- "Oh, there goes Quadinaros' power coupling!"
- ―Fodesinbeed Annodue
Ben Quadinaros was a male Toong from the planet of Tund, and operated as a Podracer pilot during the last decades of the Galactic Republic.
Biography[]
- «What's the matter? Your pit droid take a day off?»
- ―Quadinaros taunts another racer
Quadinaros was known as something of a coward, though this was not entirely accurate. However, like most Toongs, he buckled under when confronted with social interaction. His timidity around others quickly earned him an undeserved reputation as a coward, and while he might not have been spineless, he lacked the skill required to achieve success in the Boonta Eve Classic. Quadinaros had only raced previously on the Pouffra Circuit, widely regarded as one of the safest, and therefore in the collective opinion of the Podracing elite, wimpiest, courses in the galaxy.
Quadinaros would not have entered the Boonta at all if not for the fact that Boles Roor, in his glimmik concert the night before the race, had drunkenly bet five million peggats that Quadinaros didn't have the guts to enter. The Toong accepted his bet, rented a BT310, and soon found himself on the starting grid of the racetrack. He couldn't deny feeling great fear that he might meet his end on the unforgiving dunes of the Boonta. However, he was spared a grisly fate when his Podracer failed to take off at the start of the race. The racer's power couplings failed while the racer was turned on, and the engines shot off in different directions, with Ben being tugged up only a few feet. It transpired that Quadinaros' racer had been sabotaged by Ark "Bumpy" Roose prior to the start of the contest, and was not a radical design flaw, as originally rumored. Although Ben's piloting skills certainly remained unproven at this point, the potential of the BT310 was certainly not, being one of the most powerful single-repulsor craft ever made. This was a machine designed to break barriers, in speed and design alike, but was an unusual rental choice for a novice pilot.
Deprived of his dignity, yet five million peggats richer as a result of his bet with Roor, Quadinaros happily stepped down from the expert courses, purchased a new Podracer, and returned to the Pouffra Circuit.
He became the race champion on the Ceyan Range Raceway on Hoth[5] as well as on the Inferno circuit on Baroonda, despite the latter being more dangerous than the Pouffra.
Even as he supported his family, he pressed ahead with his career as a racing driver during the time of the Clone Wars. While discharged on Mon Gazza, he was able to qualify for the finals, which he won, and was celebrated afterward for his victory.
Behind the scenes[]
In his computer game appearances, he was voiced by Dominic Armato.
Quadinaros meets a rather different fate in the comic adaptation of the film, where his Podracer starts without any trouble, but explodes after being rammed by Sebulba's craft.
In Star Wars Galaxies, players could race several swoop race tracks and try to get the daily track record to receive a badge. If no player had yet completed the track on that day, the race coordinator would tell the player that Ben Quadinaros is the current record holder.
Appearances[]
- Podracing Tales
- Kinect Star Wars
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace novelization (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace unabridged audiobook
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
- † Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars: Racer Revenge
- The Clone Wars: Crash Course
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Rise of Clovis" (Picture only)
- Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (Mentioned only)
- Tatooine Ghost (Appears in hologram)
- Racer Rush on StarWars.com (article) (content now obsolete; backup link)
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
- Star Wars Episode I Who's Who: A Pocket Guide to the Characters of The Phantom Menace
- † Young Jedi Collectible Card Game
- Star Wars: Episode I The Visual Dictionary
- Star Wars: Episode I Podracer Punch-Outs
- Star Wars: Power of the Jedi
- "Unseen Planets of Episode I" — Star Wars Insider 56
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 24 (POD5-6, Ben Quadinaros' Podracer)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 26 (POD2, Podracer Pilots)
- Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary
- Star Wars Fandex Deluxe Edition
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: Head-to-Head Tag Teams
- Podracer, Ben Quadinaros' in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: Force Collection (Card: Ben Quadinaros)
- Quadinaros, Ben in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Roor, Boles in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Authors of the Expanded Universe: L. Neil Smith" — Star Wars Insider 145
- "Podracing 101!" — Star Wars Comic 3
- Ben Quadinaros in the Encyclopedia (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Podracing 101!" — Star Wars Magazine 2