Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	Karl Benz
Nationality	German
Birth date	November 25, 1844
Birth place	Mühlburg (Karlsruhe)
Death date	April 04, 1929
Death place	Ladenburg
Education	University of Karlsruhe
Spouse	Bertha Ringer
Ethnicity	German
Parents	-
Children	-
Significant projects	founded Mercedes-Benz
Significant design	Benz Patent Motorwagen
Significant advance	gasoline-powered automobile
Alt	}}

Karl Friedrich Benz, (November 25, 1844 – April 4, 1929) was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. Other German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working as partners, also worked on similar types of inventions, without knowledge of the work of the other, but Benz patented his work first and, after that, patented all of the processes that made the internal combustion engine feasible for use in cars. In 1886 Benz was granted a patent for his first car.

Benz's first factory and early inventions (1871 to 1882)

In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Karl Benz joined August Ritter in launching a mechanical workshop in Mannheim, also dedicated to supplying construction materials: the ''Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop'', later renamed, ''Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working''.

The enterprise's first year was a complete disaster. Ritter turned out to be unreliable and local authorities confiscated the business. The difficulty was solved when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer, bought out Ritter's share in the company using her dowry.

In July 20, 1872 Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer married, later having five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890).

Despite such business misfortunes, Karl Benz led in the development of new engines in the early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenues, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated all his efforts on creating a reliable gas two-stroke engine. Benz finished his two-stroke engine on December 31, 1878, New Year's Eve, and was granted a patent for it in 1879.

Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

Benz's Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim (1882 to 1883)

Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that Bertha and Karl Benz's enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. The Benz's were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), in order to get additional bank support. The company became the joint-stock company ''Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim'' in 1882.

After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883.

Benz & Cie. and the Motorwagen

+ 1885 Benz Patent Motorwagen
Three wheels
Tubular steel frame
Rack and pinion steering, connected to a driver end tiller; wheel chained to front axle
Electric ignition
Differential rear end gears	(mechanically operated inlet valves)
Water-cooled internal combustion engine
Gas or petrol four-stroke horizontally mounted engine
Single cylinder, Bore 116 mm, Stroke 160 mm
Patent model: 958 cc, 0.8 hp, 600 W, 16 km/h
Commercialized model: 1600 cc, ¾ hp,

Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: ''Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik'', usually referred to as, ''Benz & Cie.'' Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well.

The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a ''horseless carriage''. Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle. Karl Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it the ''Benz Patent Motorwagen''.

It was the first automobile entirely designed as such to generate its own power, not simply a motorized stage coach or horse carriage, which is why Karl Benz was granted his patent and is regarded as its inventor.

The ''Motorwagen'' was patented on January 29, 1886 as ''DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas"''. The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. The next year Benz created the ''Motorwagen Model 2'' which had several modifications, and in 1887, the definitive ''Model 3'' with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year.

Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as the ''Benz Patent Motorwagen'') in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of the Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer Emile Roger who had already been building Benz engines under license from Karl Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there. Early customers could only buy gasoline from pharmacies that sold small quantities as a cleaning product. The early-1888 version of the ''Motorwagen'' had no gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz made her famous trip driving one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of another gear.

An important part in the Benz story is this first long distance automobile trip, where entrepreneurial Bertha Benz, supposedly without the knowledge of her husband, on the morning of August 5, 1888, took this vehicle on a 106 km (65 mile) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to locate pharmacies on the way to fuel up, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems and invented brake lining. After some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather on the brake blocks. Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram. It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to obtain publicity that would make people aware of it, in the manner now referred to as, live marketing. Today the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally. In 2008 Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. Now everybody can follow the 194 km of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back.

Benz's ''Model 3'' made its wide-scale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, and about twenty-five ''Motorwagens'' were built between 1886 and 1893.

Benz & Cie. expansion

The great demand for stationary, static internal combustion engines forced Karl Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908) was added. ''Benz & Cie.'' had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899.

During the last years of the nineteenth century, ''Benz'' was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899.

Because of its size, in 1899, ''Benz & Cie.'' became a joint-stock company with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of the Board of Management. Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations.

The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production. In 1893, Karl Benz created the ''Victoria'', a two-passenger automobile with a 3-hp engine, which could reach the top speed of 11 mph and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering. The model was successful with 85 units sold in 1893.

The Benz ''Velo'' also participated in the first automobile race, the 1894 ''Paris to Rouen Rally''.

In 1895, Benz designed the first truck in history, with some of the units later modified by the first motor bus company: the ''Netphener'', becoming the first motor buses in history.

In 1896, Karl Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine. It had horizontally opposed pistons, a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum. Flat engines with four or fewer cylinders are most commonly called boxer engines, ''boxermotor'' in German, and also are known as ''horizontally opposed engines''. This design is still used by Porsche, Subaru, and some high performance engines used in racing cars. In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is found in BMW motorcycles, though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Zundapp, Wooler, Douglas Dragonfly, Ratier, Universal, IMZ-Ural, Dnepr, Gnome et Rhône, Chang Jiang, Marusho, and the Honda Gold Wing.

Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March 1900—and there is no evidence that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz & Cie. In October 1900 the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach, built the engine that would be used later, in the ''Mercedes-35hp'' of 1902. The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine and for him to become a dealer of the special series. Jellinek stipulated the new engine be named Daimler-''Mercedes'' (for his daughter). Maybach would quit DMG in 1907, but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing, the first was delivered to Jellinek on December 22, 1900. Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in 1902.

Benz countered with ''Parsifil'', introduced in 1903 with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of . Then, without consulting Benz, the other directors hired some French designers. France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Karl Benz announced his retirement from design management on January 24, 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in 1929.

Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to the company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles.

That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles.

Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Karl Benz soon would found another company—with his son, Eugen—closely held within the family, manufacturing automobiles under another brand and using a French spelling variant of Benz's first name for the first initial of the privately held company (''see'' discussion in the next section).

Blitzen Benz

In 1909, the ''Blitzen Benz'' was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The bird-beaked vehicle had a 21.5-liter (1312ci), engine, and on November 9, 1909 in the hands of Victor Hémery of France, the land speed racer at Brooklands, set a record of 226.91 km/h (141.94 mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at the time, a record that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle. It was transported to several countries, including the United States, to establish multiple records of this achievement.

Benz Söhne (1906 to 1923)

Karl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 km east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg, and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: ''Benz Söhne'') in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type was replaced by petrol engines because lack of demand.

This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The ''Benz Sons'' automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis.

In 1912, Karl Benz liquidated all of his shares in ''Benz Sons'' and left this family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as a director of Benz & Cie.

During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on November 25, 1914, the seventy year-old Karl Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the ''Karlsruhe University'', thereby becoming—Dr. Ing. h. c. Karl Benz.

Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became a major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz ''Velo'' participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894. Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners. Unique race vehicles were built at the time, as seen in the photograph here of the Benz, the first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, ''Tropfenwagen'', a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza.

In the last production year of the ''Benz Sons'' company, 1923, three hundred and fifty units were built. During the following year, 1924, Karl Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved.

Toward ''Daimler-Benz'' and the first ''Mercedes-Benz'' in 1926

The German economic crisis worsened. In 1923 ''Benz & Cie.'' produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim, and ''DMG'' made only 1,020 in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile was 25 million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in 1924 they signed an ''Agreement of Mutual Interest'' valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands.

On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the ''Daimler-Benz'' company, baptizing all of its automobiles, ''Mercedes Benz'', honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the ''1902 Mercedes-35hp'', along with the Benz name. The name of that DMG model had been selected after ten-year-old Mercedes Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG's board of management and long before the merger Jellinek had resigned.

Karl Benz was a member of the new ''Daimler Benz'' board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto: ''"engines for land, air, and water"'') surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled ''Mercedes Benz''. Model names would follow the brand name in the same convention as today.

The next year, 1927, the number of units sold ''tripled'' to 7,918 and the diesel line was launched for truck production. In 1928 the ''Mercedes-Benz SSK'' was presented.

On April 4, 1929, Karl Benz died at home in Ladenburg at the age of eighty-four from a bronchial inflammation. Until her death on May 5, 1944, Bertha Benz continued to reside in their last home. Members of the family resided in the home for thirty more years. The Benz home now has been designated as historic and is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation, the ''Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation'', that honors both Bertha and Karl Benz for their roles in the history of automobiles.

In popular culture

In 2011 a dramatized television movie about the life of Karl and Bertha Benz was made named ''Carl & Bertha'' which premiered on 11 May and was aired by Das Erste on 23 May. A trailer of the movie and a "making of" special were released on YouTube.

See also

Benz (unit)

Bertha Benz, his wife and automotive pioneer

Bertha Benz Memorial Route

German inventors and discoverers

History of the internal combustion engine

Notes

References

(autobiography) :''The life of a German inventor: my memories / Karl Benz'' (first edition) (bibrec) :''The life of a German inventor; memories of an octogenarian''

Elis, Angela: ''Mein Traum ist länger als die Nacht. Wie Bertha Benz ihren Mann zu Weltruhm fuhr.'' Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-455-50146-9

:''My dream is longer than the night. How Bertha Benz drove her husband to worldwide fame'' Mercedes-Benz AG (Hrsg.), ''Benz & Cie.: Zum 150. Geburtstag von Karl Benz'', Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, 1994 1. Aufl. 296 S., 492 Abb., 124 in Farbe, ISBN 3-613-01643-5, (biography) :''Benz & Cie.: On the Occasion of the 150th Birthday of Karl Benz'' :''Two men - one star: Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in pictures, data and documents'' (biography) Image of cover. :''Carl Benz: a Baden history; the vision of the "horseless car" changes the world'' :''Karl Benz : A pioneer of motorization''

External links

Brief biographies of Karl Benz and Bertha Benz, with portraits, an extensive archive, and detailed histories presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

Mercedes-Benz corporate archives , company archives , history , media management archives , and publications

copies of the honorary doctorate and Baden State medal in gold, both awarded to Karl Benz in his lifetime.

Das Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz in der alten Benz Fabrik is the ''Dr. Carl Benz Auto Museum'' created by a private group in 1996 in a former Benz factory for an ancillary business founded with his sons in Ladenburg, which was separate from his major companies. The company opened in 1906 and closed in 1923, the site has a description of this museum and contemporary photographs with "C. Benz SÖHNE KG" painted on the building, which contains historical photographs, some restored automobiles, and a chronology of the life of Karl Benz

Karl Benz on 3-wheelers.com

Bertha Benz Memorial Route

Prof. John H. Lienhard on BERTHA Benz's RIDE

The Karl Benz family grave site in Ladenburg The urn contains the ashes of their son, Richard Benz, and the inscription on the gravestone reads:

:Dr. Ing. h. c. Karl Benz

:Geb. 26. Nov. 1844 :Gest. 4. April 1929

:Bertha Benz :Geb. Ringer

:Geb. 3. Mai 1849 :Gest. 4. Mai 1944

The Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation founded in 1986 at the last residence of Bertha and Karl Benz in Ladenburg.

Category:1844 births Category:1929 deaths Category:Automotive pioneers Category:Benz vehicles Category:German founders of automobile manufacturers Category:German inventors Category:German engineers Category:German mechanical engineers Category:People associated with the internal combustion engine Category:People from Karlsruhe Category:People from the Grand Duchy of Baden Category:Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni

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Coordinates

12°2′36″N77°1′42″N

{{infobox nascar driver| name

James Dennis Alan Hamlin | image DennyHamlinAugust2007.jpg | birth_date November 18, 1980 | birth_place Chesterfield, Virginia | Cup_Car_Team 11– Joe Gibbs Racing | Previous_Year 2010 | Prev_Cup_Pos 2nd | Best_Cup_Pos 2nd – 2010 | Cup_Wins 17 | Cup_Top_Tens 98 | Cup_Poles 9 | First_Cup_Race 2005 Banquet 400 Presented by ConAgra Foods (Kansas) | First_Cup_Win 2006 Pocono 500 (Pocono)| Last_Cup_Win 2011 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 (Michigan) | Busch_Car_Team 20– Joe Gibbs Racing | Prev_Busch_Year 2010 | Prev_Busch_Pos 61st | Best_Busch_Pos 4th – 2006 | Busch_Wins 11 | Busch_Top_Tens 69 | Busch_Poles 15 | First_Busch_Race 2004 BI-LO 200 (Darlington) | First_Busch_Win 2006 Telcel-Motorola 200 (Mexico City)| Last_Busch_Win 2011 Bubba Burger 250 (Richmond) First_Truck_Race 2004 Power Stroke Diesel 200 (IRP) | Truck_Top_Tens 5 | Prev_Truck_Year 2010 | Prev_Truck_Pos 85th | Best_Truck_Pos 37th – 2004 | awards 2006 Raybestos Rookie of the Year | updated January 10, 2011 | }}

James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American race car driver. He currently drives the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Career

Racing prior to NASCAR

Hamlin began his racing career in 1988, at the age of 7 years old, racing go-karts. By 1997 at 15 he won the WKA manufacturers cup at the age of 16, he was racing Ministocks. In his first stock car race, at Langley Speedway, Hamlin won the pole position, and won the race. He then progressed to the Grand Stock division in 1998, and moved on to Late Model Stock Cars in 2000. In 2002, he won ten Late Model races, and surpassed that in 2003 with 25 wins, and 30 poles, out of 36 races. In 2004, while competing full time in Late Model Stock Cars, Hamlin was signed to a driver development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR career

2004–2006

In 2004, Hamlin competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) races with EJP Racing, and had a tenth-place finish in his NASCAR debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He later ran his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing third in the #10 Pontiac owned by Andy Hillenburg. His final start of the year came at Darlington Raceway, when he made his Busch Series debut. He started twenty-seventh (rain-out) but finished eighth in the #18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet.

Hamlin ran the full season in 2005 after he replaced Mike Bliss in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in the Busch Series. He ended up finishing 5th in the final championship points standings as a rookie in that series, with 11 top 10's and earnings of $1,064,110.00. Hamlin also ran his first Nextel Cup Series races in 2005, making his Cup debut at Kansas Speedway as driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for the 2006 season, after Jason Leffler was released, and made seven starts in in the Cup series in 2005. He finished the Cup season with three top 10 finishes in those seven starts and one pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2006, Hamlin ran his first full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and during the year he drove in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series full-time. In Hamlin's first restrictor plate race as a Nextel Cup driver, he beat all the previous year's (2005 season) pole winners in the 70-lap 2006 Budweiser Shootout. Hamlin became the first Rookie of the Year candidate to take home the Shootout victory. Hamlin achieved his first career Busch Series victory at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (March 5). On June 11, Hamlin scored his first career Cup Series win at the Pocono 500, where he also won his second career pole. He achieved his second career win on July 23, in the Pennsylvania 500 also at Pocono Raceway becoming only the 2nd rookie in Nextel Cup history to sweep both races at a track during the same season (Jimmie Johnson did so at Dover International Speedway in his rookie season in 2002), both from the pole position. In the Cup Series, Hamlin won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and finished third in the final Cup standings, scoring the highest points finish for a rookie in the modern era of NASCAR. Hamlin thus became the first ever rookie to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.

2007–2008

Hamlin started the 2007 Cup season by finishing 28th in the Daytona 500. He won his third career cup race at the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Hamlin clinched a spot in the Chase for the Cup and was seeded sixth, 50 points behind the leader, but finished 12th overall in the final standings. In the Nationwide Series, Hamlin scored three victories including Darlington, Michigan, and Dover in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevy.

In 2008, Hamlin had a near identical season as before, but moved up to eighth in points, and won early in the season at Martinsville Speedway. He led 381 out of 410 laps in the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, the most dominant effort of a driver since 2000. but cut a tire and finished 24th. He won three races in the Nationwide Series, driving both the #18 and #20 entries for Gibbs, as well as the #32 Dollar General/Haas Avocados car for Braun Racing.

2009

He continued driving the #11 car in Sprint Cup in 2009, as well as sharing the #20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series. Hamlin won his fifth career race at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2009. Hamlin boldly stated at the final restart "I'm going to win this race." He followed through on the statement, moving from sixth to first and snapping a 50 race win-less streak. The win was Hamlin's third at Pocono. It was especially emotional for the #11 team as Hamlin had lost his grandmother, Thelma Clark, that Friday.

Hamlin once again dominated the race at Richmond International Raceway and finally won at his home track. On October 25, 2009 Hamlin held off Jimmie Johnson to win the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin guaranteed that he would win this race after he came in second in the spring race.

Hamlin then went on to win the Ford 400 at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, capping off his 2009 season 5th in the overall standings with 4 wins, 15 top 5's and 20 top 10's. Hamlin took the lead after starting the race in 38th position and he led a total of 70 laps to capture his 4th win of the 2009 season. After the 2009 season ended.

2010

Hamlin entered the 2010 season with great expectations. Many believed he would be a favorite to unseat Jimmie Johnson as Sprint Cup Champion.

On January 22, 2010, Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing basketball. The decision was made to postpone his surgery until after the season.

Hamlin announced on March 27, 2010 to have surgery on his left knee the following Monday. The decision was made to prevent further damage to his knee.

On March 29, 2010, Hamlin won the rain-postponed race at Martinsville Speedway in wild fashion. He beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, and Jeff Gordon to the finish line. Two days later, Hamlin had knee surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left knee.

On April 19, 2010, three weeks after his surgery, Hamlin worked his way from a 28th starting spot to restart 2nd with 13 laps to go at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin was later able to pass Jeff Burton on the outside and hold off Jimmie Johnson to get his 10th career win and his second win in three races.

Less than three weeks later on May 8, Hamlin visited victory lane for the third time in 2010 at Darlington Raceway. He swept the weekend by winning both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series events. He became the first driver to do so at Darlington since Mark Martin in 1993. He won the Nationwide Series Royal Purple 200 presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts driving the #20 for Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday night. He started on the pole and led the most laps to win the race. Hamlin started 8th in Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 and went on to lead 108 laps and take the checkered flag. A few races later, Hamlin dominated at The Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Presented By Target at Pocono Raceway, leading the most laps on his way to gathering his 12th career win, his 4th win of the season, and his fourth win at Pocono. A week later, Hamlin set a career-high fifth win of the season, when he won at Michigan International Speedway after starting 7th.

Later in the 2010 season, Hamlin finished 43rd in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, marking the first last-place finish of Hamlin's career. This dropped him five spots in the Chase standings, placing him in 10th overall. Despite the drop in the standings, the top 10 drivers in the Chase were locked in after Atlanta, guaranteeing Hamlin a spot in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup. A driver error in the first Chase race on part of Carl Edwards caused Hamlin to spin with 85 to go. With cars ahead running out of fuel, Hamlin barely lost to Clint Bowyer. In the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway Denny drove a great race. Dover has always been rough to Hamlin and though he did not lead a lap he went on to finish the race in 9th and retained the points lead by 35 points over Jimmie Johnson. The following week at Kansas Speedway, Hamlin encountered a rough driving car and finished 12th, a finish that was not good enough to keep the points lead, and fell into a deficit of 8 points to Jimmie Johnson, who finished 2nd. Then the following week at California he finished in the top 10 but still lost points to the 48 car of Jimmie Johnson. At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Hamlin led a lap (his first lead in the Chase) and finished in 4th, one spot behind points leader Jimmie Johnson, and lost another 5 points. But the triumph came at the .526-mile (paper clip-shaped) Martinsville Speedway; Hamlin came through with his series-leading seventh victory of the season. Hamlin won the pole and led the first 11 laps but encountered tire issues; he dropped back to 17th and finally worked himself up consistently to 5th until lap 471 with 29 laps to go, he took the lead from Kevin Harvick and held off a hard-charging Mark Martin to lead the final 29 laps and take his 3rd straight victory at Martinsville and his 4th at the historic track. He closed the lead to 6 points behind points leader and 5th place finisher Jimmie Johnson. Next up was the Amp Energy Juice 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Denny started 17th, but fell back and lost the draft. He went a lap down, but when a caution came out, he got the Lucky Dog and was back on the lead lap. He then worked his way up to a 9th-place finish, two spots behind points leader Jimmie Johnson. This put Denny another 8 points behind in the standings, totaling to 14. Hamlin won the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and then led the standings by 33 over Johnson with two races to go. Next was Phoenix International speedway. Denny Hamlin started 14th but got up to the front right away and was leading for almost the whole race. With 14 laps to go, Hamlin had to pit because he was short on fuel. He finished 12th. After the race, Hamlin was furious and threw a water bottle in frustration. With one race to go, Hamlin led Johnson by 15 points and was 46 points ahead of Kevin Harvick. On the last race he lost the lead to Johnson and ended up 39 points behind him.

2011

In 2011 Hamlin almost won the Budweiser Shootout, but the victory was taken away from him by Kurt Busch because at the last second, Hamlin crossed the yellow line, on turn four to the finish line, in his attempt to pass Ryan Newman. Denny struggled in the first 8 races where his only top 10 was a seventh at Las Vegas. However, when the series got to Richmond, Denny turned on the heat by winning both his charity event and the Nationwide race but would finish 2nd to teammate kyle busch. He would go on to finish outside of the top 10 once at dover finishing in the top 20 and rebounded with finishes of 10th and 3rd at Charlotte and Kansas respectively. After his 3rd place finish at Kansas, he would climb to 11th in points – 1 point out of the coveted 10th as the series goes to his favorite track, Pocono, where he would have tied himself for the most all-time wins at the track, if he had placed first. After a disappointing 19th place finish, he moved on to Michigan, a track at which he posted a 1st and 2nd place finish in 2010. Before the first practice at Michigan, oil pans unapproved by NASCAR were confiscated from the three JGR teams, including Hamlin. After showing signs of sheer mediocrity during each practice and qualifying, Hamlin qualified 10th in the field. He showed signs of improvement at the very start of the race, Hamlin quickly slid back in the field and was in the 10th to 15th place range until beginning to improve with about 70 laps to go, deeming the adjustment on his loose race car "a magic adjustment" On lap 158, with 42 laps to go, a penalty caused by an accident between Juan Pablo Montoya and Andy Lally allowed Hamlin to move to the front of the field by short pitting. Another caution on lap 192 moved the 11 car up to the first position. After a restart, Hamlin surged to ahead of the group, with Matt Kenseth right behind him in the closing three laps. After desperately trying to move past Hamlin, Kenseth made a final attempt coming out of turn four on the final lap, causing him to almost hit the wall because of a loose racecar. This win vaulted Hamlin from 12th in the standings, where he would have been replaced in the chase by Jeff Gordon if each stayed in their current position, to 9th, where he is guaranteed a spot in the chase.

List of Denny Hamlin's Wins

February 11, 2006 June 11, 2006 July 23, 2006 July 1, 2007 March 30, 2008 August 3, 2009 September 12, 2009 October 25, 2009 November 22, 2009 March 29, 2010 April 19, 2010 May 8, 2010 June 6, 2010 June 13, 2010 Heluva Good September 11, 2010 October 24, 2010 November 7, 2010 June 19, 2011 Heluva Good

!Win No.!!Date!!Track!!Race Name!!Distance(laps/miles)
–	|	Daytona International Speedway at Daytona, FL	Budweiser Shootout	72 / 180m
1	|	Pocono Raceway at Long Pond, PA	Pocono 500	200 / 500m
2	|	Pocono Raceway at Long Pond, PA	Pennsylvania 500	200 / 500m
3	|	New Hampshire International Speedway at Loudon, NH	Lenox Industrial Tools 300	300 / 317.4m
4	|	Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, VA	Goody's Cool Orange 500	500 / 263m
5	|	Pocono Raceway at Long Pond, PA	Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500	200 / 500m
6	|	Richmond International Raceway at Richmond, VA	Chevy Rock & Roll 400	400 / 300m
7	|	Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, VA	Tums Fast Relief 500	500 / 263m
8	|	Homestead-Miami Speedway at Homestead, FL	Ford 400	267 / 400.5m
9	|	Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, VA	Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500	500 / 263m
10	|	Texas Motor Speedway at Fort Worth, TX	Samsung Mobile 500	334 / 501m
11	|	Darlington Raceway at Darlington, SC	Showtime Southern 500	367 / 501.3m
12	|	Pocono Raceway at Long Pong, PA	Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Presented by Target	200 / 500m
13	|	Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, MI	Sour Cream Dips 400	200 / 400m
14	|	Richmond International Raceway at Richmond, VA	Air Guard 400	400 / 300m
15	|	Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, VA	Tums Fast Relief 500	500 / 263m
16	|	Texas Motor Speedway at Fort Worth, TX	AAA Texas 500	334 / 501m
17	|	Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, MI	Sour Cream Dips 400	200 / 400m

Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Statistics

Races 7 36 36 36 36 36 21 202

Year	|	Wins	Poles	Top 5	Top 10	DNF	Finish	Start	Winnings	Season Rank	Team(s)
	2005	|	0	1	0	3	0	17.1	19.0	$610,030	41st	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2006	|	2	3	8	20	1	12.5	13.4	$6,607,932	3rd	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2007	|	1	1	12	18	1	14.0	12.4	$5,897,693	12th	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2008	|	1	1	12	18	3	15.4	15.3	$6,913,480	8th	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2009	|	4	1	15	20	4	13.2	14.4	$7,208,940	5th	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2010	|	8	2	14	18	2	12.9	16.6	$5,535,670	2nd	Joe Gibbs Racing
	2011	|	1	0	4	7	1	14.5	13.6	$2,575,543	11th	Joe Gibbs Racing
colspan=11 bgcolor=#808080 height="5px"
Totals	|	17	9	64	103	12	14.4	16.0	$35,349,288	14.8

(Data as of June 22, 2011)

External links

Denny Hamlin's official website

Joe Gibbs Racing's Official Denny Hamlin Website

References

Category:1980 births Category:American racecar drivers Category:Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Category:Living people Category:Manchester High School (Virginia) alumni Category:NASCAR drivers Category:NASCAR Rookies of the Year Category:People from Chesterfield County, Virginia Category:Sportspeople from Virginia

de:Denny Hamlin fr:Denny Hamlin id:Denny Hamlin nl:Denny Hamlin ja:デニー・ハムリン no:Denny Hamlin simple:Denny Hamlin sv:Denny Hamlin

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Sven Väth
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
alias	Astral Pilot, Barbarella
born	October 26, 1964Obertshausen, Germany
genre	ElectronicaTechnoTranceHouseAmbient techno
occupation	Disc jockeyRecord producer
years active	1982–present
label	Cocoon RecordingsWarner Bros. Records(1993–1996)Virgin/EMI Records
website	http://www.cocoon.net/
notable instruments	}}

Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964, Obertshausen, Germany) is a Frankfurt based DJ who has produced an extensive range of work since his career began in 1982. From 1985, he was part of the band OFF (acronym for Organization for Fun) which released the hit "Electrica Salsa" in 1986. He was also one of the founders of trance music labels Harthouse and the now-defunct Eye Q, as well as being among the first DJs to play trance records. In 1995 ''Mixmag'' rated his album ''Accident in Paradise'' one of the top-50 dance albums of all time; although the title track is a fast techno piece, the rest is far more sedate, such as the track "Coda," which features merely a flute and a harpsichord.

Väth is also known as "RU Ready" and "Sam Vision". He has been a member of the groups 16 Bit, Astral Pilot, Barbarella, the Essence of Nature, Metal Master, Metal Masters, Mosaic, and Off. Today he is the owner of the Cocoon Music Event GmbH, which contains his Label, Cocoon Recordings. He is also a shareholder of the Cocoon Club in Frankfurt.

Sven Väth is mentioned in the song Hyper Hyper by German hard dance band Scooter.

Discography

Albums

''Accident in Paradise'' (Eye Q, 1992) (Warner Bros. Records, 1993, U.S.)

''The Harlequin, the Robot, and the Ballet Dancer'' (Eye Q, 1994) (Warner Bros. Records, 1995, U.S.)

''Der Kalte Finger'' (Eye Q, 1996; collaboration with B-Zet)

''Fusion'' (Virgin Records, 1998)

''Six in the Mix'' (The Fusion Remix Collection '99) (Virgin Records, 1999)

''Contact'' (Ultra Records, 2000) (also released on Virgin Records)

''Retrospective 1990-1997'' (single disc version) (WEA Records, 2000)

''Retrospective 1990-1997'' (two disc version) (Club Culture, 2000) (also released on Warner Music in Japan)

''Fire'' (Virgin Records, 2002)

''Allan Gauch'' (Virgin Records 1997-2002)

''DC's Hand Picked Mix Tape''

''Fire Works'' (remixes of tracks from ''Fire'') (Virgin Records, 2003)

''Sound of The First Season'' (One Disc Version 2000)

''Sound of The Second Season'' (Two Disc Version 2001)

''Sound of The Third Season'' (One Disc Version 2002)

''Sound of The Fourth Season'' (Two Disc Version 2003)

''Sound of The Fifth Season'' (One Disc Version 2004)

''Sound of The Sixth Season'' (Two Disc Version 2005)

''Sound of The Seventh Season'' (Two Disc Version 2006)

''Sound of The Eighth Season'' (Two Disc Version 2007)

''Sound of The Ninth Season'' (Two Disc Version 2008)

''Sound of The Tenth Season'' (Two Disc Version 2009)

''Sound of The Eleventh Season'' (Two Disc Version 2010)

Singles

"L'Esperanza" #5 Hot Dance Club Play; #63 UK (1993)

"Ritual of Life" (Eye Q, 1993)

"Ballet-Fusion" (Eye Q, 1994)

"Fusion - Scorpio's Movement" (Virgin Records, 1997)

"Breakthrough" (Virgin Records, 1998)

"Face It" (Virgin Records, 1998)

"Omen A.M." (Virgin Records, 1998)

"Schubdüse" (Virgin Records, 1998)

"Sounds Control Your Mind" (Virgin Records, 1998)

"Augenblick" (Virgin Records, 1999)

"Dein Schweiss" (Virgin Records, 1999)

"Discophon" (Virgin Records, 1999)

"Barbarella" (remix) (Club Culture, 2000)

"L'Esperanza" (remix) (Club Culture, 2000)

"My Name is Barbarella" (Code Blue, 2000)

"Je t'aime... moi non plus" (featuring Miss Kittin) / Design Music (Virgin Records, 2001)

"Strahlemann Und Söhne" (remix) (Virgin Records, 2001)

"Mind Games" (Virgin Records, 2002)

"Set My Heart on Fire" (Virgin Records, 2002)

"Komm" (Cocoon Recordings, 2005)

"Spring Love" (Datapunk, 2006)

"The Beauty and The Beast" (Cocoon Records 2008)

References

External links

Official Website

Biography of Sven Väth at DJguide.nl

Category:German DJs Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:German trance musicians

bg:Свен Вет cs:Sven Väth de:Sven Väth es:Sven Väth fr:Sven Väth hr:Sven Väth it:Sven Väth nl:Sven Väth pl:Sven Väth ru:Фэт, Свен sr:Свен Фет fi:Sven Väth sv:Sven Väth