A She certainly has the potential to be world class. Patrick has been successful in every category she has competed in, from karting upwards. At 16, she came to England to gain experience in Formula Ford, finishing second in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, the highest finish by an American. Back in the States she has been consistently in the top half of championships she has contested, finishing third in the 2004 Toyota Atlantic championship, posting 269 points and 10 top-five finishes in 12 races in the Argent Mortgage Toyota/Swift. This led to her getting a drive in the Rahal Letterman Racing’s Indy Racing League team, with a second-row qualifying position, several laps in the lead and fourth place in this year’s Indy 500. Patrick is highly rated by her team and Honda, who wanted her to drive demo laps in a BAR F1 car at the US Grand Prix. Sponsor commitments prevented that, but she may get a test later in the year. — Iain Trice, Norwich
Q Which is Ireland’s oldest rugby club? — Stephen Malahide, Thurles
A Dublin University (Trinity College) Football Club (DUFC), founded in 1854 is the oldest in Ireland. According to the club’s website most of its early fixtures were intra-club matches, and football at Trinity also clearly pre-dates any distinctions between the rugby, association and (much later) Gaelic codes. The first external fixture took place against Wanderers — possibly a team made up of former DUFC members — in 1860 (the well-known Dublin club of that name was founded in 1870). DUFC pioneered the handling game in Ireland and the 1854 foundation date gives Trinity a substantial claim to be the world’s oldest rugby club in continuous existence. Guy’s Hospital FC, founded in London in 1843, is older, but went into abeyance for some years in the 19th century. Charles Burton Barrington, who captained DUFC from 1867 to 1870, was perhaps the most notable DUFC pioneer. His uncle, Charles West, was also a footballer, and it is possible that he influenced the game in the university. Barrington claimed that ‘Charley West’, who had been a pupil at Rugby School, was the model for Thomas Hughes’s Scud East in Tom Brown’s Schooldays. — Charles Brace, Manchester
Q Who was the first substitute to score in a European Cup/ Champions League final? — Alasdair Duncan, Motherwell
A Having been outplayed and defeated 4-1 by AC Milan in 1969, Dutch side Ajax, coached by Rinus Michels, reached their second European Cup final at Wembley in June 1971. Their opponents were Greek champions Panathinaikos, coached by Ferenc Puskas. Panathinaikos were unfancied, having scraped through the quarter-finals and semi-finals on away goals. However, in striker Antonis Antoniadis, who had scored 10 of his team’s 16 goals, they had the competition’s leading marksman. Ajax scored after five minutes when Dick van Dijk headed home. As the first half wore on, Antoniadis began to look more dangerous and at half-time Michels brought on Arie Haan, left, for Sjaak Swart. Three minutes from full- time, Haan became the first substitute to score in a European Cup final when he sealed Ajax’s 2-0 win. — Declan Fitzpatrick, Castleknock, Dublin
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Q Which rider won the most world speedway titles? — Mark Tadger, Blackpool
A Since the individual speedway world championship was first run in 1936, only 12 riders have lifted the title more than once. Ivan Mauger of New Zealand has won the title on the most occasions — six times between 1968 and 1979. His nearest rivals are the Swedes Ove Fundin and Tony Rickardsson, each with five wins. Barry Briggs of New Zealand and Hans Neilsen of Denmark both have four titles to their credit. The last Englishman to win it was Mark Loram in 2000. Until 1994 the world championship was decided at one final, for which riders qualified through a series of elimination rounds, but in 1995, the FIM, the sport’s governing body, introduced a speedway grand prix series similar to those of other motor sports. The championship is now decided over a series of rounds held at different tracks around the world and the champion is the rider with the most points at the end of the series. Mauger, inset, was the first rider to bring true professionalism to speedway. Although he won all his titles under the old system, his supporters will point to the fact that he also won the world long track championship three times and appeared in every final from 1971 to 1984. Rickardsson won the last world final in 1994 and has since added four grand prix titles. At 34, he is probably riding better than at any time in his career and has already established a significant lead over his main rivals in the current grand prix series and is poised to gain his sixth title to equal Mauger’s record when the series ends in Italy in September. — Graham Brodie, FIM Speedway Grand Prix secretary, Chelmsford Q When were ball girls first used at Wimbledon? — Tim Smith, Staines
A In the 1920s and 30s ball boys were recruited from the Shaftesbury Homes for boys or Dr Barnardo’s. This continued right up to 1967, when pupils from a local school in Wandsworth were employed. Since then, various schools close to Wimbledon have supplied ball boys, but it was not until 1977 that ball girls from the Ricards Lodge and Ursuline Convent High Schools made their debut, although they did not work on Centre Court until 1985. This year, about 200 ball boys and girls were chosen on a 50-50 basis from around 300 applicants. Aged 15 on average, they began training in February, working on general fitness, ball skills and set routines for tie-breaks, ball changes etc. — C Shaw, Clophill, Bedford
Any Answers?
Send questions or answers to Peter Boyle, Q & A, The Sunday Times Sport, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST, or e-mail peter.boyle@sunday-times.co.uk
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