document_title: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (U.S. game show)

question_text: who wants to be a millionaire first show

question_tokens: who wants to be a millionaire first show

text: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (U.S. game show)

text: Gameplay[edit]

text: Core rules[edit]

text: At its core, the game is a quiz competition in which the goal is to correctly answer a series of fourteen (originally fifteen) consecutive multiple-choice questions. The questions are of increasing difficulty,[3] except in the 2010–15 format overhaul, where the contestants were faced with a round of ten questions of random difficulty, followed by a round of four questions of increasing difficulty.[4] Each question is worth a specified amount of money; the amounts are cumulative in the first round, but not in the second. If the contestant gives a wrong answer to any question, their game is over and their winnings are reduced (or increased, in the first two questions) to $1,000 for tier-one questions, $5,000 for tier-two questions, and $50,000 for tier-three questions. However, the contestant has the option of "walking away" without giving an answer after being presented with a question, in which case the game ends and the contestant is guaranteed to walk away with all the money they have previously received.[4] With the exception of the shuffle format, upon correctly answering questions five and ten, contestants are guaranteed at least the amount of prize money associated with that level. If the contestant gives an incorrect answer, their winnings drop down to the last milestone achieved. Since 2015, if the contestant answers a question incorrectly before reaching question five, he or she leaves with $1,000, even on the first question that is worth only $500. For celebrities, the minimum guarantee for their nominated charities is $10,000. Prior to the shuffle format, a contestant left with nothing if (s)he answered a question incorrectly before reaching the first milestone. In the shuffle format era, contestants who incorrectly answered a question had their winnings reduced to $1,000 in round one and $25,000 in round two.[5]

text: Format history[edit]

text: On the ABC versions, ten contestants competed in a preliminary "Fastest Finger" round for the right to play the main game on each episode.[6] The contestants were presented with a question and a list of four answers which needed to be put in a specific order. Using keys on their podiums, each of the contestants attempted to enter the correct order in the shortest amount of time, with a maximum time limit of 20 seconds. If the main game ended and there was still time available for another game, the remaining contestants played another Fastest Finger round for a chance to play the main game. In the event of a tie between two or more contestants, those contestants played an additional Fastest Finger question to break the tie. If all contestants answered the question incorrectly, the round was repeated with another question.[7] Fastest Finger was eliminated from the gameplay when the syndicated version premiered in 2002.[8]

text: From 2008 to 2010, time limits were used for each question.[9] Contestants were given up to 15 seconds each for questions one through five, 30 seconds each for questions six through ten, and 45 seconds each for questions eleven through fourteen. Unused time was banked, and if the contestant reached question fifteen, he or she was given 45 seconds plus the amount of time previously banked. If the clock reached zero before a contestant could provide a final answer, the contestant was forced to walk away with the winnings they had at that point. During the clock format era, a "Millionaire Menu" was introduced, in which categories are revealed for each question at the beginning of the game, and are made visible to the contestant for their future reference. Some prize levels also changed at the start of season eight. Most of the episodes in season eight (from the "Million Dollar Tournament of Ten" onward) featured special "Celebrity Questions" that were mid-level in monetary value, and were provided by notable individuals whose identities were not revealed until the contestant reached their special questions.[10]

text: When the ninth syndicated season began on September 13, 2010, the format was overhauled. Ten questions were asked in round one, each assigned one of ten different money amounts which were randomized at the beginning of the game, as were the questions themselves. The difficulty of the questions was not tied to the dollar value. The dollar values for each question remained hidden until a contestant either provided a correct answer or chose to "jump" the question. The value of each question answered correctly was added to the contestant's bank, for a maximum total of $68,600. A contestant who completed the round successfully could walk at any subsequent point with all the money in their bank, or could walk without completing the round with half that amount (e.g., a contestant who banked $30,000 would leave with $15,000).[5] After completing round one, the contestant moved on to a second round of gameplay (the "Classic Millionaire" round), in which four non-categorized questions were played for set non-cumulative values and a correct answer augmented the contestant's winnings to that point, as in the older formats.[5] The shuffle format changes, including the randomization and double-round distribution of questions, were reverted for the fourteenth syndicated season.

text: From 2011 to 2014, certain weeks of the show were designated as "Double Your Money" weeks. In those, a pre-selected question in round one was designated the "Double Money Question." When a contestant answered such a question correctly, the monetary value behind the question was doubled and added to his or her bank, giving him or her the possibility of adding up to $50,000 to his or her bank on a single question; under these special rules, it was possible for a contestant to finish round one with a maximum total of $93,600 in their bank. However, when a contestant "jumped" the question, they forfeited the doubled money.[4]

text: In the event that a contestant leaves and very little time remains (in the final part of an episode), a randomly selected audience member is given one chance to win $1,000 by answering the next question intended for the previous contestant (or $2,000 if the next question was on a Double Money episode). Regardless of the outcome, the audience member receives a special prize. In seasons nine and ten, the prize was a copy of the Millionaire video game; as of season eleven, audience members now receive 20 free playings for a Facebook game based on the show's format. In season thirteen, which gave this game the name "Thousandaire", the question the audience player faced did not come from the previous player's stack, but was instead a separate question. Two additional audience games were also introduced and played in season thirteen: "Team Millionaire", where two audience members are both presented with a single question and lock in their individual answers separately for the chance to win $500 and a bonus question with which they can double their money; and "Fastest Feet", a variation of Fastest Finger which four audience members play for the chance to split $1,000.[11]

text: Payout structure[edit]

text: Five different ladders have been used for a season or more over the course of the series.

text:
Question
number
Question value

1999–2004
2004–09
2009–10
2010–15[5]
2015–present

1
$100
$500
Random value
($100, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, $7,000, $10,000, $15,000, and $25,000)

The value of each correct response accumulated through the first 10 questions, for a potential maximum of $68,600.
$500

2
$200
$1,000
$1,000

3
$300
$2,000
$2,000

4
$500
$3,000
$3,000

5
$1,000
$5,000
$5,000

6
$2,000
$7,500
$7,000

7
$4,000
$10,000
$10,000

8
$8,000
$12,500
$20,000

9
$16,000
$15,000
$30,000

10
$32,000
$25,000
$50,000

11
$64,000
$50,000
$100,000

12
$125,000
$100,000
$250,000

13
$250,000
$500,000

14
$500,000
$1,000,000

15
$1,000,000

text: The original primetime payment structure was also used for the first two seasons of the syndicated version. The third syndicated season saw a reduction in the values for questions ten through twelve. In the eighth syndicated season, the lower question values were adjusted to raise the first safe haven to $5,000.[12] When the "shuffle format" was used, the first ten questions had random amounts from $100 to $25,000, as listed above. In addition, the number of questions needed to win the million was reduced to 14, removing the $50,000 level; the last four values remained the same for round two.[5] When the shuffle format ended at the start of the 2015–16 season, the switch to 14 questions was retained; the first safe haven was kept at $5,000, but the second was raised to $50,000.

text: The $500,000 and $1,000,000 prizes were initially lump-sum payments, but were changed to annuities in September 2002 when the series moved to syndication. Contestants winning either of these prizes receive $250,000 thirty days after their show broadcasts and the remainder paid in equal annual payments. The $500,000 prize consists of $25,000 per year for 10 years, while the $1,000,000 prize consists of $37,500 per year for 20 years.[4]

text: Any contestant who answers one of the first five questions incorrectly still receives a $1,000 consolation prize, contrary to what the home audience is told.[13] This is in contrast to the old format, in which contestants who answered one of the first five questions incorrectly actually left with nothing at all.

text: Lifelines[edit]

text: Contestants are given a series of lifelines to aid them with difficult questions. They can use as many lifelines as desired per question, but each lifeline can only be used once per game. Three lifelines are available from the start of the game. Depending on the format of the show, additional lifelines may become available after the contestant correctly answers the fifth or tenth question. In the clock format, usage of lifelines temporarily paused the clock while the lifelines were played.

text: The show's original three lifelines were "50:50", in which the computer eliminates two of the incorrect answers; "Phone-a-Friend", which allowed the contestant to make a 30-second call to one of a number of friends (who provided their phone numbers in advance) and read them the question and answer choices, after which the friend provided input; and "Ask the Audience", in which audience members use touch pads to designate what they believe the correct answer to be, after which the percentage of the audience choosing each specific option is displayed to the contestant. 50:50 was eliminated at the end of the show's sixth syndicated season, only to be restored in season fourteen. Phone-a-Friend was removed on the episode aired January 11, 2010, after it was determined that there was an increasing trend of contestants' friends using search engines and other Internet resources, unfairly privileging individuals who had computer access over those who did not, and that it was contrary to the original intent of the lifeline where friends were supposed to provide assistance based on what they already knew.[14] From 2004 to 2008, there was a fourth lifeline called "Switch the Question",[9] earned upon answering question ten, in which the computer replaced, at the contestant's request, one question with another of the same monetary value; however, any lifelines used on the original question were not reinstated for the new question. Switch the Question returned as "Cut the Question" on a special week of shows with child contestants aired in 2014.

text: During the Super Millionaire spin-off, two new lifelines were introduced: "Double Dip", which allowed the contestant to make two guesses at a question, but required them to play out the question, forbidding them to walk away or use any further lifelines; and "Three Wise Men", in which the contestant was allowed to ask a sequestered panel of three people chosen by the producers, appearing via face-to-face audio and video feeds, which answer they believed was correct, within a time limit of 30 seconds. When the clock format was implemented, Double Dip replaced 50:50,[9] and the show introduced a new lifeline called "Ask the Expert", which was like Three Wise Men but had one person (usually a celebrity or a former Millionaire contestant) functioning as an expert instead of a panel of three people, lacked the time limit of its predecessor, and allowed the contestant and expert to discuss the question. Ask the Expert was originally available after the fifth question,[15] but was moved to the beginning of the game after Phone-a-Friend was removed.

text: The show's lifelines sometimes used corporate sponsorship. The Phone-a-Friend lifeline was sponsored by the original AT&T throughout the run of the ABC primetime show and in the first season of the syndicated version, then by the current AT&T for the 2009 primetime episodes. From 2004 to 2006, Ask the Audience was sponsored by AOL, which allowed users of its Instant Messenger to add the screen name MillionaireIM to their buddy list and receive an instant message with the question and the four possible answers, to which the users replied with their choices.[16] In addition, the Ask the Expert lifeline was sponsored by Skype for its live audio and video feeds.[15]

text: During the shuffle format era, the show introduced a new lifeline, "Jump the Question", which was able to be used twice in a single game for seasons nine through twelve. At any point prior to selecting a final answer, a contestant could use Jump the Question to skip the current question and move on to the next one, thus reducing the number of questions they had to correctly answer. However, if the contestant used Jump the Question, they did not gain any money from the question they chose to skip (for example, a contestant would not gain the typical $100,000 if they jumped to the $250,000 question). This lifeline could not be used on the $1 million question, since it is the final question in the game. The "Plus One" lifeline, introduced in season thirteen, allows a contestant to bring a companion with him or her to the podium for help in answering a question.[4] The introduction of this lifeline reduced the number of Jump the Question lifelines available from two to one. On occasional specially designated weeks, starting with a Halloween-themed week that aired from October 29 to November 2, 2012, the shuffle format used a special lifeline called "Crystal Ball", which allows the contestant to see the money value of a round one question prior to giving an answer.[2] Jump the Question was removed at the end of the show's thirteenth syndicated season. For the show's fourteenth season, during a special week of college shows, players got another lifeline called "Extra Help", played similarly to "Plus One" and allowing for another companion to help the player; however, it could only be used after "Plus One" was used.[17]

text: Top prize winners[edit]

text: The first contestant to correctly answer all 15 questions and win the top prize of $1,000,000 was John Carpenter, on the episode aired November 19, 1999.[18][19] In 2000, the million dollar top prize was awarded five times: to Dan Blonsky on the episode aired January 18, to Joe Trela on March 23, to Bob House on June 13, to Kim Hunt on July 6, and to David Goodman on July 11.[19]

text: In January 2001, when no contestant had won $1 million in any show that aired over a period of five months, the top prize was then changed from a flat $1 million to an accumulating jackpot that increased by $10,000 for each episode where the top prize was not won. On April 10, 2001, Kevin Olmstead correctly answered the final question and won $2,180,000, making him the biggest winner in television history at the time.[20] The top prize for correctly answering the final question returned to $1 million following Olmstead's win and has remained unchanged since; just five days after Olmstead's win, the standard $1 million prize was awarded to Bernie Cullen.[21] The last top prize winner on the original network version was Ed Toutant, on the episode aired September 7, 2001;[22] he had previously appeared on the episode aired January 31, 2001 when the jackpot was $1,860,000, where he was ruled to have answered his $16,000 question incorrectly, but when it was discovered that there was a mistake in that question, Toutant was invited back[23] and won the $1,860,000 jackpot.[22] On the Super Millionaire spin-off, Robert Essig won $1,000,000 after answering the twelfth question and then walked away, not reaching the final question for $10,000,000.[24]

text: On the syndicated version's first season, two contestants correctly answered all 15 questions and won the top prize of $1,000,000: Kevin Smith on February 18, 2003, and Nancy Christy on May 8 of the same year.[25] During the Million Dollar Tournament of Ten which aired in November 2009, Sam Murray, who had previously supplied correct responses for eleven questions, risked his winnings on a special $1,000,000 question; he was the only contestant to answer his question correctly.[26]

text: Personnel[edit]

text: Hosts[edit]

text: The original network version of the U.S. Millionaire and the subsequent primetime specials were hosted by Regis Philbin.[27] When the syndicated version was being developed, the production team felt that it was not feasible for Philbin to continue hosting, as the show recorded four episodes in a single day, and that the team was looking for qualities in a new host: it had to be somebody who would love the contestants and be willing to root for them.[1] Rosie O'Donnell was initially offered a hosting position on this new edition, but declined the opportunity almost immediately.[28] Eventually Meredith Vieira, who had previously competed in a celebrity charity event on the original network version, was named host of the new syndicated edition.[29]

text: ABC originally offered Vieira hosting duties on the syndicated Millionaire to sweeten one of her re-negotiations for the network's daytime talk show The View, which she was moderating at the time.[30] When the show was honored by GSN on its Gameshow Hall of Fame special, Vieira herself further explained her motivation for hosting the syndicated version as follows:

text:
“
I did the show because I fell in love with the show, and really, first and foremost, as a parent, [I feel that] there aren't that many shows on television that you can watch as a family. And when Michael Davies approached me and said, "Would you be interested in hosting the syndicated version?", I said, "Just point me toward the contract! I am so there!"[1]
”

text: From 2007 to 2011, when Vieira was concurrently working as a co-host of Today, guest hosts appeared in the second half of each season of the syndicated version. Guest hosts who filled in for Vieira included Philbin,[31] Al Roker,[32] Tom Bergeron,[33] Tim Vincent,[34] Dave Price,[35] Billy Bush,[36] Leeza Gibbons,[36] Cat Deeley,[37] Samantha Harris,[38] Shaun Robinson,[39] Steve Harvey,[40] John Henson,[41] Sherri Shepherd,[42] Tim Gunn,[43] and D. L. Hughley.[44]

text: On January 10, 2013, Vieira announced that after eleven seasons with the syndicated Millionaire, she would be leaving the show as part of an effort to focus on other projects in her career. She finalized taping of her last episodes with the show in November 2012.[30][45] Her successor as host of the syndicated Millionaire, Cedric the Entertainer, was introduced to the show when season twelve premiered on September 2, 2013.[46][47] On April 30, 2014, Deadline announced that Cedric had decided to leave the show in order to lighten his workload,[48] resulting in him being succeeded by Terry Crews for the 2014–15 season.[49] Crews was succeeded by Chris Harrison, host of The Bachelor and its spin-offs, when season 14 premiered on September 14, 2015.[50]

text: Production staff[edit]

text: The original executive producers of the U.S. Millionaire were British television producers Michael Davies and Paul Smith,[51] the latter of whom undertook the responsibility of licensing Millionaire to American airwaves as part of his effort to transform the UK program into a global franchise.[52] Smith served until 2007 and Davies until 2010; additionally, Leigh Hampton (previously co-executive producer in the later days of the network version and in the syndicated version's first two seasons) served as an executive producer from 2004 to 2010. Rich Sirop, who was previously a supervising producer, became the executive producer in 2010 and held that position until 2014, when he left Millionaire to hold the same position with Vieira's newly launched syndicated talk show,[53] and was replaced by James Rowley. Vincent Rubino, who had previously been the syndicated Millionaire's supervising producer for its first two seasons,[51] served as that version's co-executive producer for the 2004–05 season,[54] after which he was succeeded by Vieira herself, who continued to hold the title until her departure in 2013 (sharing her position with Sirop for the 2009–10 season).[51]

text: Producers of the network version included Hampton, Rubino, Leslie Fuller, Nikki Webber, and Terrence McDonnell. For its first two seasons the syndicated version had Deirdre Cossman for its managing producer, then Dennis F. McMahon became producer for the next two seasons (joined by Dominique Bruballa as his line producer), after which Jennifer Weeks produced the next four seasons of syndicated Millionaire shows, initially accompanied by Amanda Zucker as her line producer, but later joined for the 2008–09 season by Tommy Cody (who became sole producer in the 2009–10 season). The first 65 shuffle format episodes were produced by McPaul Smith, and as of 2011, the title of producer is held by Bryan Lasseter. The network version had Ann Miller and Tiffany Trigg for its supervising producers; they were joined by Wendy Roth in the first two seasons, and by Michael Binkow in the third and final season. After Rubino's promotion to co-executive producer, the syndicated version's later supervising producers included Sirop (2004–09), Geena Gintzig (2009–10), Brent Burnette (2010–12), Geoff Rosen (2012–14), and Liz Harris (2014–16), who currently serves as the co-executive producer.[51]

text: The original network version of Millionaire was directed by Mark Gentile, who later served as the syndicated version's consulting producer for its first two seasons, and then as the director of Duel, which ran on ABC from December 2007 to July 2008. The syndicated version was directed by Matthew Cohen from 2002 to 2010, by Rob George from 2010 to 2013, and by Brian McAloon in the 2013–14 season. Former Price Is Right director Rich DiPirro became Millionaire's director in 2014.[51]

text: Production[edit]

text: The U.S. version of Millionaire is a co-production of 2waytraffic, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Valleycrest Productions, a division of The Walt Disney Company. 2waytraffic purchased Millionaire's original production company Celador in 2008,[55][56] while Valleycrest has produced the series since its beginning,[57] and holds the copyright on all U.S. Millionaire episodes to date. The show is distributed by Valleycrest's corporate sibling Disney-ABC Home Entertainment & Television Distribution (previously known as Buena Vista Television).

text: The U.S. Millionaire was taped at ABC's Television Center East studio on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York from 1999 to 2012. Tapings were moved to NEP Broadcasting's Metropolis Studios in East Harlem in 2013,[58] and production moved to studios located in Stamford, Connecticut the following year.[59] For the 2016–17 season, production relocated to Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. [60] Episodes of the syndicated version are produced from June to December.[4] The show originally taped four episodes in a single day,[1] but that number has since been changed to five.

text: Origins[edit]

text: When the U.S. version of Millionaire was first conceived in 1998, Michael Davies was a young television producer who was serving as the head of ABC's little-noticed reality programming division (at a time when reality television had not yet become a phenomenon in America).[1] At that time, ABC was lingering in third place in the ratings indexes among U.S. broadcast networks, and was on the verge of losing its status as one of the "Big Three" networks.[61] Meanwhile, the popularity of game shows was at an all-time nadir, as with the exception of The Price Is Right, the genre was absent from networks' daytime lineups at that point. Having earlier created Debt for Lifetime Television and participated with Al Burton and Donnie Brainard in the creation of Win Ben Stein's Money for Comedy Central,[1] Davies decided to create a primetime game show that would save the network from collapse and revive interest in game shows.[1]

text: Davies originally considered reviving CBS's long-lost quiz show The $64,000 Question for a new era, with a new home on ABC.[62] However, this effort's development was limited as when the producer heard that the British Millionaire was about to make its debut, he got his friends and family members in the UK to record the show, and subsequently ended up receiving about eight FedEx packages from different family members, each containing a copy of Millionaire's first episode. Davies was so captivated by everything that he had seen and heard, from host Chris Tarrant's intimate involvement with the contestant to the show's lighting system and music tracks, that he chose to abandon his work on the $64,000 Question revival in favor of introducing Millionaire to American airwaves, convinced that it would become extraordinarily popular.[1]

text: When Davies presented his ideas for the U.S. Millionaire to ABC, the network's executives initially rejected them, so he resigned his position there and became an independent producer.[1] Determined to bring his idea for the show to fruition, Davies decided that he was betting his whole career on Millionaire's production, and the first move that he made was planning to attach a celebrity host to the show. Along with Philbin, a number of other popular television personalities were considered for hosting positions on the U.S. Millionaire during its development, including Peter Jennings,[1] Bob Costas, Phil Donahue, and Montel Williams, but among those considered, it was Philbin who wanted the job the most, and when he saw an episode of the British Millionaire and was blown away by his content, Davies and his team ultimately settled on having him host the American show.[61] When Davies approached ABC again after having hired Philbin, the network finally agreed to accept the U.S. Millionaire.[1] With production now ready to begin, the team had only five months to finish developing the show and get it launched, with Davies demanding perfection in every element of Millionaire's production.[1]

text: Audition process[edit]

text: With few exceptions, any legal resident of the United States who is 18 years of age or older has the potential of becoming a contestant through Millionaire's audition process. Those ineligible include employees, immediate family or household members, and close acquaintances of SPE, Disney, or any of their respective affiliates or subsidiaries; television stations that broadcast the syndicated version; or any advertising agency or other firm or entity engaged in the production, administration, or judging of the show. Also ineligible are current candidates for political office and individuals who have appeared on a different game show outside of cable that has been broadcast within the past year, is intended to be broadcast within the next year, or played the main game on any of the U.S. versions of Millionaire itself.[4]

text: Potential contestants of the original primetime version had to compete in a telephone contest which had them dial a toll-free number and answer three questions by putting objects or events in order. Callers had ten seconds to enter the order on a keypad, with any incorrect answer ending the game/call. The 10,000 to 20,000 candidates who answered all three questions correctly were selected into a random drawing in which approximately 300 contestants competed for ten spots on the show using the same phone quiz method.[note 2] Accommodations for contestants outside the New York City area included round trip airfare (or other transportation) and hotel accommodations.

text: The syndicated version's potential contestants, depending on tryouts, are required to pass an electronically scored test[63] comprising a set of thirty questions which must be answered within a 10-minute time limit. Contestants who fail the test are eliminated, while those who pass are interviewed for an audition by the production staff,[64] and those who impress the staff the most are then notified by postal mail that they have been placed into a pool for possible selection as contestants. At the producers' discretion, contestants from said pool are selected to appear on actual episodes of the syndicated program; these contestants are given a phone call from staff and asked to confirm the information on their initial application form and verify that they meet all eligibility requirements. Afterwards, they are given a date to travel to the show's taping facilities to participate in a scheduled episode of the show.[63] Unlike its ABC counterpart, the syndicated version does not offer transportation or hotel accommodations to contestants at the production company's expense; that version's contestants are instead required to provide transportation and accommodations of their own.[4]

text: The syndicated Millionaire also conducts open casting calls in various locations across the United States to search for potential contestants. These are held in late spring or early summer, with all dates and locations posted on the show's official website. The producers make no guarantee on how many applicants will be tested at each particular venue;[63] however, the show will not test any more than 2,500 individuals per audition day.[4]

text: In cases when the show features themed episodes with two people playing as a team, auditions for these episodes' contestants are announced on the show's website. Both members of the team must pass the written test and the audition interview successfully in order to be considered for selection. If only one member of the team passes, he or she is placed into the contestant pool alone and must continue the audition process as an individual in order to proceed.[63]

text: Music[edit]

text: Originally, the U.S. Millionaire carried over the musical score from the British version, composed by father-and-son duo Keith and Matthew Strachan. Unlike older game show musical scores, Millionaire's musical score was created to feature music playing almost throughout the entire show. The Strachans' main Millionaire theme song took some inspiration from the "Mars" movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets,[65] and their question cues from the $2,000 to the $32,000/$25,000 level, and then from the $64,000/$50,000 level onwards, took the pitch up a semitone for each subsequent question, in order to increase tension as the contestant progressed through the game.[65] On GSN's Gameshow Hall of Fame special, the narrator described the Strachan tracks as "mimicking the sound of a beating heart," and stated that as the contestant worked their way up the money ladder, the music was "perfectly in tune with their ever-increasing pulse."[1]

text: The original Millionaire musical score holds the distinction of being the only game show soundtrack to be acknowledged by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as the Strachans were honored with numerous ASCAP awards for their work, the earliest of them awarded in 2000.[65] The original music cues were given minor rearrangements for the clock format in 2008; for example, the question cues were synced to the "ticking" sounds of the game clock. Even later, the Strachan score was removed from the U.S. version altogether for the introduction of the shuffle format in 2010, in favor of a new musical score with cues written by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams, co-founders of the Los Angeles-based company Ah2 Music.[66]

text: Set[edit]

text: The U.S. Millionaire's basic set is a direct adaptation of the British version's set design, which was conceived by Andy Walmsley. Paul Smith's original licensing agreement for the U.S. Millionaire required that the show's set design, along with all other elements of the show's on-air presentation (musical score, lighting system, host's wardrobe, etc.), adhere faithfully to the way in which they were presented in the British version; this same licensing agreement applied to all other international versions of the show, making Walmsley's Millionaire set design the most reproduced scenic design in television history.[52] The original version of the U.S. Millionaire's set cost $200,000 to construct.[1] The U.S. Millionaire's production design is handled by George Allison, whose predecessors have included David Weller and Jim Fenhagen.[51]

text: Unlike older game shows whose sets are or were designed to make the contestant(s) feel at ease, Millionaire's set was designed to make the contestant feel uncomfortable, so that the program feels more like a movie thriller than a typical quiz show.[1] The floor is made of Plexiglas[52] beneath which lies a huge dish covered in mirror paper.[1] Before the shuffle format was implemented in 2010, the main game had the contestant and host sit in chairs in the center of the stage, known as "Hot Seats"; these measured 3 feet (0.91 m) high, were modeled after chairs typically found in hair salons,[1] and each seat featured a computer monitor directly facing it to display questions and other pertinent information. Shortly after the shuffle format was introduced to Millionaire, Vieira stated in an interview with her Millionaire predecessor on his morning talk show that the Hot Seat was removed because it was decided that the seat, which was originally intended to make the contestant feel nervous, actually ended up having contestants feel so comfortable in it that it did not service the production team any longer.[67]

text: The lighting system is programmed to darken the set as the contestant progresses further into the game. There are also spotlights situated at the bottom of the set area that zoom down on the contestant when they answer a major question; to increase the visibility of the light beams emitted by such spotlights, oil is vaporized, creating a haze effect. Media scholar Dr. Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University, stated that the show's lighting system made the contestant feel as though they were outside of prison when an escape was in progress.[1]

text: When the shuffle format was introduced, the Hot Seats and corresponding monitors were replaced with a single podium, and as a result, the contestant and host stand throughout the game and are also able to walk around the stage.[67] Also, two video screens were installed–one that displays the current question in play, and another that displays the contestant's cumulative total and progress during the game. In September 2012, the redesigned set was improved with a modernized look and feel, in order to take into account the show's transition to high-definition broadcasting, which had just come about the previous year. The two video screens were replaced with two larger ones, having twice as many projectors as the previous screens had; the previous contestant podium was replaced with a new one; and light-emitting diode (LED) technology was integrated into the lighting system to give the lights more vivid colors and the set and gameplay experience a more intimate feel.[68]

text: Broadcast history[edit]

text: ABC[edit]

text: The U.S. version of Millionaire was launched by ABC as a half-hour primetime program on August 16, 1999.[69] When it premiered, it became the first U.S. network game show to offer a million-dollar top prize to contestants.[1] After airing thirteen episodes and reaching an audience of 15 million viewers by the end of the show's first week on the air, the program expanded to an hour-long format when it returned in November.[70] The series, of which episodes were originally shown only a day after their initial taping, was promoted to regular status on January 18, 2000[71] and, at the height of its popularity, was airing on ABC five nights a week.[72] The show was so popular during its original primetime run that rival networks created or re-incarnated game shows of their own (e.g., Greed, Twenty One, etc.), as well as importing various game shows of British and Australian origin to America (such as Winning Lines, Weakest Link, and It's Your Chance of a Lifetime).

text: The nighttime version initially drew in up to 30 million viewers a day three times a week, an unheard-of number in modern network television. In the 1999–2000 season, it averaged No. 1 in the ratings against all other television shows,[73] with 28,848,000 viewers. In the next season (2000–01), three nights out of the five weekly episodes placed in the top 10.[74] However, the show's ratings began to fall during the 2000–01 season, so that at the start of the 2001–02 season, the ratings were only a fraction of what they had been one year before, and by season's end, the show was no longer even ranked among the top 20.[75] ABC's reliance on the show's popularity led the network to fall quickly from its former spot as the nation's most watched network.

text: As ABC's overexposure of the primetime Millionaire led the public to tire of the show, there was speculation that the show would not survive beyond the 2001–02 season. The staff planned on switching it to a format that would emphasize comedy more than the game and feature a host other than Philbin,[76] but in the end, the primetime show was canceled, with its final episode airing on June 27, 2002.[77]

text: Syndication[edit]

text: In 2001, Millionaire producers began work on a half-hour daily syndicated version of the show, with the idea being that it would serve as an accompaniment to the network series which was still in production. ABC's cancellation of the network Millionaire ended that idea; however, the syndicated Millionaire still had enough interest to be greenlit and BVT sold the series to local stations for the 2002–03 season.[29][77] The syndicated series nearly met the same fate as its predecessor, however, due in part to worries that stemmed from a decision made by one of its affiliates.

text: In the New York media market, BVT sold the syndicated Millionaire to CBS's flagship station, WCBS-TV. In the season that had passed, WCBS' mid-afternoon schedule included the syndicated edition of NBC's Weakest Link,[78] which aired at 4 pm from its January 2002 premiere. Joining Millionaire as a new syndicated series was a spinoff of The Oprah Winfrey Show hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw.[79] WCBS picked up both series for 2002–03, with Dr. Phil serving as lead-in for the syndicated Millionaire, which was plugged into the time slot that Weakest Link had been occupying.

text: At mid-season, WCBS announced that for the 2003–04 season it had acquired the broadcast rights to The People's Court[80] after WNBC, which had been airing the revived series since its 1997 debut, dropped it from its lineup. WCBS announced plans to move The People's Court into the time slot that was occupied by Millionaire and the still-airing 4:30 pm local newscast once it joined the station's lineup in September 2003. This led to speculation that the syndicated Millionaire would not be returning for a second season, and BVT's concerns over losing its New York affiliate were compounded by the fact that there were not many time slots available for the show in New York outside of the undesirable late-night slots that syndicators try to avoid.[80]

text: In June 2003, a shakeup at one of BVT's corporate siblings provided the series with an opening.[80] ABC announced that it would be returning the 12:30 pm network time slot to its affiliates in October of that year following the cancellation of the soap opera Port Charles. ABC's flagship, WABC-TV, was thus in need of a program to fill the slot and BVT went to them asking if the station would pick up Millionaire. WABC agreed to do this and when the new season launched that fall, the station began airing Millionaire at 12:30 pm.[81] Millionaire continued to air on WABC in the afternoon until the end of the 2014–15 season, when it acquired the broadcast rights to FABLife for the 2015–16 season. To make room for FABLife, the afternoon airing of Millionaire was moved to independent station WLNY-TV; however, FABLife was canceled in January 2016, and as a result, Millionaire moved back to WABC for the 2016–17 season.[82]

text: According to e-mails released in the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, Millionaire narrowly avoided cancellation after the 2014–15 season. The show's declining ratings prompted DADT to demand a dramatically reduced licensing fee for renewal, which SPE was hesitant to accept. The series was nonetheless renewed for the 2015–16 season, with various cuts to the show's production budget and a return to the original format (but with only 14 questions).[83] Had the show not been renewed, SPE would have placed the show on extended hiatus for three years, reclaimed full rights to the show (without the innovations and format added in the syndicated run, to which DADT owns intellectual property rights), and shopped the revived show to another network or syndicator.[84] In January 2017, it was announced that Millionaire has been renewed through 2018.[85]

text: GSN[edit]

text: GSN acquired the rerun rights to the U.S. Millionaire in August 2003.[86] The network initially aired only episodes from the three seasons of the original prime-time run; however, additional episodes were later added. These included the Super Millionaire spin-off,[87] which aired on GSN from May 2005 to January 2007, and the first two seasons of the syndicated version, which began airing on November 10, 2008.[88]

text: Special editions[edit]

text: Various special editions and tournaments have been conducted which feature celebrities playing the game and donating winnings to charities of their choice. During celebrity editions on the original ABC version, contestants were allowed to receive help from their fellow contestants during the first ten questions. The most successful celebrity contestants throughout the show's run have included Drew Carey,[77] Rosie O'Donnell,[77] Norm Macdonald,[77] and Chip Esten,[89] all of whom won $500,000 for their respective charities. The episode featuring O'Donnell's $500,000 win averaged 36.1 million viewers, the highest number for a single episode of the show.[90]

text: There have also been special weeks featuring two or three family members or couples competing as a team, a "Champions Edition" where former big winners returned and split their winnings with their favorite charities, a "Zero Dollar Winner Edition" featuring contestants who previously missed one of the first-tier questions and left with nothing, and a "Tax-Free Edition" in which H&R Block calculated the taxes of winnings to allow contestants to earn stated winnings after taxes, and various theme weeks featuring college students, teachers, brides-to-be, etc. as contestants.[91] Additionally, the syndicated version once featured an annual "Walk In & Win Week" with contestants who were randomly selected from the audience without having to take the audition test.[92]

text: Special weeks have also included shows featuring questions concerning specific topics, such as professional football, celebrity gossip, movies, and pop culture. During a week of episodes in November 2007, to celebrate the 1,000th episode of the syndicated Millionaire, all contestants that week started with $1,000 so that they could not leave empty-handed, and only had to answer ten questions to win $1,000,000. During that week, twenty home viewers per day also won $1,000 each.[93]

text: Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire[edit]

text: In 2004, Philbin returned to host 12 episodes of a spin-off program titled Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire in which contestants could potentially win $10,000,000.[24] ABC aired five episodes of this spin-off during the week of February 22, 2004, and an additional seven episodes later that year in May. As usual, contestants had to answer a series of 15 multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty, but the dollar values rose substantially. The first five questions for Super Millionaire were worth $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 (the first safe haven), the remaining ten questions were worth $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $50,000, $100,000 (the second safe haven), $500,000, $1,000,000, $2,500,000, $5,000,000, and $10,000,000.

text: Contestants were given the standard three lifelines in place at the time (50:50, Ask the Audience, and Phone-a-Friend) at the beginning of the game. However, after correctly answering the $100,000 question, the contestant earned two additional lifelines: Three Wise Men and Double Dip.[24] The Three Wise Men lifeline involved a panel of three experts, one of whom was always a former Millionaire contestant and at least one of whom was female. When this lifeline was used, the contestant and panel had 30 seconds to discuss the question and choices before the audio and video feeds were dropped. Double Dip gave a contestant two chances to answer a question. Once used, no further lifelines could be used; moreover, if the "first final answer" was incorrect, the contestant could not walk away. If the "second final answer" was also wrong, the contestant left with $100,000.

text: 10th Anniversary Celebration[edit]

text: To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Millionaire's U.S. debut, the show returned to ABC primetime for an eleven-night event hosted by Philbin, which aired August 9–23, 2009.[94] The Academy Award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and the 2008 economic crisis helped boost interest of renewal of the game show.[77]

text: The episodes featured game play based on the previous rule set of the syndicated version (including the rule changes implemented in season seven) but used the Fastest Finger round to select contestants. Various celebrities also made special guest appearances at the end of every episode; each guest played one question for a chance at $50,000 for a charity of their choice, being allowed to use any one of the four lifelines in place at the time (Phone-a-Friend, Ask the Audience, Double Dip, and Ask the Expert), but still earned a minimum of $25,000 for the charity if they answered the question incorrectly.[94]

text: On August 18, 2009, New York City resident Nik Bonaddio appeared on the program, winning $100,000 with the help of the audience and later, Gwen Ifill as his lifelines.[95] Bonaddio then used the proceeds to start the sports analytics firm numberFire,[96] which was sold in September 2015 to FanDuel, a fantasy sports platform.

text: The finale of the tenth anniversary special, which aired on August 23, 2009, featured Ken Basin, an entertainment lawyer, Harvard Law graduate, and former Jeopardy! contestant, who went on to become the first contestant to play a $1,000,000 question in the "clock format" era. With a time of 4:39 (45 seconds + 3:54 banked time), Basin was given a question involving President Lyndon Baines Johnson's fondness for Fresca. Using his one remaining lifeline, Basin asked the audience, which supported his own hunch of Yoo-hoo rather than the correct answer. He decided to answer the question and lost $475,000, becoming the first contestant in the U.S. version to answer a $1,000,000 question incorrectly. After Basin finished his run, Vieira appeared on-camera and announced that all remaining Fastest Finger contestants would play with her on the first week of the syndicated version's eighth season.[97] After this, the million dollar question was not played again on a standard episode until September 25, 2013,[58] when Josina Reaves became the second U.S. Millionaire contestant to incorrectly answer her $1,000,000 question, but only lost $75,000 as she used her Jump the Question lifelines on her $250,000 and $500,000 questions.[98]

text: Million Dollar Tournament of Ten[edit]

text: Although the syndicated Millionaire had produced two millionaires in its first season, Nancy Christy's May 2003 win was still standing as the most recent when the program began its eighth season in fall of 2009. Deciding that six-plus years had been too long since someone had won the top prize, producers conducted a tournament to find a third million dollar winner.[99] For the first nine weeks of the 2009–10 season, each episode saw contestants attempt to qualify for what was referred to as the "Tournament of Ten". Contestants were seeded based on how much money they had won, with the biggest winner ranked first and the lowest ranked tenth. Ties were broken based on how much time a contestant had banked when they had walked away from the game.[100]

text: The tournament began on the episode aired November 9, 2009, and playing in order from the lowest to the highest seed, tournament contestants played one at a time at the end of that episode and the next nine. The rules were exactly the same as they were for a normal million dollar question under the clock format introduced the season before, except here, the contestants had no lifelines at their disposal. Each contestant received a base time of 45 seconds. For each question they had answered before walking away, the contestants received any unused seconds that were left when they gave their answers. The accumulated total of those unused seconds was then added to the base time to give the contestants their final question time limit.[100]

text: Each contestant had the same decision facing them as before, which was whether to attempt to answer the question or walk away with their pre-tournament total intact. Attempting the question and answering incorrectly incurred the same penalty as in regular play, with a reduction of their pre-tournament winnings to $25,000. If the question was answered correctly, the player that did so became the tournament leader. If another player after him/her answered correctly, that player assumed the lead and the previous leader kept their pre-tournament winnings. The highest remaining seed to have attempted and correctly answered their question at the end of the tournament on November 20, 2009 would be declared the winner and become the syndicated series' third millionaire.[100]

text: The first contestant to attempt to answer the million dollar question was Sam Murray, the tournament's eighth-seeded qualifier. On November 11, Murray was asked approximately how many people had lived on Earth in its history and correctly guessed 100 billion. Murray was still atop the leaderboard entering the November 20 finale as he remained the only contestant to even attempt to answer his or her question. The only person who could defeat him was top seed and $250,000 winner Jehan Shamsid-Deen, who was asked a question regarding the Blorenge, cited as "a rare example of a word that rhymes with orange". Shamsid-Deen considered taking the risk, believing (correctly) that the name belonged to a mountain in Wales. However, she decided that the potential of losing $225,000 did not justify the risk and elected to walk away from the question, giving Murray the win and the million dollar prize.[26]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Since its introduction to the United States, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has been credited with not only single-handedly reviving the game show genre, but also breaking new ground for it.[1] The series revolutionized the look and feel of game shows with its unique lighting system, dramatic music cues, and futuristic set. The show also became one of the highest-rated and most popular game shows in U.S. television history, and has been credited with paving the way for the rise of the reality TV phenomenon to prominence throughout the 2000s.[1]

text: The U.S. Millionaire also made catchphrases out of various lines used on the show. In particular, "Is that your final answer?", asked by Millionaire's hosts whenever a contestant's answer needs to be verified, was popularized by Philbin during his tenure as host,[77] and was also included on TV Land's special "100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catch Phrases", which aired in 2006.[101] Meanwhile, during his tenure as host, Cedric signed off shows with a catchphrase of his own, "Watch yo' wallet!"[48]

text: The original primetime version of the U.S. Millionaire won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show in 2000 and 2001. Philbin was honored with a Daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host in 2001, while Vieira received one in 2005, and another in 2009.[102] TV Guide ranked the U.S. Millionaire #7 on its 2001 list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time,[103] and later ranked it #6 on its 2013 "60 Greatest Game Shows" list.[104] GSN ranked Millionaire #5 on its August 2006 list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time,[105] and later honored the show in January 2007 on its only Gameshow Hall of Fame special.[1]

text: Other media[edit]

text: Merchandise[edit]

text: In 2000, Pressman released two board game adaptions of Millionaire[106][107] as well as a junior edition recommended for younger players.[108] Several video games based on the varying gameplay formats of Millionaire have also been released throughout the course of the show's U.S. history.

text: Between 1999 and 2001, Jellyvision produced five video game adaptations based upon the original primetime series for personal computers and Sony's PlayStation console, all of them featuring Philbin's likeness and voice. The first of these adaptations was published by Disney Interactive, while the later four were published by Buena Vista Interactive which had just been spun off from DI when it reestablished itself in attempts to diversify its portfolio. Of the five games, three featured general trivia questions,[109][110][111] one was sports-themed,[112] and another was a "Kids Edition" featuring easier questions.[113] In 2008, Imagination Games released a DVD version of the show, based on the 2004–08 format and coming complete with Vieira's likeness and voice,[114] as well as a quiz book[115] and a 2009 desktop calendar.[116] Additionally, two Millionaire video games were released by Ludia in conjunction with Ubisoft in 2010 and 2011; the first of these was a game for Nintendo's Wii console and DS handheld system based on the clock format,[117] while the second, for Microsoft's Xbox 360, was based on the shuffle format.[118]

text: Ludia has also created a Facebook game based on Millionaire, which debuted on March 21, 2011. This game features an altered version of the shuffle format, condensing the number of questions to twelve—eight in round one, and four in round two. A contestant can compete against eight other Millionaire fans in round one, and play round two alone if they make it into the top three. There is no "final answer" rule; the contestant's responses are automatically locked in. Answering a question correctly earns a contestant the value of that question, multiplied by the number of people who responded incorrectly. Contestants are allowed to use two of their Facebook friends as Jump the Question lifelines in round one, and to use the Ask the Audience lifeline in round two to invite up to 50 such friends of theirs to answer a question for a portion of the prize money of the current question.[119]

text: Disney Parks attraction[edit]

text: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! was an attraction at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park (when it was known as Disney-MGM Studios) at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. Both the Florida and California Play It! attractions opened in 2001; the California version closed in 2004,[120] and the Florida version closed in 2006 and was replaced by Toy Story Midway Mania!

text: The format in the Play It! attraction was very similar to that of the television show that inspired it. When a show started, a "Fastest Finger" question was given, and the audience was asked to put the four answers in order; the person with the fastest time was the first contestant in the Hot Seat for that show. However, the main game had some differences: for example, contestants competed for points rather than dollars, the questions were set to time limits, and the Phone-a-Friend lifeline became Phone a Complete Stranger which connected the contestant to a Disney cast member outside the attraction's theater who would find a guest to help. After the contestant's game was over, they were awarded anything from a collectible pin, to clothing, to a Millionaire CD game, to a 3-night Disney Cruise.[121]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ The simplified title is often used by hosts and in promotional materials.
Jump up ^ To qualify for 2004's Super Millionaire spin-off, potential contestants were required to answer five questions. Each person who successfully answered all five questions chose one tape date, and the contestants for that tape date were drawn from that pool.

tag: ol


document_title: Stock car racing

question_text: what is the average speed of a nascar race car

root

text: Stock car racing

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Early Years[edit]

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 saw this problem, he set up a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in order to form an organization that would unify the rules.[citation needed]

tag: p

text: When NASCAR was first formed by Bill France, Sr. 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.[citation needed] 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.

text: The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a displacement of 303 c.i. is widely recognized as the first postwar modern overhead valve (OHV) engine to become available to the public.[13] 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.[citation needed] 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 308 c.i. (5.0 L) inline six-cylinder that used an old-style flathead engine, proving there was more to winning than just a more powerful engine.

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

text: Also in 1953, NASCAR recommended that the drivers add roll bars, but did not require them.

text: In 1955, Chrysler produced the C-300 with its 300 HP 331 c.i. (5.4 L) OHV engine, which easily won in 1955 and 1956.

text: In 1957, several notable events happened. The Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) banned manufacturers from using race wins in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams,[14] 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.

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.[citation needed] 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.

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.

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.

text: Golden Years[edit]

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.

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.

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.

text: Then, in 1964 the new Chrysler 426 Hemi engine so dominated the series[citation needed] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 190 mph when he qualified at 190.029 mph. 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.

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 II prototype. This radical body shape required a wing to remain stable at speeds over 180 mph. 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.

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.

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 200+ mph 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 305 cu.in. (approx. 5.0L) 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 358 cu.in. (5.9L) engines.

text: Fans, drivers, and manufacturers alike demanded a complete revamping of the rules[citation needed]. 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.

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[citation needed]. 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.

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 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.

text: Types of Cars[edit]

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.

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 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 on all vehicles. For example, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race vehicles now require fuel injection. The closest European equivalent to stock car racing is probably touring car racing. 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.

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.

text: Street stock and pure stock[edit]

text: "True" stock car racing, which consists of only street vehicles that can be bought by 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.

text: Super stock[edit]

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 8 in (200 mm).[15]

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

text: Late Models[edit]

text: Late models are usually the highest class of stock cars in local racing.[15] 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 street car. 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.[16]

text: United States[edit]

text: NASCAR[edit]

text: NASCAR is the currently the highest 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.

text: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series[edit]

text: The most prominent championship in stock car racing is the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, more commonly known as the 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.

text: The most famous event in the series is the Daytona 500,[17] an annual 500-mile (800 km) race at the Daytona International Speedway. The series' second-biggest event is arguably The Brickyard 400, an annual 400-mile (640 km) race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500, an open-wheeled race. 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.

text: NASCAR Xfinity Series[edit]

text: The NASCAR Xfinity Series is the second most prestigious form of stock car racing within the United States. It serves as the primary feeder series to the Cup Series. The Xfinity series leads drivers into the Cup Series much as Formula Two does for Formula One, and Indy Lights for Indy Car. Xfinity Series races are commonly held as a support race to Cup Series events. Many current Cup Series drivers formerly competed in the Xfinity Series before moving on to competing full time in the Cup Series. As of 2018 there are 33 races on the schedule.[18]

text: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series[edit]

text: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the third highest ranking stock car series in the United States. While this series races cars with pickup truck style bodies, it is still considered stock car racing due to being sanctioned by NASCAR and the trucks resemblance to commercially available pickup trucks.

text: Other Series[edit]

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 Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), American Speed Association (ASA), Champion Racing Association (CRA), International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), United Auto Racing Association (UARA), and United Speed Alliance Racing (USAR) 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) series used stock cars, but is usually perceived as being outside of the usual stock car racing scene because of its 'All-Star' design.

text: New Zealand[edit]

text: Stockcar 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, Stockcar racing in New Zealand is a very different form of racing than that of the USA. Stockcar racing is a full contact sport in New Zealand: as the rule book states, "contact is not only permitted, it is encouraged"[citation needed]. 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, Stockcars, Ministocks (Ministocks predominantly being a non-contact youth class). Superstocks are the top class and are typically powered by V8 engines up to 248 cubic inch which can produce over 500 bhp. The majority of races are of an individual nature however, unique to New Zealand stockcar 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.

text: The class most resembling the North American form of stockcar 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 434 cubic inch with no rear offset and run much larger sprintcar tyres on the rear.

text: Australia[edit]

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.

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 modelled on a scaled down version of the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway. Other tracks used included the ½ 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.

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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.[citation needed]

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

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.

text: The modern BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars are a highly sophisticated purpose built race car with race-tuned V-8 engines developing 650 bhp, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 promotors 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.

text: The Stock Car Speed Association ASCAR or Days of Thunder was a "NASCAR" style racing series based at Rockingham, United Kingdom, though the series did also race at the Lausitzring in Germany as well.

text: Other Regions[edit]

text: Internationally, stock car racing has not enjoyed the same success as within the United States. The NASCAR Canadian Tire 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 40 or more cars, and four brands competing: Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Peugeot. 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[19] the same can be said about Argentina's popular stock series, called Turismo Carretera.[20] Unsuccessful efforts have been made in Australia, South Africa, and Japan as well.

text: Career paths[edit]

text: NASCAR stars 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.

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.

text: Crossover drivers[edit]

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.

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.

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.

text: Tracks[edit]

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 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) at Martinsville to over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) at Talladega. In 1987 Bill Elliott's 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h) 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.

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.[citation needed]

text: Tactics[edit]

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 issues with even slight spoiler damage.


document_title: Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives

question_text: who announces the president at the state of the union

text: Duties[edit]

text:
This article is part of a series on the

United States House
of Representatives

History of the United States
House of Representatives

Members

Current members

(by seniority
by age
non-voting)

Former members

Hill committees

(DCCC
NRCC)

Congressional districts

Speaker of the United States
House of Representatives (list)

Party leaders
Democratic Caucus
Republican Conference

Politics and procedure

Committee of the Whole

Closed session (list)
Saxbe fix

Committees (list)
Procedures

Origination Clause
Quorum call

Unanimous consent
Salaries

Apportionment (Huntington–Hill method)

Redistricting
Gerrymandering

Articles of impeachment

Self-executing rule
Rules suspension

General ticket
Plural district

Places

United States Capitol

House office buildings

(Cannon
Ford
Longworth
Rayburn)

v
t
e

text: As the chief law enforcement officer of the House, the Sergeant at Arms is responsible for security in the House wing of the United States Capitol, the House office buildings, and on adjacent grounds. Under the direction of the Speaker of the House or other presiding officer, the Sergeant at Arms plays an integral role in maintaining order and decorum in the House chamber.

text: The Sergeant at Arms is also responsible for ensuring the safety and security of members of Congress, congressional staff, visiting dignitaries, and tourists. Toward this mission, the Sergeant at Arms works in concert with the Senate Sergeant at Arms, and the Architect of the Capitol. These three officials, along with the Chief of the Capitol Police in an ex officio status, comprise the Capitol Police Board.

text: Through custom and precedent, the Sergeant at Arms performs a number of protocol and ceremonial duties. Among these duties are to lead formal processions at ceremonies such as presidential inaugurations, joint sessions of Congress (such as the State of the Union address, prior to 2007), formal addresses to the Congress, greeting and escorting visiting foreign dignitaries, and to supervise congressional funeral arrangements. In this capacity, the Sergeant at Arms is most famous for announcing the arrival of the President, a responsibility that he took over from the Doorkeeper of the United States House of Representatives when the latter position was abolished in 1995. Custom dictates that he announce the arrival of the Supreme Court, the President's cabinet, and finally the President by saying, "Mister (or Madam) Speaker, the President of the United States!"

text: For daily sessions of the House, the Sergeant at Arms carries the silver and ebony Mace of the United States House of Representatives in front of the speaker in procession to the rostrum. When the House is in session, the mace stands on a pedestal to the speaker's own right. When the body resolves itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, the Sergeant at Arms moves the mace to a lowered position, more or less out of sight. In accordance with the Rules of the House, on the rare occasions when a Member becomes unruly, the Sergeant at Arms, on order of the Speaker, lifts the mace from its pedestal and presents it before the offenders, thereby restoring order.

text: The Sergeant at Arms also performs administrative services in support of the Members, staff, and visitors associated with the security and other operations of the House.

text: If a quorum is not present, those Representatives who are present may vote to order the Sergeant at Arms to try to round up absent Representatives.

text: Capitol Guide Board[edit]

text: In addition to served on the Capitol Police Board, the Sergeant at Arms served with the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol on the Capitol Guide Board. This board oversaw the Capitol Guide Service, which provided tours of the Capitol to visitors and special services to tourists.

text: Deputy Sergeants at Arms[edit]

text: The Deputy Sergeants at Arms act as assistants to the Sergeant at Arms. The Sergeant at Arms has the duty of making the important decisions under his/her power, while the Deputy Sergeant at Arms often executes the decisions. The Deputy Sergeants at Arms serving under Paul Irving is Timothy Blodgett.

text: List of Sergeants at Arms[edit]

text:
Sergeant at Arms
State or Territory
Term of Service

Joseph Wheaton
Rhode Island
May 12, 1789 – October 27, 1807

Thomas Dunn
Maryland
October 27, 1807 – December 5, 1824

John O. Dunn
District of Columbia
December 6, 1824 – December 3, 1833

Thomas Beverly Randolph
Virginia
December 3, 1833 – December 15, 1835

Roderick Dorsey
Maryland
December 15, 1835 – June 8, 1841

Eleazor M. Townsend
Connecticut
June 8, 1841 – December 7, 1843

Newton Lane
Kentucky
December 7, 1843 – December 8, 1847

Nathan Sargent
Vermont
December 8, 1847 – January 15, 1850

Adam J. Glossbrenner
Pennsylvania
January 15, 1850 – February 3, 1860

Henry William Hoffman
Maryland
February 3, 1860 – July 5, 1861

Edward Ball
Ohio
July 5, 1861 – December 8, 1863

Nehemiah G. Ordway
New Hampshire
December 8, 1863 – December 6, 1875

John G. Thompson
Ohio
December 6, 1875 – December 5, 1881

George W. Hooker
Vermont
December 5, 1881 – December 4, 1883

John P. Leedom
Ohio
December 4, 1883 – December 2, 1889

Adoniram J. Holmes
Iowa
December 2, 1889 – December 8, 1891

Samuel S. Yoder
Ohio
December 8, 1891 – August 7, 1893

Herman W. Snow
Illinois
August 7, 1893 – December 2, 1895

Benjamin F. Russell
Missouri
December 2, 1895 – December 4, 1899

Henry Casson
Wisconsin
December 4, 1899 – April 4, 1911

Uriah S. Jackson
Indiana
April 4, 1911 – June 22, 1913

Charles F. Riddell
Indiana
July 18, 1912 – April 7, 1913

Robert B. Gordon
Ohio
April 7, 1913 – May 19, 1919

Joseph G. Rogers
Pennsylvania
May 19, 1919 – December 7, 1931

Kenneth Romney
Montana
December 7, 1931 – January 3, 1947

William F. Russell
Pennsylvania
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949

Joseph H. Callahan
Kentucky
January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953

William F. Russell
Pennsylvania
January 3, 1953 – July 7, 1953

Lyle O. Snader
Illinois
July 8, 1953 – September 15, 1953

William R. Bonsell
Pennsylvania
September 15, 1953 – January 5, 1955

Zeake W. Johnson Jr.
Tennessee
January 5, 1955 – September 30, 1972

Kenneth R. Harding
Virginia
October 1, 1972 – February 29, 1980

Benjamin J. Guthrie
Virginia
March 1, 1980 – January 3, 1983

Jack Russ
Maryland
January 3, 1983 – March 12, 1992

Werner Brandt
Virginia
March 12, 1992 – January 4, 1995

Wilson Livingood
Virginia
January 4, 1995 – January 17, 2012

Paul D. Irving
Florida
January 17, 2012 – present