title: Nipsey Russell

text: Russell became the first black performer to become a regular panelist on a daily network game show when he joined ABC's "Missing Links" in 1964. Another ABC show, "Rhyme and Reason", had poetry as a premise. In 1971, he started as a featured panelist on "To Tell the Truth", which led to his being hired for "The Match Game" when Goodson-Todman Productions revived it two years later. He also served as panelist in 1968 on the syndicated version of "What's My Line?" Producer Bob Stewart featured him regularly as a panelist on "Pyramid" throughout its 1970s and 1980s runs. He hosted two revivals of Jack Barry and Dan Enright's "Juvenile Jury" for BET from 1983 to 1984, then again for syndication from 1989 to 1991. In 1985, he hosted the short-lived NBC game show "Your Number's Up", which was produced by Sande Stewart.


title: Nipsey Russell

text: During the 1990s, Russell gained popularity with a new generation of television viewers as a regular on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". Russell often appeared during comedy sketches between scheduled guests and delivered his trademark rhymes.


title: Nipsey Russell

text: Russell's final TV appearance was as a panelist on a game show–themed week on the final season of the Tom Bergeron version of "Hollywood Squares" in 2003.


title: Nipsey Russell

text: Russell died in 2005 at age 87 in New York City, after a bout with cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Transformers: Prime (known as Transformers: Prime - Beast Hunters during its third and final season) is an American computer-animated television series based on the "Transformers" toy franchise by Hasbro that aired on the Hub Network from November 29, 2010, to July 26, 2013. The series focuses on the Autobots of "Team Prime", consisting of Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead, and their human allies as they attempt to protect the Earth from the villainous Decepticons and their leader Megatron.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Development of the series began in early 2010 with the announcement that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, screenwriters of the first two live-action films, would be creating the series. Casting began soon after with the announcement that Peter Cullen and Frank Welker would reprise their roles as Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively. The series concluded on October 4, 2013, with the television film "". A standalone sequel series following Bumblebee and a new cast of characters, titled , premiered on March 14, 2015.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: "Transformers Prime" is set in the franchise's "Aligned" continuity, which also includes a number of contemporary books and video games like "", "", "", "", and "". The series is notably the first work within this continuity to not focus on the Autobots and the Decepticons' war on their home planet of Cybertron (though glimpses of it are shown in various flashbacks), and instead takes place primarily on Earth during modern times.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The series chronicles the adventures of an Autobot team known as "Team Prime" led by Optimus Prime and originally consisting of Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Cliffjumper (who is killed in the five-part pilot “Darkness Rising”). The team operates from a former American military missile silo near the fictional town of Jasper, Nevada, and tries to conceal their existence from humanity while continuing their fight against the Decepticons. The Autobots make several human allies throughout the series who agree to keep their secret, including high school students Jack Darby (and later his mother, nurse June Darby), Miko Nakadai, and Rafael Esquivel, and American government agent William Fowler. In the second half of the series, more Autobots join Team Prime, including Buklhead's friend and former teammate Wheeljack (who helped Team Prime several times during the first two seasons but did not officially join them until the third season), the ambitious rookie Smokescreen, and Optimus's chief lieutenant Ultra Magnus.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The Decepticons, led by Megatron and briefly by Starscream in the former's absence, operate from their warship, the "Nemesis", and briefly from a base called Darkmount, which is built in the season two finale and then destroyed by the Autobots at the start of the third season. At first, Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave (as well as his minion Laserbeak) are the only notable Decepticons, as they command a legion of identical drones called Vehicons. More Decepticons join the ranks over the course of the series, including the sadistic medic Knock Out, his partner Breakdown (who shares a rivalry with Bulkhead), Arcee's nemesis Airachnid, Insecticon hive leader Hardshell, Seeker captain Dreadwing, and Decepticon scientist Shockwave.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The series brings several notable changes and additions to "Transformers" lore. For example, both the Autobots and Decepticons use Ground Bridges (scaled-down versions of the Space Bridges, which also appear) to travel across the Earth, and the ancient planet-sized Transformer Unicron serves as the planet's core, emphasizing the idea of Earth and Cybertron being "twin planets". The series also marks the first appearance of the necromantic Dark Energon, a more unstable and dangerous version of Energon (the substance that powers all Transformers), which can be used to bring the dead back to life as mindless zombies (called "Terrorcons"). In the third season, Predacons (Transformers who resemble dragon-like creatures) are introduced as the Transformers' ancestors, having gone extinct until they were recreated by Shockwave to serve the Decepticons. Initially, only one Predacon is created, Predaking, who later goes independent from the Decepticons upon learning that Megatron had ordered the destruction of his unborn siblings. Two more Predacons, Skylynx and Darksteel, appear in "Predacons Rising".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Season One opens with Cliffjumper being murdered by Starscream, who leads the Decepticons on Earth during Megatron's absence. Following Megatron's return, he uses Cliffjumper's corpse as a test subject for Dark Energon, which he intends to use to create an undead army from Cybertron’s fallen warriors. The plan fails when the Autobots destroy Megatron’s Space Bridge, leaving him in a comatose state floating in space, and allowing the treacherous Starscream to claim leadership of the Decepticons once more.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The rest of the season takes on a more episodic approach, with each episode focusing on Team Prime having to overcome a new enemy or threat, usually in the form of one of Starscream's schemes. However, some episodes feature other antagonists, such as Skyquake, an ancient Decepticon warrior who is awakened by Starscream to eliminate the Autobots, only to be killed by them; Makeshift, a shape-shifting Decepticon who impersonates Team Prime's ally Wheeljack to find their base (though he is killed before he can actually reveal its location to Starscream); M.E.C.H., a human organization led by the villainous Silas who seek Cybertronian technology for their ultimate goal of establishing a new world order; and Airachnid, Arcee's arch-enemy who killed her former partner Tailgate and pursues her own vendetta against the Autobots, but eventually joins the Decepticons' ranks. Knock Out and Breakdown also join the main Decepticon cast, establishing rivalries with Bumblebee and Bulkhead, respectively.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Eventually, Megatron recovers from his coma and reclaims leadership of the Decepticons from Starscream, who later defects to follow his own path and is replaced as Megatron's second-in-command by Airachnid. In the season one finale, the Earth starts to witness several natural disasters, later revealed to be caused by the awakening of Unicron. The Autobots and Megatron join forces to prevent the rise of Unicron, who is ultimately defeated after Optimus uses the Matrix of Leadership to knock him back into hibernation, at the expense of his memories. Regaining his pre-war personality of Orion Pax, he gets manipulated by Megatron into leaving the Autobots and joining the Decepticons.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In Season Two, Megatron manipulates the amnesiac Optimus into decrypting the Iacon archives, which contain the coordinates of Cybertronian relics hidden on Earth. Jack travels to Cybertron, obtaining Optimus’ memories from Vector Sigma, and restores them to Optimus via the Matrix. From this point onwards, most of the season revolves around the Autobots and Decepticons' hunt for the Iacon relics, with both factions retrieving a number of them. Starscream also searches for the relics and manages to beat the Autobots and the Decepticons to some of them.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: This season introduces several new characters, such as Smokescreen, the newest member of Team Prime; Dreadwing, Skyquake's twin brother who seeks to avenge his death and becomes Megatron's new second-in-command; and Hardshell, leader of an Insecticon hive that is found by Airachnid and later comes under Megatron's service. Plotlines featured in this season include M.E.C.H. creating their own Cybertronian called Nemesis Prime; Airachnid killing Breakdown and defecting from the Decepticons to pursue revenge against Megatron, only to be captured by the Autobots; Hardshell being killed by Miko and Wheeljack in retaliation for hurting Bulkhead during the hunt for a Iacon relic; Silas being gravely injured and fused with Breakdown's body (becoming "Cy.L.A.S." Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis); and Megatron replacing his right forearm with that of a deceased Prime in order to wield the Forge of Solus Prime and create the Dark Star Saber, a dark counterpart to the Autobots' Star Saber.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Eventually, both the Autobots and the Decepticons learn about the Omega Keys, four Iacon relics used to power the Omega Lock, which can restore life to Cybertron. The Autobots manage to retrieve three of the keys, but Starscream steals them and gives them, along with the fourth key, to Megatron in return for clemency. Meanwhile, Dreadwing learns that Starscream resurrected Skyquake as a Terrorcon, thus desecrating his brother's honorable death, and becomes disillusioned with the Decepticon cause after Megatron allows Starscream to re-join their ranks. He steals the Forge and gives it to Team Prime before trying to exact revenge on Starscream, but is killed by Megatron. The Autobots use the Forge to transform their Ground Bridge into a Space Bridge, giving them the means to travel to Cybertron and find the Omega Lock. Optimus ultimately destroys the Omega Lock to prevent Megatron from using it to terraform the Earth, but not before the Decepticons use it to create a new base on Earth – Darkmount. The Decepticons then destroy the Autobots' base, unaware the team escaped beforehand using their Ground Bridge, though Optimus stays behind to destroy the bridge, in order to prevent the Decepticons from finding the others' whereabouts, and is seemingly killed.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The third season, subtitled "Beast Hunters", opens with Team Prime divided and on the run from the Decepticons, while the severely damaged but still alive Optimus is being looked after by Smokescreen. New characters are again introduced, namely Ultra Magnus, Optimus's second-in-command and the leader of Bulkhead and Wheeljack's old team, and the cold and calculated Decepticon scientist Shockwave, who plans to create an army of Predacons to serve Megatron, starting with Predaking. Eventually, Smokescreen is able to resurrect Optimus using the Forge's last powers after he dies, giving him a new, more powerful body, and the Autobots reunite, destroying Darkmount.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Despite this, the Decepticons remain an active threat, and Shockwave continues work on his Predacon army, until Megatron orders him to terminate it, pinning its destruction on the Autobots, after Predaking shows signs of intelligence and the ability to transform into a robot. During this time, Knock Out experiments on the captive Cy.L.A.S. with Dark Energon, inadvertently turning him into a Terrorcon that feeds on other Transformers' Energon and turns them into Terrorcons as well. He infects most of the "Nemesis"' crew before freeing Airachnid (who was retrieved by the Decepticons following the Autobot base's destruction), who puts him out of his misery and claims back leadership of the Insecticons. However, she is quickly dealt with by Soundwave, who teleports her and all the Insecticons to one of Cybertron's deserted moons. Later, Soundwave is ordered to kidnap Ratchet, whom Megatron forces to rebuild the Omega Lock using Synthetic Energon. During his imprisonment, Ratchet informs Predaking of the truth about his unborn siblings' destruction, and he defects, attempting to kill Megatron, but fails.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Eventually, the Autobots storm the "Nemesis" to rescue Ratchet and destroy the Omega Lock. During the battle, Soundwave is trapped in the Shadowzone (a parallel dimension created by the interaction of multiple Ground Bridges), and Bumblebee is mortally wounded by Megatron. However, he is resurrected after falling into a pool of Cybermatter, regaining his voice, and kills Megatron by impaling him with the Star Saber, sending his body falling back to Earth. Afterwards, the Autobots use the Omega Lock to restore Cybertron and head home victorious via the "Nemesis", bidding farewell to their human allies and Ratchet, who chose to stay on Earth to continue helping humanity.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The series concludes with a television film, "Predacons Rising", in which the Autobots and most of the Decepticons work together to try and rebuild Cybertron. The Autobots also search for the fugitive Starscream and Shockwave, who plan to create an army of Predacons to exact their revenge on the Autobots. Meanwhile, Unicron reanimates and possesses Megatron's body, and with the power of Dark Energon at his fingertips, he seeks to kill Cybertron's core, which is actually his brother Primus, and eliminate all those who oppose him. To stop Unicron, the Autobots must form an uneasy alliance with Predaking and the first of Starscream and Shockwave's new Predacons, Skylynx and Darksteel.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The series stars Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), who acts as the leader of the Autobots. In his fight to protect the Earth, Optimus is aided by Team Prime, consisting of Ratchet (Jeffrey Combs), the team's medical officer, Bulkhead (Kevin Michael Richardson), the team's muscle, Arcee (Sumalee Montano), who is considered the team's most agile fighter, and Bumblebee (Will Friedle), the team's scout. Like in the live-action films, Bumblebee is voiceless throughout most of the series due to a damaged voice box and communicates through beeps. During the first season, the Autobots encounter Wheeljack (James Horan), one of Bulkhead's fellow Wreckers. While initially appearing for one episode in season one, the character plays a more important role and joins the team in the latter half of season two. During the same season, Smokescreen (Nolan North) is introduced as a new member of the team. In the final season, Ultra Magnus (Michael Ironside), Optimus's second-in-command, comes to Earth and also joins Team Prime.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Furthermore, the team is assisted by several humans; namely, Jack Darby (Josh Keaton), a high schooler who works at the local burger joint and bonds with Arcee and Smokescreen; Rafael "Raf" Esquivel (Andy Pessoa), a young programming genius who bonds with Bumblebee and Ratchet; Miko Nakadai (Tania Gunadi), a Japanese exchange student who bonds with Bulkhead and Wheeljack; June Darby (Markie Post), Jack's mother and a nurse at the local hospital; and Special Agent William Fowler (Ernie Hudson), a retired special forces officer and Team Prime's connection to the U.S. government.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The Decepticons are led by the villainous Megatron (Frank Welker), who is the main antagonist throughout the series. Initially, the only other notable Decepticons are Starscream (Steve Blum), Megatron's treacherous second-in-command who wishes to usurp him, and Soundwave (Frank Welker), the Decepticons' almost emotionless communication officer with an undying loyalty towards Megatron. This depiction of Soundwave remains silent in almost all of his appearances, and chooses to replicate other characters' voices to communicate. Later in the first season, Knock Out (Daran Norris), the Decepticons' medical officer, his partner Breakdown (Adam Baldwin), who shares a rivalry with Bulkhead, and Airachnid (Gina Torres), Arcee's nemesis, also join Megatron's ranks. The second season introduces Dreadwing (Tony Todd), a loyal Seeker commander who becomes Megatron's second-in-command during the season, and Shockwave (David Sobolov), the Decepticons' cold and logical scientist. Originally featured only in one flashback episode, Shockwave plays a bigger role in the third season, where he creates the Predacon Predaking (Peter Mensah) to serve Megatron.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Other notable characters are Leland "Silas" Bishop (Clancy Brown), a renegade military agent and leader of the terrorist group M.E.C.H. who serve as recurring antagonists throughout the first two seasons, and Unicron "the Chaos Bringer" (John Noble), the ancient enemy of the Transformers and their creator Primus, his brother, who serves as the core of Earth itself and the main antagonist of the season one finale and "Predacons Rising". Unicron's "blood", Dark Energon, which can empower the Transformers or revive the dead with crippling side effects, is a recurring plot element in the series.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, co-writers of "Transformers" and its sequel "", were announced in early February to be helming a new "Transformers" series which would be CGI-animated. The title of the series was first announced in February 2010 as "Transformers: Prime" on Jeffrey Combs' website. Combs revealed he would be voicing Ratchet and that the first season would consist of 26 episodes. The series' logo was revealed on May 3, 2010. Orci said that one of the reasons he and Kurtzman decided to come back to the franchise is because when they worked on the live-action film, there were limitations on how much time the Transformers could appear on-screen and what type of actions they could perform, stating:There were things we wanted to do in the movies that we just couldn't do and there were character arcs that we wanted to explore with the Transformers that we just couldn't do. We wanted to show more of their mythology and their past and their planet and just hang out with them. ... And in the movie, every time you did that, it was very special but it was extremely limited. So there was always another way ... to tell ... Transformers stories and this was ... a lucky accident that .. we got an opportunity to pursue that inspiration[.]


title: Transformers: Prime

text: On February 4, 2011, when the show's first season resumed airing, it was announced that it had been renewed for a second season consisting of 26 episodes like the first. The season began airing on February 18, 2012. On March 1, 2013, it was revealed that the third season of "Transformers: Prime", which premiered a few weeks later on March 22, would be the show's last. During the same month, it was also announced that following the series finale, a TV movie called "" would air and would end the story. According to Hasbro Studios vice president Mike Vogel, "[they] knew, from day one, where [they] were going to try to wrap everything up".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Discussing ideas about the show's themes and inspirations, Orci said that while the live-action film series was "about a boy and his cars", the dynamic between the kids and robots in "Prime" was to be more like that of "The Iron Giant". In a similar statement, Josh Keaton (Jack Darby) revealed in a November 29, 2010, interview with "The Trades" that while the show does include human main characters, and their relationships with the Autobots are important, they are in the foreground. According to Jeff Kline, from the beginning they had created a story bible of at least "three years' worth of [storylines]" and that "the universal need to find or forge a family and a home" was one of the major themes when developing the series.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Kline said that from the early stages of development they wanted to keep the ensemble of characters small; this was done both for production reasons and to allow deeper characterization and development. Optimus Prime, Megatron and Bumblebee were the characters that were considered "must-haves" for the series. From that point on, they tried to include Autobots and Decepticons that complemented those characters' personalities, "rather than duplicate them".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Regarding Arcee's inclusion in the main cast, Orci said that he regretted killing her off in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and that "Prime" gave them "a chance to do what [they]’ve always wanted to do with her". Kline said the staff wanted to include more Decepticons than Autobots in the series, so that the Autobots would always be at a disadvantage and their jobs would be that much harder. Additionally, when asked about the death of Cliffjumper and other characters in the series, he said that "when we kill a character, we kill a character".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In an interview with MTV, Frank Welker (Megatron), when comparing "Prime" in the TV series to the original cartoon, said that the writers "go deeper into the evil side of [Megatron] and what’s driving him." In a different interview, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) said that "the writing is consistent with that of the original series, though in this new version [... my character] has a lot more communication with earthlings, and so he tries to be a little more Earthlike".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: During New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2011, many details about season two were revealed. Regarding Optimus' memory loss and joining the Decepticons, Duane Capizzi said that they wanted to satisfy fans' expectations "but take it in unexpected directions. What happens will be pretty unexpected, but pretty organic." On the revelation that Unicron was sealed inside the Earth's core, Kline said that "[they] knew" they had to include him in the series but were initially unsure how. After a writer made the suggestion, they realized Unicron could be included in a way that tied Earth to Cybertron. He also reaffirmed his comment regarding death in the series, stating that "anyone can die" and revealed that "the body count has been upgraded" in season two.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: During NYCC 2012, it was revealed that the show would be retitled to "Transformers: Prime – Beast Hunters" for its third season. In "Beast Hunters", the Predacons and Predaking are introduced. By bringing Beasts into the show during the third season Kline said that this allowed them to emphasize further how Earth and Cybertron are "brother, or twin, planets"; something they had earlier indicated with Unicron's arc in season one. He called the addition of beasts "fantastic" as it allowed them to keep shifting allegiances and "keep the [Autobots and Decepticons] out of balance".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The first voice actor to be cast in the series was Jeffrey Combs as Ratchet. Combs revealed this on his personal website on February 4, 2010. On May 17, 2010, it was announced that Peter Cullen, who had originated the role of Optimus Prime in the original series and voiced him in the live-action film series, would return as Optimus' voice in "Prime". During San Diego Comic Con on July 8, 2010, it was revealed that Frank Welker would also reprise the role of Megatron from the original series. Besides Optimus and Ratchet, Autobots Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead were also announced. It was also revealed that Starscream and Soundwave would be part of the Decepticons.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: On September 8, 2010, the show's voice actors were announced. Kline would later reveal that Hasbro Studios had placed high importance in getting Cullen and Frank Welker to reprise their roles as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. Steven Blum (Starscream) revealed in an interview that during recording of "Transformers: Prime", he and the cast are given the scripts and "a couple of days [...] to figure out where the story is going". During New York Comic Con, 2011 it was announced that Tony Todd, who voiced The Fallen in "", would join the series in season two as Dreadwing.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Music in the series was composed by Brian Tyler. Tyler stated that when he approached to perform the music for the series, they wanted it to be "cinematic, thematic [and feature] classic scores, similar to "Star Wars"." Live orchestras were used to create the music.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In the United States, "Transformers: Prime" aired on Hasbro and Discovery Communications-owned television network, The Hub. The show began broadcasting on November 29, 2010, continuing to December 3, 2010. The rest of season one began to air on February 11, 2011. Reruns of the series began airing on The CW as part of the "Vortexx" block on December 8, 2012, making "Prime" the first Hasbro Studios animated production to appear on United States terrestrial television. The series was added to Kabillion in July 2019.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: On November 9, 2010, Hasbro Studios announced a broadcasting rights deal with Corus Entertainment in Canada, which included "Transformers: Prime". The series premiered there on January 9, 2011, on Teletoon, half-owned by Corus. As a part of the deal between Hasbro Studios and Turner Broadcasting System Europe announced on December 13, 2010, "Transformers: Prime" began broadcasting in Central Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East on September 10, 2011, on the pan-European Cartoon Network.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In Singapore, MediaCorp has broadcasting rights for Hasbro Studios programs including "Prime", with the English version airing on Okto. In Malaysia, Media Prima has broadcasting rights for Hasbro Studios programs including "Prime"; the series was broadcast on NTV7.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In India, the series premiered on Discovery Kids on May 6, 2013. The third season launched on October 19, 2014.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: In the United States and Canada, Shout! Factory has the home distribution rights to the series. The complete first season was first released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6, 2012. The complete second season was first released on DVD on November 20, 2012, with the Blu-ray version being released seven days later. The third and final season, "Beast Hunters", was released on December 3, 2013.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The "Transformers: Prime"/"G.I. Joe Renegades" special programming block on Friday from 3:30 p.m.–7;00 p.m. generated significant household and key audiences over the previous week. "[Households] (+111%, 97,000); Persons [age] 2+ (+133%, 142,000); Kids [ages] 2-11 (+130%, 62,000); Kids 6-11 (+78%, 32,000); Adults 18-49 (+117%, 50,000) and Women 18-49 (+120%, 11,000)."


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Dusty Stower of Screen Rant, placed "Transformers: Prime" as the sixth best "Transformers" cartoon. Stower described the first season as "a very slow burn, [with] its eventual payoff [being] incredibly anticlimactic" and that in their attempt to focus on the Transformers' mythology, the writers "forgot to craft three-dimensional, likable characters". However, he concluded that the show did live up to its promise of an epic tale late in its run and reacted positively to "Prime"s portrayal of Ratchet and Starscream.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Eric Goldman of IGN gave season one a "great" 8.0 out of 10. He praised the show for creating fully formed, relatable characters, well-done action sequences, serious-minded storylines and voice acting, singling out Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Jeffrey Combs (Ratchet) and Frank Welker's (Megatron) performances. He criticized Bumblebee's portrayal as mute. He concluded the review saying that the series "accomplishes its goals, delivering plenty of fun and action, while also incorporating darker and more complex moments that older viewers can appreciate".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Brian Lowry of "Variety" said that "Transformers: Prime" is "unexpectedly sharp" and better than the movies, adding that the show's CGI animation is well-suited for rendering shiny robots and "their vehicular alter egos"; he ended the review by saying that while "there's nothing more than meets the eye here, [..] what does appear is plenty entertaining".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Hasbro had the Toys "R" Us store located in Times Square, New York City to cover the whole exterior of the store in "Transformers: Prime" characters' images. Several billboards were rented. One even appeared on Broadway in New York City. Additional advertisements were run on the back cover of DC Comics’ "Justice League of America" Issue #51.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: A giant statue of Optimus Prime (modeled after his "Transformers: Prime" design) was shown off at San Diego Comic Con 2010.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The statue was later moved to the location of New York Comic Con 2011 convention, where Hasbro was exhibiting.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: The official launch date of the toy line was December 1, 2011. The release date of July 2011 was incorrectly stated during BotCon 2011, but the December 1, 2011, date was later confirmed by the Hasbro Brand Team. Although earlier sources stated that the line would launch on October 1, 2011, or October 11, 2011.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: Ruckus Mobile Media partnered with Hasbro to deliver "Transformers: Prime" innovative storybook apps for Android, and iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) systems. The app was meant to deliver immersive reading experiences with interactive storytelling including title specific activities, coloring and read-and-record functions. The app was slated to release in May 2011, but never came out.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: IDW Publishing has released a group of comic books based on "Transformers: Prime". A comic book prequel was released on October 13, 2010, in the United States, followed by an October 26, 2010, Canadian release date. Adaptations of episodes (usually two episodes per comic book) from the series are currently being released, similar to the "Transformers Animated" comic books. Some "Transformers: Prime" storybooks were released in April, August and September 2012, in the UK including "Transformers Prime: Official Handbook" and "Transformers Prime: Meet the Team".


title: Transformers: Prime

text: IDW has also published "Transformers. Prime: Rage of the Dinobots" and "Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters", two comic book tie-ins that link the cartoon and the developed by High Moon Studios.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: A video game developed by Nowpro and Altron distributed by Activision was released in October 2012. The game, titled "", is a brawler available for Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. Both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game received mixed critical reviews.


title: Transformers: Prime

text: A sequel called "" debuted in March 2015. The series features Bumblebee as a police officer and follows his adventures on Earth, trying to catch escaped Decepticon prisoners. The series introduces a new cast of characters who help Bumblebee in his mission, including Strongarm, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Fixit, and the humans Denny Clay and his son Russell. Optimus Prime appears in a recurring capacity during the first season as a spirit, before being resurrected in the finale and joining the main cast from season two onwards. The only other characters to return from "Transformers: Prime" are Ratchet, Bulkhead, Soundwave, and Starscream. "Robots in Disguise" is much more light-hearted in tone than its predecessor and received an overall mixed reception.


title: John Nance Garner

text: John Nance Garner III (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967), known among his contemporaries as "Cactus Jack", was an American Democratic politician and lawyer from Texas who served as the 32nd vice president of the United States under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1941. Garner was also the 39th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1933. He and Schuyler Colfax are the only individuals to have served as both Speaker of the House and Vice President of the United States.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner began his political career as the county judge of Uvalde County, Texas. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1898 to 1902 and won election to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives in 1902. He represented Texas's 15th congressional district from 1903 to 1933. Garner served as House Minority Leader from 1929 to 1931, and was elevated to Speaker of the House when Democrats won control of the House following the 1930 elections.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1932 presidential election, but agreed to serve as Franklin D. Roosevelt's running mate at the 1932 Democratic National Convention. He and Roosevelt won the 1932 election and were re-elected in 1936. A conservative Southerner, Garner opposed the sit-down strikes of the labor unions and the New Deal's deficit spending. However, Garner was also considered highly effective in the passage of New Deal legislation, with Roosevelt relying greatly on Garner's wealth of political friendships and legislative skills to pilot New Deal legislation through Congress. Unlike Vice Presidents before him, Garner also had a more active, non-ceremonial role in the U.S. Cabinet. He broke with Roosevelt in 1937 over a range of issues, especially the centralization of too much power in the federal government. Garner again sought the presidency in the 1940 presidential election, but Roosevelt won the party's presidential nomination at the 1940 Democratic National Convention, then chose Henry A. Wallace as his running mate.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was born on November 22, 1868, in a log cabin in Red River County, Texas to John Nance Garner II and his wife, Sarah Guest Garner. That mud-chinked log cabin no longer exists, but the large, white, two-story house where he was raised survives and is located at 260 South Main Street in Detroit, Texas.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, for only one semester before dropping out and returning home. He studied law at the firm of Sims and Wright in Clarksville, Texas, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and began practice in Uvalde, Uvalde County, Texas.


title: John Nance Garner

text: In 1893, Garner entered politics, running for county judge of Uvalde County, the county's chief administrative officer. Garner was opposed in the primary by a woman—Mariette "Ettie" Rheiner, a rancher's daughter whom he married in 1895. Garner won, and with the Democratic nomination seen as tantamount to election in the post-Civil War Solid South, Garner was elected county judge and served until 1896.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1898, and re-elected in 1900. During his service, the legislature selected a state flower for Texas. Garner fervently supported the prickly pear cactus for the honor, and thus earned the nickname "Cactus Jack". (The Bluebonnet was chosen.)


title: John Nance Garner

text: In 1901 Garner voted for the poll tax, a measure passed by the Democratic-dominated legislature to make voter registration more difficult and reduce the number of black, minority, and poor white voters on the voting rolls. This disfranchised most minority voters until the 1960s, and ended challenges to Democratic power; Texas became in effect a one-party state.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner traveled parts of southern Texas controlled by the "patrón" system, currying political favor with the land bosses who exercised near-complete control of the local people and local elections. His "patrón" allies created a gerrymandered district for him, the 15th congressional district, a narrow strip reaching south to include tens of thousands of square miles of rural areas.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1902. He was elected from the district 14 subsequent times, serving until 1933. His wife was paid and worked as his private secretary during this period. Throughout his career he maintained allegiance to the white landowners who controlled the voting booths in South Texas. He regarded his Mexican voting base as "inferior and undesirable as U.S. citizens."


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was chosen to serve as minority floor leader for the Democrats in 1929, and in 1931 as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, when the Democrats became the majority.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner supported passage of the federal income tax but opposed most tariffs except for those on wool and mohair, which were important to his Texas base. He also believed in rural investment, bringing taxpayer dollars to farmers of the Brush Country region of South Texas.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was popular with his fellow House members in both parties. He held what he called his "board of education" during the era of Prohibition, a gathering spot for lawmakers to drink alcohol, or as Garner called it, "strike a blow for liberty." (The "board of education" was continued by future Speaker Sam Rayburn after Prohibition had ended and Garner had left the House.)


title: John Nance Garner

text: In 1932, Garner ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. It had become evident that Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Governor of New York, was the strongest of several candidates, but although he had a solid majority of convention delegates, he was 87.25 votes short of the two-thirds required for nomination. After Garner cut a deal with Roosevelt, thus allowing Roosevelt to win the nomination, Garner became his vice-presidential candidate.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner was re-elected to the 73rd Congress on November 8, 1932, and on the same day was elected Vice President of the United States. On February 8, 1933, then-Vice President Charles Curtis announced the election of his successor, House Speaker Garner, while Garner was seated next to him on the House dais. He was the second man, Schuyler Colfax being the first, to serve as both Speaker of the House and President of the Senate. Garner was re-elected Vice President with Roosevelt in 1936, serving in that office in total from March 4, 1933, to January 20, 1941.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Like most vice presidents in this era, Garner had little to do and little influence on the president's policies. He famously described the vice presidency as being "not worth a bucket of warm piss" (for many years, this quote was bowdlerized as "warm spit".) Historian Patrick Cox traces the possible origin of this quote to a 1960 conversation with Lyndon Johnson, who consulted Garner on John Kennedy's offer to run for vice president.


title: John Nance Garner

text: During Roosevelt's second term, Garner's previously warm relationship with the president quickly soured, as Garner disagreed sharply with him on a wide range of important issues. Garner supported federal intervention to break up the Flint sit-down strike, supported a balanced federal budget, opposed the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 to "pack" the Supreme Court with additional judges, and opposed executive interference with the internal business of the Congress.


title: John Nance Garner

text: During 1938 and 1939, numerous Democratic party leaders urged Garner to run for president in 1940. Garner identified as the champion of the traditional Democratic Party establishment, which often clashed with supporters of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Gallup poll showed that Garner was the favorite among Democratic voters, based on the assumption that Roosevelt would defer to the longstanding two-term tradition and not run for a third term. "Time" characterized him on April 15, 1940:


title: John Nance Garner

text: Some other Democrats did not find him appealing. In Congressional testimony, union leader John L. Lewis described him using tetrameter as "a labor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, evil old man".Garner declared his candidacy. Roosevelt refused to say whether he would run again. If he did, it was highly unlikely that Garner could win the nomination, but Garner stayed in the race anyway. He opposed some of Roosevelt's New Deal policies, most notably those related to wooing labor, and on principle, opposed presidents serving third terms. However, Garner was also credited with steering a number of important bills through Congress in the crisis atmosphere of Roosevelt's first one hundred days in office and his relationship with the President would not become strained until Roosevelt's second term, when the Vice President's hopes of balancing the budget and paring New Deal programs faded. He was also active in Roosevelt's Cabinet meetings on national policy and legislative strategy, which also resulted in the effective transformation of the previously ceremonial office of the U.S. Vice President. However, the president's "court-packing" plan of 1937 widened the rift with Garner, and the final blow in their relationship came when the president attempted to purge opposition Democratic members of Congress in the 1938 elections.


title: John Nance Garner

text: At the Democratic National Convention, Roosevelt engineered a "spontaneous" call for his renomination, and won on the first ballot. Garner received only 61 votes out of 1,093. Roosevelt chose Henry A. Wallace to be his vice-presidential running mate.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner left office on January 20, 1941, ending a 46-year career in public life. He retired to his home in Uvalde for the last 26 years of his life, where he managed his extensive real estate holdings, spent time with his great-grandchildren, and fished. Throughout his retirement, he was consulted by active Democratic politicians and was especially close to Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman.


title: John Nance Garner

text: On the morning of Garner's 95th birthday, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy called to wish him a happy birthday. This was several hours before Kennedy's assassination. Dan Rather states that he visited the Garner ranch that morning to film an interview with Garner, where Miss Texas Wool was in attendance, and that he then flew back to Dallas from Uvalde to deposit the film at then-CBS affiliate KRLD-TV (now Fox owned-and-operated KDFW-TV).


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner and Mariette Rheiner met and began dating after the primary election in 1893. They married in Sabinal, Texas on November 25, 1895. Mariette Garner served as her husband's secretary throughout his Congressional career, and Second Lady of the United States during her husband's tenure as vice president. Their son, Tully Charles Garner (1896–1968), became a banker and businessman.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner died on November 7, 1967, at the age of 98 years and 350 days, 15 days before his 99th birthday. Garner remains the longest-lived Vice President of the United States in history.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner State Park, located north of Uvalde, bears his name, as does Garner Field just east of Uvalde.


title: John Nance Garner

text: The women's dormitory at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde bears his wife's name. John Garner Middle School, located in San Antonio's North East Independent School District, is also named after him.


title: John Nance Garner

text: Garner and Schuyler Colfax, vice president under Ulysses S. Grant, are the only two vice presidents to have been Speaker of the House of Representatives prior to becoming vice president. As the vice president is also the President of the Senate, Garner and Colfax are the only people to have served as the presiding officer of both houses of Congress.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southern United States; the world's largest governing body is the American NASCAR. Its NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top-level series of professional stock car racing. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom also have forms of stock car racing. Top-level races typically range between in length.


title: Stock car racing

text: Top-level stock cars exceed at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.


title: Stock car racing

text: Contemporary NASCAR-spec top-level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860–900 hp from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set a speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built to NASCAR specifications by achieving a maximum speed of at Bonneville Speedway. For the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series, power output of the competing cars ranged from 750 to 800 hp (560 to 600 kW).


title: Stock car racing

text: In the 1920s, moonshine runners during the Prohibition era would often have to outrun the authorities. To do so, they had to upgrade their vehicles—while leaving them looking ordinary, so as not to attract attention. Eventually, runners started getting together with fellow runners and making runs together. They would challenge one another and eventually progressed to organized events in the early 1930s. The main problem racing faced was the lack of a unified set of rules among the different tracks. When Bill France Sr. saw this problem, he set up a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in order to form an organization that would unify the rules.


title: Stock car racing

text: When NASCAR was first formed by France in 1948 to regulate stock car racing in the U.S., there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers. Additionally, the cars had to be models that had sold more than 500 units to the public. This is referred to as "homologation." In NASCAR's early years, the cars were so "stock" that it was commonplace for the drivers to drive themselves to the competitions in the car that they were going to run in the race. While automobile engine technology had remained fairly stagnant in World War II, advanced aircraft piston engine development had provided a great deal of available data, and NASCAR was formed just as some of the improved technology was about to become available in production cars. Until the advent of the Trans-Am Series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning national races.


title: Stock car racing

text: The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a displacement of is widely recognized as the first postwar modern overhead valve (OHV) engine to become available to the public. The Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 and 1950, and all the automobile manufacturers could not help noticing the higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the buying public. The motto of the day became "win on Sunday, sell on Monday." However, in spite of the fact that several competing engines were more advanced, the aerodynamic and low-slung Hudson Hornet managed to win in 1951, 1952, and 1953 with a inline six-cylinder that used an old-style flathead engine, proving there was more to winning than just a more powerful engine.


title: Stock car racing

text: At the time, it typically took three years for a new design of car body or engine to end up in production and be available for NASCAR racing. Most cars sold to the public did not have a wide variety of engine choices, and the majority of the buying public at the time was not interested in the large displacement special edition engine options that would soon become popular. However, the end of the Korean War in 1953 started an economic boom, and then car buyers immediately began demanding more powerful engines.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1955, Chrysler produced the C-300 with its Chrysler FirePower engine OHV engine, which easily won in 1955 and 1956.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1957, several notable events happened. The Automobile Manufacturers Association banned manufacturers from using race wins in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams, as they felt it led to reckless street racing. This forced manufacturers to become creative in producing race parts to help racers win. Race teams were often caught trying to use factory produced racing parts that were not really available to the public, though many parts passed muster by being labeled as heavy-duty "police" parts. Car manufacturers wanted to appear compliant with the ban, but they also wanted to win.


title: Stock car racing

text: The NASCAR tracks at the time were mainly dirt tracks with modest barriers, and during the 1957 season, a Mercury Monterey crashed into the crowd. This killed many spectators, and resulted in a serious overhaul of the safety rules, which in turn prompted the building of larger, more modern tracks. Also in 1957, Chevrolet sold enough of their new fuel injected engines to the public in order to make them available for racing (and Ford began selling superchargers as an option), but Bill France immediately banned fuel injection and superchargers from NASCAR before they could race. However, even without official factory support or the use of fuel injection, Buck Baker won in 1957 driving a small-block V-8 Chevrolet Bel Air.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1961, Ford introduced the F1 390 in a low drag Galaxie "Starliner", but 1960 and '61 championships were won by drivers in 409-powered Chevrolet Impalas.


title: Stock car racing

text: Pontiac introduced their "Super Duty" 421 in Catalinas that made use of many aluminum body parts to save weight, and the Pontiacs easily won in 1962.


title: Stock car racing

text: The desire from fans and manufacturers alike for higher performance cars within the restrictions of homologation meant that carmakers began producing limited production "special edition" cars based on high production base models. It also became apparent that manufacturers were willing to produce increasingly larger engines to remain competitive (Ford had developed a 483 they hoped to race). For the 1963 season NASCAR engines were restricted to using a maximum displacement of 7.0 liters (427 cu.in.) and using only two valves per cylinder.


title: Stock car racing

text: Also, even with heavy duty special editions sold to the public for homologation purposes, the race car rules were further modified, primarily in the interest of safety. This is because race drivers and their cars during this era were subjected to forces unheard of in street use, and require a far higher level of protection than is normally afforded by truly "stock" automobile bodies.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1963 Ford sold enough of their aerodynamic "sport-roof" edition Galaxies to the public so it would qualify as stock, and with the heavy-duty FE block bored and stroked to the new limit of 427, the top five finishers were all Fords. Chrysler had bored their 413 to create the "Max Wedge" 426, but it still could not compete with the Fords. General Motors' headquarters had genuinely tried to adhere to the 1957 ban, but their Chevrolet division had also constantly tried to work around it, because the other manufacturers had openly circumvented the ban. In 1963 GM gave in and openly abandoned compliance, and Chevrolet was allowed to produce the ZO6 427, but it did not immediately enjoy success.


title: Stock car racing

text: Then, in 1964 the new Chrysler 426 Hemi engine so dominated the series in a Plymouth Belvedere "Sport Fury", the homologation rules were changed so that 1,000 of any engine and car had to be sold to the public to qualify as a stock part, instead of just 500. This made the 426 Hemi unavailable for the 1965 season.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1965 Ford adapted two single-overhead-cams to their FE 427 V8 to allow it to run at a higher RPM (called the Ford 427 Cammer). Ford started to sell "cammers" to the public to homologate it (mostly to dealer-sponsored privateer drag racers), but NASCAR changed the rules to specify that all NASCAR engines must use a single cam-in-block. But even without the cammer, the Ford FE 427 won in 1965.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 1966 Chrysler sold enough of the 426 Hemis to make it available again, and they put it in their new Dodge Charger which had a low-drag rear window that was radically sloped. It was called a "fast-back", and because of this David Pearson was the series champion that year with Richard Petty dominating 1967, winning 27 of 48 races (including 10 in a row) in the boxier Plymouth Belvedere.


title: Stock car racing

text: The 1969 season featured the Torino Cobra or Torino "Talladega" which had enough aerodynamic body improvements that it gave it a higher speed than the 1968 Torino, with no other changes. The Cobra, featuring extended nose and reshaped rockers, was renamed Talladega part way through the 1969 season when the Boss 429 replaced the 427. Starting in 1963 up till this point, Ford had won six straight Manufacturer Championships, and by the end of the 1969 season Ford would make it seven in a row. Richard Petty was tired of winning races but losing the championship, so after a private viewing of Ford's new Talladega and Boss 429 engine, he signed a lucrative deal with Ford.


title: Stock car racing

text: Prior to its first race at the Daytona 500, David Pearson's 427 powered Ford Torino Cobra set a new NASCAR record by being the first to exceed when he qualified at . When the race started Donnie Allison's Torino lead the majority of the race (84 laps). Towards the end of the race the Torino of LeeRoy Yarbrough chased down the Dodge of Charlie Glotzbach, who had an 11-second lead. It was the first Daytona 500 won on a last lap pass. Things got worse for Dodge when NASCAR, a few months later, finally allowed Ford to run its hemi-headed Boss 429 engine.


title: Stock car racing

text: With Ford winning the majority of the races, Dodge was forced to develop a better car of their own. Using the Charger 500 as a basis, they added a pointed nose. This nose was almost a carbon copy of the nose on the 1962 Ford Mustang I prototype. This radical body shape required a wing to remain stable at speeds over . They named it the Dodge Daytona after the race they hoped to win. Even though it never won a Daytona 500 race, it was still a significant improvement over its predecessor the Dodge Charger 500.


title: Stock car racing

text: NASCAR feared that these increasing speeds significantly surpassed the abilities of the tire technology of the day, and it would undoubtedly increase the number of gruesome wrecks that were occurring. As a result, the 1970 Homologation rules were changed so that one car for every two U.S. dealers had to be built for sale to the public to qualify, hoping to delay the use of aero-bodies until tires could improve.


title: Stock car racing

text: For the 1970 season Dodge raced the 1969 model Daytona, but Plymouth managed to build over 1,920 Plymouth Superbirds, which were similarly equipped to the Daytona. Petty came back to Plymouth in the plus Superbird, and Bobby Isaac won the season championship in a Daytona. NASCAR restricted all "aero-cars" including the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Charger 500, Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird to a maximum engine displacement of for 1971. Almost all teams switched to non-aero bodystyles. NASCAR eventually adopted a restrictor plate to limit top speeds for the 7.0L engine as teams switched to small-block engines.


title: Stock car racing

text: Fans, drivers, and manufacturers alike demanded a complete revamping of the rules. NASCAR responded in a way that they hoped would make the cars safer and more equal, so the race series would be more a test of the drivers, rather than a test of car technology.


title: Stock car racing

text: The era drew to a conclusion in the 1970s. 1972 brought so many rule changes, it has prompted many to consider this year as the start of the modern era of NASCAR racing. In addition, R.J. Reynolds (the tobacco conglomerate) took over as the major sponsor of NASCAR racing (changing the name to the "Winston Cup") and they made a significantly larger financial contribution than previous sponsors. Richard Petty's personal sponsorship with STP also set new, higher standards for financial rewards to driving teams. The sudden infusion of noticeably larger amounts of money changed the entire nature of the sport.


title: Stock car racing

text: The 1973 oil crisis meant that large displacement special edition homologation cars of all makes were suddenly sitting unsold. Through the balance of the 1970s until 1992, the factory stock sheetmetal over a racing frame meant the cars looked very much like their street version counterparts. It can be said that 1993, with the addition of ground effect wrap-around type spoilers, marked the beginning for non-stock sheetmetal and from that point forward, stock cars were quickly allowed to differ greatly from anything available to the public. Modern racing "stock" cars are stock in name only, using a body template that is vaguely modeled after currently available automobiles. The chassis, running gear, and other equipment have almost nothing to do with anything in ordinary automobiles. NASCAR and the auto manufacturers have become aware of this, and for 2013 each brand (Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota) have redesigned their racing sheetmetal to more resemble the street models of their cars.


title: Stock car racing

text: A stock car, in the original sense of the term, is an automobile that has not been modified from its original factory configuration. Later the term "stock car" came to mean any production-based automobile used in racing. This term is used to differentiate such a car from a "race car", a special, custom-built car designed only for racing purposes.


title: Stock car racing

text: The degree to which the cars conform to standard model specs has changed over the years and varies from country to country. Today most American stock cars may superficially resemble standard American family sedans but are in fact silhouette cars: purpose-built racing machines built to a strict set of regulations governing the car design ensuring that the chassis, suspension, engine, etc. are architecturally identical to those in stock production vehicles. For example, NASCAR Cup Series race vehicles now require fuel injection. In the UK and New Zealand there is a racing formula called stock cars, but the cars are markedly different from any road car. In Australia there was a formula that was quite similar to NASCAR called AUSCAR.


title: Stock car racing

text: The Racecar-Euro Series began in 2009 and was sanctioned by NASCAR as a touring series in 2012, currently operating as the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.


title: Stock car racing

text: "True" stock car racing, which consists of only street vehicles that can be bought by the general public, is sometimes now called "street stock", "pure stock", "hobby stock", "showroom stock", or "U-car" racing. In 1972, SCCA started its first showroom stock racing series, with a price ceiling on the cars of $3,000. Some modern showroom stock racing allows safety modifications done on showroom stock cars.


title: Stock car racing

text: Super stock classes are similar to street stock, but allow for more modifications to the engine. Power output is usually in the range of 500–550 horsepower (373–410 kilowatts). Tire width is usually limited to .


title: Stock car racing

text: Some entry level classes are called "street stock", and are similar to what is often called "banger racing" in England.


title: Stock car racing

text: Modified stock cars resemble a hybrid of open wheel cars and stock cars. The rear wheels are covered by fenders but the front wheels and engine are left exposed. First popular in the United States after World War II, this type of racing was early-on characterized by its participants' modification of passenger cars in pursuit of higher speeds, hence the name. In many regions, particularly on the east coast, modified racing is considered the highest class of stock cars in local racing.


title: Stock car racing

text: In many areas of the country Late models are usually the highest class of stock cars in local racing. Rules for construction of a late model car vary from region to region and even race track to race track. The most common variations (on paved tracks) include super late models (SLMs), late model stock cars (LMSCs), and limited late models (LLMs). A late model may be a custom built machine, or a heavily modified streetcar. Individual sanctioning bodies (like NASCAR, ACT, PASS, UARA, CRA, etc.) maintain their own late model rule books, and even individual racetracks can maintain their own rule books, meaning a late model that is legal in one series or at one track may not be legal at another without modifications. The national touring series, the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division, originated from local late model races in the east coast of the U.S. This division was later called the "Busch Series", the "Nationwide Series", and currently the "Xfinity Series" as its title sponsor changed.


title: Stock car racing

text: NASCAR is currently the largest stock car racing governing body in the world. While NASCAR sanctions multiple series, it has three national championship touring series that are commonly referred to as the "top 3" series. In addition to the top three series, NASCAR also sanctions many regional and local series. NASCAR also sanctions three international series that race in Canada, Mexico, and Europe.


title: Stock car racing

text: The most prominent championship in stock car racing is the NASCAR Cup Series. It is the most popular racing series in the United States, drawing over 6 million spectators in 1997, an average live audience of over 190,000 people for each race.


title: Stock car racing

text: The most famous event in the series is the Daytona 500, an annual race at the Daytona International Speedway. The series' second-biggest event is arguably The Brickyard 400, an annual race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500, an open-wheeled race. However, the event was excluded from the 2021 schedule in favor of a race on the track's road course. Together the Cup Series and Xfinity Series drew 8 million spectators in 1997, compared to 4 million for both American open-wheel series (CART and IRL), which merged in 2008 under the IRL banner. In 2002, 17 of the 20 US top sporting events in terms of attendance were stock car races. Only football drew more television viewers that year.


title: Stock car racing

text: The NASCAR Xfinity Series is the second tier series in the United States. It serves as the primary feeder series to the Cup Series, similar to Formula Two for Formula One, and Indy Lights for Indy Car. Races are commonly held as a support race to Cup Series events. Many current Cup Series drivers formerly competed in the Series before moving on to competing full-time in the Cup Series.


title: Stock car racing

text: The Xfinity series typically features multiple Cup Series competitors competing alongside full time Xfinity drivers. There was some controversy as Cup Series drivers tended to be more successful than full-time Xfinity drivers. Cup drivers aren't eligible to score points in the Xfinity series, and are limited to the number of races they are allowed to race in the Series.


title: Stock car racing

text: Starting in 1995, the NASCAR Truck Series is the third highest ranking stock car series in the United States. The series was the brainchild of then-NASCAR West Coast executive Ken Clapp, who was inspired by off-road truck racing. Unlike the other two national touring NASCAR series, the Truck Series race pickup truck styled bodies, though it is still considered a stock car series because of its similarity. Much like the Xfinity Series, the Truck Series often features Cup Series drivers competing for parts of the season.


title: Stock car racing

text: The Automobile Racing Club of America was founded in 1953 as a Midwest regional series. In addition to the ARCA Menards Series, it also sanctions the ARCA Midwest Tour since 2007, and previously the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series from 1999 to 2016.


title: Stock car racing

text: NASCAR purchased ARCA in early 2018. For the 2020 season, the NASCAR K&N Series East and West were rebranded under the ARCA banner as the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West.


title: Stock car racing

text: Outside of NASCAR, there are a number of other national or regional stock-car sanctioning bodies in the United States. There are a few organizations that cater to these local short tracks. The American Speed Association (ASA), Champion Racing Association (CRA), International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), United Auto Racing Association (UARA), Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS), and the all sanction their own forms of stock-car racing, on varying types of track, and with various levels of media coverage. The International Race of Champions (IROC) and Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) are usually perceived as being outside of the regular stock car racing scene because of their all-star grids.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock car racing began in New Zealand during the 1950s, first race was at Aranui Speedway on November 27, 1954. It was brought to New Zealand after New Zealand Speedway riders witnessed the huge crowds that watched the races in Britain earlier that year. As with the UK, Stock car racing in New Zealand is a very different form of racing than that of the US. Stock car racing is a full-contact sport in New Zealand: as the rule book states, "contact is not only permitted, it is encouraged".


title: Stock car racing

text: Cars are built to an extremely rigid design and feature strong steel guards around almost the entire car. "Stockcars" are divided into three classes: Superstocks, Stock cars, Ministocks (Ministocks predominantly being a non-contact youth class).


title: Stock car racing

text: Superstocks are the top class and are typically powered by V8 engines up to which can produce over . The majority of races are of an individual nature however, unique to New Zealand stock car racing is the team racing format. Typically teams racing consists of two teams of four cars each that work together to win the race. Teams normally protect their "runners" while attempting to eliminate the opposing team, the races can be decided by a points format or first across the finish line.


title: Stock car racing

text: The class most resembling the North American form of stock car racing are known as Saloon cars. Super Saloons are similar to dirt late models with the main differences being the bodies closer resemble production cars, use iron engines up to with no rear offset and run much larger sprint car tyres on the rear.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock car racing in the NASCAR mould (AUSCAR) had a following in Australia during the mid-late 1980s and through the 1990s, but with the advent of the Supercars Championship, which took up the bulk of the competitors, sponsorship dollars on offer as well as major television time, the Australian Superspeedway series shut down after 2001.


title: Stock car racing

text: The majority of the NASCAR and AUSCAR racing in Australia took place at the 1.801 km (1.119 mi), high-banked (24°) Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne. The Thunderdome, which was opened in 1987 and was built by multi-millionaire tyre retailer Bob Jane at a cost of A$54 million, was modeled on a scaled down version of the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway. Other tracks used included the mile (805 metre) Speedway Super Bowl at the Adelaide International Raceway (also owned by Jane, this was the only paved oval track in Australia other than the Thunderdome, though with only 7° banking in the turns it was more of a traditional flat track), as well as road courses such as the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit (where the cars ran as a support category to the Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix), Oran Park in Sydney, and the famous Mount Panorama Circuit.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock, in the sense of cars appearing to be similar to conventional road vehicles, is represented in the UK (and Europe) by touring cars.


title: Stock car racing

text: The term 'stock cars' in the UK refers to a specialized form of racing that bears little resemblance to any road car.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock car racing was brought to Britain in 1954. Taking place on existing greyhound or speedway tracks, the cars were mostly 'stock' cars from the 1930s with locked rear axle differentials and added armour. After the first couple of years 'specials' began to appear eventually making the 'stock' car name something of a misnomer. Since the early days of stock car racing in Britain the sport has developed into many different classes, from the destructive 'Banger' categories to the very sophisticated National Hot Rods. However, the name 'stock car' is usually reserved for that racing class which traces its roots back to these early days in the 1950s, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars, which were previously known as "The Seniors" or "Senior Stock Cars". Despite the physical demands of this full-contact sport, many competitors have been racing for 20 and even 30 years. For the first 10 years of the sport, stock cars were either adapted from road cars, or bore the recognizable bodywork of road cars. By the 1970s, chassis and bodywork had evolved into very specialized forms.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 2001 the ASCAR Racing Series was formed and ran until 2008, the series was a "NASCAR" style racing series that was predominantly ran at Rockingham Motor Speedway as well as briefly on the continent. The first season was won by John Mickel. Other notable champions were Nicolas Minassian and Ben Collins who also played as The Stig on Top Gear. The field was usually populated by professional or semi-professional stock car drivers, however notable drivers who were famous from other areas of motorsport either took part in single races or for one complete season, they included Colin McRae, Jason Plato, Matt Neal, Darren Manning, Max Papis, John Cleland and former NASCAR drivers Brandon Whitt and Randy Tolsma.


title: Stock car racing

text: The modern BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars are a highly sophisticated purpose built race car with race-tuned V-8 engines developing , quick change axles and gearboxes and biased and staggered chassis and braking set up for constant left turning. However large bumpers were mandatory with contact very much encouraged to remove opponents. The sport can be seen at venues throughout Britain and Mainland Europe. A downsized version of the BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars, the smaller BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars, previously known as "The Juniors" or "Junior Stock Cars", are also very popular. these cars are powered by the 2 litre Ford 'Pinto' engine. There are also many other formulas running on the oval tracks throughout a season that starts around March/Easter and continues to October/November.


title: Stock car racing

text: In the 2008 World Final, held at Ipswich, Andy Smith raced to victory becoming the 2008 BriSCA F1 Stock Car World Champion for the second time in his career, taking the crown from brother Stuart Smith Jnr. 2009 also saw Andy Smith win again this time at Kings Lynns Norfolk Arena. 2010 saw Andy Smith win for a 3rd consecutive time at Coventry, the same venue as his 1st win in 2006. The 2011 World Championship took place at Northampton on September 10 with 2 Paul Harrison the winner of the Gold Roof. The 2012 World Championship held at Skegness was won by 217 Lee Fairhurst. The 2013 World Championship will be held at King's Lynn on Saturday 21 September.


title: Stock car racing

text: In 2008, Ian Thompson Jr. became the first driver from Northern Ireland to win the Brisca F2 Stock Car World title since 1972 when he took the honours at Bristol in 2008. However, it was in controversial circumstances after first across the line Gordon Moodie (Thomson Jr's brother-in-law) was disqualified from the race after being found with carburetor irregularities at post race scrutineering. This irregularity has since been proven to be a manufacturing fault with the control of the driver but the governing body have refused to reinstate Gordon Moodie as the winner in the record books. In 2009 the World Championship winner was Micky Brennan and in 2010 the World Championship winner was John Fortune. The 2011 World Championship Final took place at Kings Lynns Norfolk Arena on Saturday 17 September with 871 Mark Simpson winner of the Gold Roof. In 2012, the World Championship was won again by 968 Micky Brennan this time held at Barford. The 2013 World Championship weekend will be held over 2 days of racing on 14/15 September at Smeatharpe near Honiton in Devon.


title: Stock car racing

text: Another open wheeled stock car formula that races in the UK are Spedeworth Superstox. Licensed by Spedeworth, as opposed to BriSCA, Superstox are similar to Formula Two Stock Cars with the main visual difference being a smaller wing on the roof. These cars are also powered by the 2 litre Ford 'Pinto' engine. The 2010 World Championship Final held at Ipswich was won by Colin Aylward. The 2011 World Championship Final was held at Londons Wimbledon Stadium on Sunday 23 October and won by 151 Nick Smith. The 2012 World Championship was again held at Ipswich and won by Scot 177 Stuart Gilchrist. The 2013 World Championship will be held at Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, with the date tbc.


title: Stock car racing

text: Another form of UK stock car racing is Saloon Stock Cars, regulated by the Saloon Stock Car Association. This formula is based on heavily armoured Ford Sierra, Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra cars purposely reconstructed for this full-contact class. The 2011 World Championship was held at Skegness in August with 677 Eddie Darby the winner of the Gold Roof for the next 12 months. The 2012 World Championship Final was held at Smeatharpe Raceway near Honiton in Devon in August 2012 and again won by 677 Eddie Darby. Other similar Stock Car classes are the 2 Litre Stock Cars licensed by Spedeworth and the 1300 Stock Cars licensed by several different promoters each to slightly differing rules although steps are currently being taken to standardise the specifications in order to make it a national class. The 2012 World Championship was won by 79 Barry Radcliffe at Ipswich. The 2013 World Championship will be held at King's Lynn on Saturday 17 August.


title: Stock car racing

text: Internationally, stock car racing has not enjoyed the same success as within the United States. The NASCAR Pinty's Series enjoys generally strong car-counts using the base of the sport in Canada (the short-oval region of Southern Ontario). Brazil also has a successful stock car racing series, with starting grids of 30 or more cars, and two brands competing: Chevrolet and Toyota. Brazilian Stock Car also has two developing series. Despite the name, Brazilian stock car competitions are not held on oval tracks, thus they resemble more touring car racing than stock car racing the same can be said about Argentina's popular stock series, called Turismo Carretera.


title: Stock car racing

text: NASCAR drivers take various paths to the highest stock car divisions. Some start racing on dirt surfaces but all end up racing on asphalt surfaces as they progress in their career. They frequently start in karting or in cars that are completely stock except for safety modifications. They generally advance through intermediate or advanced local-level divisions. The highest local division, asphalt late model racing, is generally considered a requirement to advance to the next step, regional and national touring series.


title: Stock car racing

text: Dirt track drivers follow the same general path. Their highest divisions are less well-known national touring late model series such as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and regional touring series.


title: Stock car racing

text: Some drivers have entered stock car racing after starting on a very different career path. The most famous might well be Mario Andretti, who is the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), NASCAR's Daytona 500 (1967), and the Formula One World Championship (1978). Juan Pablo Montoya is the only other driver with wins in all three series, with two Indy 500 wins (2000 and 2015), seven Formula One wins and two Sprint Cup wins (2007 and 2010). A. J. Foyt, with four Indianapolis 500 wins, seven IndyCar championships, and a victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on his resume, also won the Daytona 500 in 1972. Johnny Rutherford, a three-time winner at Indy, has the rare distinction of winning his first NASCAR start, a qualifying race for the 1963 Daytona 500. Dan Gurney, a leading 1960s Formula One driver and later one of the most successful constructors of Indy cars (as well as being Foyt's co-driver at Le Mans), excelled in NASCAR's road-course events, winning at Riverside five times between 1963 and 1968. A notable crossover oddity is the one-race NASCAR career of the colorful Formula One and sports car driver Innes Ireland: after retiring at the end of the 1966 season, he was invited by NASCAR czar Bill France to compete at Daytona, where he was running in the top ten when his engine blew on the 126th of 200 laps.


title: Stock car racing

text: Montoya initially surprised the auto racing community by leaving F1, but he was quickly followed by other drivers. Open wheel stars like Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, A. J. Allmendinger and Danica Patrick all made the move to the Monster Energy Cup series, with varying degrees of success. Two-time Australian Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose competed in the Monster Energy Cup Series from 2007 to 2014, winning two races.


title: Stock car racing

text: Other drivers compete often in stock car racing but are well known for their success elsewhere. Ron Fellows and Boris Said are champion road racers and are often brought in by teams solely to compete in NASCAR's road course events, a title known as road course ringers. Robby Gordon was one of NASCAR's few remaining owner-drivers, but he is most famous for his numerous off-road championships and his three Baja 1000 wins.


title: Stock car racing

text: Stock car races take place predominantly on oval tracks of 3 or 4 turns, with all turns to the left. Oval tracks are classified as "short track" (less than 1 mile), "intermediate" or "speedway" (1 to 2 miles) or "superspeedway" (over 2 miles). "Road courses" are any tracks having both left and right turns. Depending on the track, typical race speeds can vary from at Martinsville to over at Talladega. In 1987 Bill Elliott's qualifying time at Talladega brought about a change at superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega). Such high speeds and Bobby Allison's car going airborne into the catch-fence and injuring fans forced NASCAR to implement power-reducing measures, one of which was the mandated implement of below carburetor restrictor plates. This later became known as restrictor plate racing.


title: Stock car racing

text: Oval circuits differ from the rough terrain and sharp turns of Rally, and the complicated twists and turns of Formula One tracks that put up to 5 or 6 "g" of horizontal stress on the driver's body. Stock cars are much heavier than Formula One cars, and as a result they are generally slower. Additionally, they cannot produce the g-forces of an open wheel car. A stock car's weak handling with high power output places more emphasis on car control.


title: Stock car racing

text: In contrast with most forms of racing, minor car-to-car contact is generally accepted in stock car racing. This may happen in the form of forcing another vehicle out of the way, or pushing a competing vehicle forward for mutual benefit. Stock cars are generally built to be tolerant of superficial damage to bodywork, whereas open wheel designs can experience severe reductions in performance with even slight spoiler damage. On intermediate tracks and superspeedways, drafting is used to reduce the overall effect of drag. A driver accomplishes this by positioning the vehicle close to the one ahead of so as to benefit from the other's slipstream. Drafting was "discovered" by Junior Johnson during his winning performance at the 1960 Daytona 500.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Joan Laporta Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish politician and current president of FC Barcelona.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a number of notable Spanish firms as clients. He served as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia between 2010 and 2012.


title: Joan Laporta

text: During his first tenure as president of FC Barcelona, they set a new record for trophies won in a 12-month period, winning 6 in 2009. After departing in 2010, he was re-elected as club president in 2021.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta started his involvement with FC Barcelona leading the ""Elefant Blau"" ("Blue Elephant"), a group which opposed former president Josep Lluís Núñez and which, in 1998, tried unsuccessfully a vote of no confidence against him.


title: Joan Laporta

text: In the 2003 elections, Laporta did not start as the favourite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the expected victor, publicist Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled) promise to bring David Beckham to Barcelona. Laporta had the support of other young businessmen of Barcelona, such as Sandro Rosell. Laporta quickly became a media star, even more than some of the players.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta's first season (2003–04) as president would prove to be a watershed for the club, but not without initial instability. The club situation was one of bitter unhappiness and disappointment amongst both fans and players after the club failed to meet their own standards to match Real Madrid's success in the early 2000s, having not won trophies since 1999.


title: Joan Laporta

text: With the Laporta's arrival, and that of football superstar Ronaldinho (his star signing after David Beckham's decision to go to Real Madrid, and Thierry Henry who decided to remain at Arsenal) as well as new manager Frank Rijkaard, among others, the club was forced to embark on a new phase, having elected a new, young and largely untested managerial board along with him. Laporta also decided to fight against the threat of violence outside the Camp Nou stadium, specially from the "Boixos Nois" (Mad Boys) ultras gang, and faced insults and death threats from them. Police investigation revealed they had planned to kidnap him. To exacerbate the situation, the 2003–04 season began abysmally results-wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for the fans' understanding and patience with him and Rijkaard as the club slowly phased out underachieving players from the old guard in order to rebuild a new-look side around Ronaldinho.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club with the team spectacularly returning to form and finishing second after being at the bottom of the table in 2003–04, and then finally managing to win La Liga titles both in 2004–05 and in 2005–06. During this period, the inherited massive financial debt started to be cut down, and only two players remained from the original team that did not win a major title in six years, with players like Deco, Samuel Eto'o and Edmílson as the new starlets, around Ronaldinho and a core of home-grown players like Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Víctor Valdés and Oleguer. The club finally won the UEFA Champions League on 17 May 2006, only their second time in history, as well as that year's Liga championship.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Barcelona had a long history of avoiding shirt sponsors. In 2006, FC Barcelona announced a five-year agreement with UNICEF, where the club would donate €1.5 million and the UNICEF logo would feature on their shirts. After Laporta left as president, the club signed shirt sponsorships with Qatar Foundation and later Qatar Airways, which he criticised.


title: Joan Laporta

text: There was some discussion about when exactly Laporta's mandate started, with the board of directors holding one opinion and the opposition another. One club member went to the court and, on 19 July 2006, a judge ruled that the first eight days of his presidency in June 2003 counted as the first year of his four-year term; his term had therefore expired and new elections were called. Temporarily, the club was ruled by a management committee led by the economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin.


title: Joan Laporta

text: The elections were to be held on 3 September 2006, but they turned out to be unnecessary as on 22 August, Barcelona confirmed Laporta's presidency for another four years after no other would-be candidate received the 1,804 signatures required to stand for the elections


title: Joan Laporta

text: The poor results of the sports sections, especially in football, together with concerns about his leadership style, resulted in a censure motion which took place on 6 July 2008 and was led by Oriol Giralt. Exit polls showed that 60.60% of the 39,389 votes cast were against Laporta. Even though he lost the overall vote, however, the necessary 66% to hold new elections was not reached.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Following the results, it was speculated that Laporta would resign due to pressure from fellow directors. This would have resulted in then vice-president Albert Vicens taking over for Laporta, with Ferran Soriano replacing Vicens as the main vice-president. These rumours, however, were quickly dismissed by Laporta. On 10 July 2008, 8 of the 17 board members – vice-presidents Albert Vicens, Ferran Soriano and Marc Ingla, and directors Evarist Murtra, Toni Rovira, Xavier Cambra, Clàudia Vives-Fierro and Josep Lluís Vilaseca – resigned following Laporta's confirmation that he will stay on as president of the club despite the opinion of the members. In a press statement, they revealed that they resigned due to "discrepancies in the way to act after the result of the motion".


title: Joan Laporta

text: After dismissing Barcelona head coach Frank Rijkaard, Laporta appointed the untested and inexperienced Pep Guardiola, Barça's team captain at the end of the "Dream Team" era. Guardiola's only experience as a coach was with the B team the previous season (which won promotion from the fourth tier to the third). Although the team started poorly, losing the first match to Numancia and drawing the second, Barcelona had the best season in its history, winning the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Supercopa de España and UEFA Super Cup titles followed in August, as well as a FIFA Club World Cup victory in December. He was succeeded by Sandro Rosell in 2010.


title: Joan Laporta

text: In November 2020, Laporta announced president candidacy for the 2021 FC Barcelona presidential elections. In January 2021, he officially entered the presidential race after presenting 10,252 signatures out of which 9,625 were validated and was the favorite to win the presidential election. On 7 March, Laporta won the presidential election, in which he received 54.28% of the vote ahead of Víctor Font and Toni Freixa who received 29.99% and 8.58% of the vote respectively. He succeeded Josep Maria Bartomeu who resigned in October 2020 to avoid facing a vote of no confidence from the club members.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta has long been involved in politics. In 1996, he joined the Independence Party, formed by Pilar Rahola and Àngel Colom, former members of the Republican Left of Catalonia.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta has long held ambitions to enter Spanish politics after leaving office as president of FC Barcelona. He has in the past been outspoken about his political affiliations: he supports Catalan independence from Spain. FC Barcelona is seen by many as a symbol of Catalonia, a generally accepted fact which Laporta often emphasizes but has been criticized by those who think that Barça should remain neutral from a political standpoint.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Following the end of his second term as president, Laporta formed the independence-seeking political party "Democràcia Catalana" (Catalan Democracy). In the summer of 2010, Laporta's party merged with other extra-parliamentary pro-independence parties and grassroots movements into a political platform called Catalan Solidarity for Independence. Laporta was elected its president.


title: Joan Laporta

text: In the Catalan elections of 28 November 2010, the new party managed to win 4 seats in the 135-member Catalan Parliament, making it the sixth largest party out of seven. Laporta was elected in the circumscription of Barcelona.


title: Joan Laporta

text: In 2011, Laporta stepped down as president of the Catalan Solidarity for Independence and left the party.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta's management of the sports sections of the club, especially the basketball section, has been controversial. On 2 June 2005, he faced the resignation of five members of the club's board of directors, including Sandro Rosell. They accused him of having changed for the worse as a person, having adopted authoritarian traits and harbouring ambitions of power.


title: Joan Laporta

text: In October 2005, he faced a scandal when his brother-in-law and member of the board of directors in charge of security, Alejandro Echevarría, was revealed to be a member of the Francisco Franco Foundation. After several denials by Echevarría and Laporta, contested by documents shown by a former member of the board of directors, Laporta was finally forced to accept Echevarría's resignation. Echevarría continued, however, to be close to the club and he organized the security during the celebrations of the 2005–06 La Liga championship.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta's own political history added to the complications surrounding the Echevarría scandal, as his politics are diametrically opposed to those implied by Echevarría's membership of the Francisco Franco Foundation. Laporta is a self-described Catalan nationalist and has been identified on several occasions as supporting the independence of Catalonia from Spain. In the early 1990s, he and fellow Catalan politicians Pilar Rahola and Ángel Colom founded the now-defunct Partit per la independencia, which supported Catalan separatism. He was also an active participant at the controversial Frankfurt Book Fair of 2007, at which Catalan language and culture were the special featured invitees, but not including other Catalonia-based authors who wrote in other languages, such as Spanish. At the fair, Laporta stated that he "hopes that FC Barcelona continues to be a tool to promote the Catalan language and culture" and to the contrary, he would feel obligated "to create the Catalan Republic of Barcelona".


title: Joan Laporta

text: Another criticism Joan Laporta faced was coming back to his presidential chair in 2021 for FC Barcelona club, which already had big financial issues and its best football player Lionel Messi on the verge of leaving, with promises to turn the situation around and persuade Messi to stay. He failed the promise, Messi left for another club making some fans angry and upset. Messi's exit from Barcelona led to Jaume Llopis, a former member of the Commission, to resign from his post stating that the club and the president did not do their all to keep the Argentine at the club.


title: Joan Laporta

text: According to OK Diario, leading Spanish investigative newspaper, Laporta would be implicated in a case of fraud of more than EUR 1,000,000 from a Dubai businessman together with a character of dubious reputation, Rayco Garcia Cabrera, who already committed similar crimes by falsifying Real Madrid contracts in 2015 in Oman and Tanzania.


title: Joan Laporta

text: Laporta was married to Constanza Echevarría and has three sons, Pol, Guillem and Jan. Laporta's son Pol is a footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder.


title: Perfect competition

text: In economics, specifically general equilibrium theory, a perfect market, also known as an atomistic market, is defined by several idealizing conditions, collectively called perfect competition, or atomistic competition. In theoretical models where conditions of perfect competition hold, it has been demonstrated that a market will reach an equilibrium in which the quantity supplied for every product or service, including labor, equals the quantity demanded at the current price. This equilibrium would be a Pareto optimum.


title: Perfect competition

text: The theory of perfect competition has its roots in late-19th century economic thought. Léon Walras gave the first rigorous definition of perfect competition and derived some of its main results. In the 1950s, the theory was further formalized by Kenneth Arrow and Gérard Debreu.


title: Perfect competition

text: Imperfect competition was a theory created to explain the more realistic kind of market interaction that lies in between perfect competition and a monopoly. Edward Chamberlin wrote "Monopolistic Competition" in 1933 as "a challenge to the traditional viewpoint that competition and monopolies are alternatives and that individual prices are to be explained in either terms of one or the other" (Dewey,88.) In this book, and for much of his career, he "analyzed firms that do not produce identical goods, but goods that are close substitutes for one another" (Sandmo,300.)


title: Perfect competition

text: Another key player in understanding imperfect competition is Joan Robinson, who published her book "The Economics of Perfect Competition" the same year Chamberlain published his. While Chamberlain focused much of his work on product development, Robinson focused heavily on price formation and discrimination (Sandmo,303.) The act of price discrimination under imperfect competition implies that the seller would sell their goods at different prices depending on the characteristic of the buyer to increase revenue (Robinson,204.) Joan Robinson and Edward Chamberlain came to many of the same conclusions regarding imperfect competition while still adding a bit of their twist to the theory. Despite their similarities or disagreements about who discovered the idea, both were extremely helpful in allowing firms to understand better how to center their goods around the wants of the consumer to achieve the highest amount of revenue possible.


title: Perfect competition

text: Real markets are never perfect. Those economists who believe in perfect competition as a useful approximation to real markets may classify those as ranging from close-to-perfect to very imperfect. The real estate market is an example of a very imperfect market. In such markets, the theory of the second best proves that if one optimality condition in an economic model cannot be satisfied, it is possible that the next-best solution involves changing other variables away from the values that would otherwise be optimal.


title: Perfect competition

text: There is a set of market conditions which are assumed to prevail in the discussion of what perfect competition might be if it were theoretically possible to ever obtain such perfect market conditions. These conditions include:


title: Perfect competition

text: In a perfect market the sellers operate at zero economic surplus: sellers make a level of return on investment known as normal profits.


title: Perfect competition

text: "Normal" profit is a component of (implicit) costs and not a component of business profit at all. It represents all the opportunity cost, as the time that the owner spends running the firm could be spent on running a different firm. The enterprise component of normal profit is thus the profit that a business owner considers necessary to make running the business worth while: that is, it is comparable to the next best amount the entrepreneur could earn doing another job. Particularly if enterprise is not included as a factor of production, it can also be viewed a return to capital for investors including the entrepreneur, equivalent to the return the capital owner could have expected (in a safe investment), plus compensation for risk. In other words, the cost of normal profit varies both within and across industries; it is commensurate with the riskiness associated with each type of investment, as per the risk–return spectrum.


title: Perfect competition

text: In circumstances of perfect competition, only normal profits arise when the long run economic equilibrium is reached; there is no incentive for firms to either enter or leave the industry.