Dennis Fong won the first Quake tournament with a Ferrari as its grand prize.
Fong, who competed under the nickname Thresh, won the 1997 Red Annihilation tournament for Quake. The prize was the Ferrari 328 owned by Quake creator John Carmack. Fong defeated Tom “Entropy” Kimzey in the final, helping turn a competitive gaming result into one of esports’ most famous origin stories.
The event was organized through an online qualification process before its final stage was held at Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta. Its large publicity value helped demonstrate that competitive video games could attract sponsors, spectators, and significant rewards.
Fong is also notable for later co-founding the esports organization Franchise and for being recognized by Guinness World Records as an early professional video-game player. The Ferrari story is sometimes associated with Quake champion Johnathan Wendel, but Wendel was a later star known as Fatal1ty.