacer came in a wide variety of colors.)

Sorry Formula One Umbrella Girl fans - topless or otherwise - what you see pictured left, although topless in the broadest of senses, isn’t what the title suggests. Obviously.

But it is topless and for good reason, if it were an image of the fully skinned vehicle the color may be too much of a clue as to its heritage.

As for other clues, I ain’t got much other than to say a date plays a part in its identity. This car won an F1 event on 28 December, the year, driver and model of car is to be determined by you, my trusty readership.

Lotsa luck, you’ll need it!

(NOTE: Anyone using the IE browser let me know if the left sidebar has shifted below the content. It has on my end but I’m unsure if it is a local problem or site-wide. And another thing… why the hell are you using that piece of crapola for a browser!)

It has been a while since posting a trivia edition so in honor of one of the world’s legendary motor races being held this weekend I offer this image and the smallest of clues as to who is at the wheel and, where and when.

The driver is a living legend in the series having won the championship 4 times and this weekends event 7 times.

As you can see the car is of Japanese ancestry, Nissan specifically. The cars performance in the event led to a very ugly scene at races end. Although much larger in scope its reminiscent of some of these NASCAR morons who given the opportunity wouldn’t have nearly the guts to actually get as rowdy as the Nissan Haters.

So, there you have it, who’s the driver, the series and what year is it?

And for the record the title comes from the following video that shouldn’t give too much of a clue although the accents might.

And finally, and somewhat related, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add R.I.P. “Peter Perfect” on a weekend where he always put on a display of his enormous talent behind the wheel.