Another great race this year at Daytona. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go, but through the magic of cyberspace, I was able to ask Hurley Haywood a question about the race. The official web site allowed 40 people to pose questions to Hurley. I asked Hurley what he felt set Daytona apart from other endurance races. Here was his insightful reply: "There are really only two other endurance races of great importance, one being the 12 hours of Sebring and the other one being the 24 hours of Le Mans. What sets Daytona apart are basically two elements. One is the banking. There's no other track in the world that runs an endurance race where you have a 33-degree banking that you're running on. That's very unique and a lot of the European teams come that aren't used to running on the banking and it's a big adjustment for them. Second are the hours of darkness that we run in. At Daytona, we run a good 12 hours in the nighttime. At Le Mans you only have maybe five hours of darkness and at Sebring we really only have about 4 hours of darkness that we run in, so the length of time we spend in the darkness at Daytona really sets it apart from any other race. Daytona is a wonderful facility. Of all the long distance races, Daytona is probably the most challenging and difficult race of all." If you'd like to hear his responses to the 39 other questions, or an excellent two-part interview, check out www.Daytona24hr.com. You'll need a web browser with "Real Audio". Be forewarned though, the two-part interview works well, but accessing the 40 questions requires a poorly designed plug-in called Net-Zip. On another subject, I recently read about some show cars in Japan with very strange names such as "Big Thumb" and "Naked." There have been some actual production cars sold in this country with strange names as well. Porsche has avoided this problem by mostly using numbers instead of names. Here's a test of your automotive knowledge. From each section below, one of the choices is an actual car name. See if you can figure out which it is. Hint: None of them is a Porsche!
1. Camera, Camry, Crampy, Campy, Crappy 2. Tramp, Scoundrel, Scamp, Rascal, Villain 3. Baby, Brat, Whelp, Imp, Jerk 4. Drifter, Roamer, Rambler, Gambler, Wanderer 5. Monster, Leprechaun, Ghoul, Gremlin, Problem 6. Hoax, Farce, Charade, Facade, Joke 7. Ticket, Fine, Arrest, Citation, Court 8. XR4Ti, PDq-66, 4WDX5, M81Xj, CiS1400 9. Swinger, Groover, Cheater, Playboy, Philanderer 10. Magician, Snake-charmer, Juggler, Bullfighter, Matador 11. Sailing, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Baseball 12. Eskimo, Teepee, Wigwam, Chieftain, Papoose 13. Somalia, Haiti, Panama, Granada, Cuba 14. Indian Arrow, Fire Arrow, Bow & Arrow, Shooting Arrow, Poison Arrow 15. Nomad, Bohemian, Migrant, Vagabond, Homeless 16. Diploma, School, Matriculate, Graduate, Degree 17. Hiroshima, Sappy, Sapporo, Hirohito, Saki 18. Music, Note, Sentence, Verse, Stanza 19. Duster, Dusty, Ruster, Rusty, Smoker 20. Lusty, Busty, Musty, Justy, Crusty 21. Muscovite, Parisienne, Berliner, Londoner, Worcesterite 22. E-Ticket, CNote, Imark, D-Mark, V Berth 23. Oceanspray, Oldbrook, Cranapple, Apple Creek, Cranbrook 24. Rekord Olympia, Gold Snappir, Convex Straplite, Ragshell Kapper 25. Cruise-A-Tron Copper Commander, HydraGlide Bronze Ranger, TurboMatic Silver Sergeant, SonoRamic Golden Commando, HyperTronic Platinum General
Answers: 1. Toyota Camry 2. Plymouth Scamp 3. Subaru Brat 4. Nash Rambler 5. AMC Gremlin 6. Diahtsu Charade 7. Chevy Citation 8. Merkur XR4Ti 9. Dodge Dart Swinger 10. AMC Matador 11. Volkswagon Golf 12. Pontiac Chieftain 13. Ford Granada 14. Plymouth Fire Arrow 15. Chevy Nomad 16. Alfa Romeo Graduate 17. Plymouth Sapporo 18. Nissan Stanza 19. Plymouth Duster 20. Subaru Justy 21. Pontiac Parisienne 22. Isuzu Imark 23. Plymouth Cranbrook 24. Opel Rekord Olympia 25. Plymouth Fury SonoRamic Golden Commando