The term "pole position", as used in motorsports is the position of the motor vehicle and its driver at the front of the grid in the starting lineup. This driver is referred to as the polesitter. Grid position is usually either determined by a separate qualifying session where drivers try to set the fastest lap, or based on their position in the previous race(s). Different motorsports series use different formats for determining which driver has the opportunity to start from pole position.
Read more about Pole Position: Origin, Formula One, Indianapolis 500, IndyCar, MotoGP, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Famous quotes containing the words pole and/or position:
“Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“On fields all drenched with blood he made his record in war, abstained from lawless violence when left on the plantation, and received his freedom in peace with moderation. But he holds in this Republic the position of an alien race among a people impatient of a rival. And in the eyes of some it seems that no valor redeems him, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off the ban which clings to him.”
—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (18251911)