Monday, March 17, 2014

Spring Training

The newly minted, pre-season Indy Fans Tweet-Up was a success by all accounts (I wasn't able to attend much to my chagrin), although I was there in spirit - a cantankerous, mean spirit to some perhaps. I'll admit the Polar Vortex had it's grip on me as I was preparing the trivia contest for the Tweet-Up.

Some of you may recall last off-season I spent many lunch hours posing Indycar Trivia questions to you via twitter just for a something to keep the Indycar home fires stoked a bit. I learned as much as anyone by doing it and in light of not being able to attend, much as I'd like to have, I offered my dastardly services to the kind and ever-gracious folks (@openwheelmom and @PippaMann) who organized the pre-season Indy Fans Tweet-Up which occurred last Sunday, March 16.

Granted, I made it fairly difficult, but based on my experience over last off-season (which made me realize I'm far from knowing as much about Indycar history as I think I do), making the quiz too easy would make the contest reliant on just a few questions to make the difference. Never was it my intention to make it humiliating, only to make questions that enlighten or give pause to think about Indycar for a bit, while rewarding those who are supremely studious. 

I suppose if I was a professor of Indycar Trivia, my "college-aged me" would think I was a real hard case probably. I guess I can live with that since I learned the most from those hard cases who challenged me. In my view to properly test knowledge, I posed questions as fill-in-the-blank type... none of this multiple-choice garbage.

ANYWAY...

Here is a copy of the quiz questions that assaulted, presented to Tweet-Up attendees, with the winner (@HinchFanatic) scoring 8.5 of 15 possible and taking from the prize table a genuine Mayor-of-Hinchtown-autographed, race-worn, helmet visor.  If you wish to play along for yourself without peeking at the answers at the bottom of this post, score one point for each correct answer (or half-points per the question). 

15 questions and 15 minutes to complete.

Are you ready? annnnnnnnnd, BEGIN!




Trivia Quiz Contest Form
1. Name the 2013 Season Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

2. In 2013, how many times did a race winner start from the pole position?

3. Of the drivers who finished in the Top 10 in points, name the only one whose best race finish in the 2013 season was 3rd.          

4. Who was the only driver to sport the number 63 during the 2013 season?

5. 2013 Champion Scott Dixon won 4 races, but finished outside the top 10 in how many races?                                   

6. From what position did Tony Kanaan start to win the 2013 Indy 500?

7. What former winner drove the Pace Car for the start of the Centennial 2011 Indy 500?

8. Name the only 2 drivers to win Indy 500s in 3 different decades (1/2 point for each correct).

9. Who currently holds the record for fastest race lap at the Indy 500?

10. Dan Wheldon was the most recent driver to win the Indy 500 with the number 98. Name the other two drivers to win the Indy 500 with this number (1/2 point for each correct).

11. Name the track at which A. J. Foyt got the final of his 67 Indycar wins.

12. Which engine manufacturer is currently credited with the most pole positions and most wins in Indycar history?           

13. Which currently active Indycar driver has the most career Indycar wins?

14. Of Indycar drivers with more than 20 wins, name the one whose average starting position of 1.98 is the best.           

15. Name the Indycar driver whose final career Indycar win was also the site of his first Indycar win at Long Beach.    

You may have noticed a bit of a pattern - 5 questions on the 2013 season, 5 on the Indy 500, and 5 of general Indycar history. Of course this was on purpose, OCD rarely relinquishes it's grip once taken hold. Below are the answers to the quiz:

















...nope farther down still...




















1. Tristan Vaultier
2. 3 (Barber, Toronto 2, Fontana)
3. Marco Andretti
4. Pippa Mann
5. 8
6. 12th
7. A.J. Foyt Jr.
8. Bobby Unser ('68, '75, '81) and Rick Mears ('79, '84, '88, '91)
9. Eddie Cheever Jr. (38.119 sec. / 236.103mph, Lap 78 of 1996 race)
10. Troy Ruttman (1952), Parnelli Jones (1963)
11. Pocono
12. Offenhauser
13. Scott Dixon (33)
14. Mario Andretti
15. Michael Andretti


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