Oh No Not Again, Is it May Already?

Here we go again, merger talks between the IRL and CCWS. Only this time the speculation is based on TG and KK actually being in attendance. Of course this only lends credibility to the outgrowth of rumors and now even some who previously didn't believe are getting excited.

The speculators have already divided up the spoils, set the rules, made the schedule even agreed on the chassis and engine combination.

But wait how many times do I gotta remind you - these are two separate business, privately owned and operated, not having to answer to the stockholders. No one really knows what the two owners agendas are but themselves.

They can continue operating as long as they want. At least until it becomes impossible to finance the operation.

It's their businesses and they can do with them what they please; and they should.

Until they run out of money or spirit.

A New Legge on the Gas Pedal

PKV has announced that Ms Legge will occupy one their two seats for the 2006 season and I say hurrah!

I will admit to being one the nay sayers when the idea was first floated. My concern was putting her in with the big boys could have a negative effect on her confidence and might ruin an otherwise promising new driver. Not that there aren’t other young up and comers that could do equally well but none of them are female.

Female - There in lies the conundrum! How do you manage a driver that has all the potential of being a star and being female that could benefit immensely from another year in the Atlantics.

The testing she did certainly indicates that she should be able avoid being a back marker. It is said that she is an avid trainer and demonstrates a strong commitment to the sport.

In my opinion then she should be considered for this years ride and the underlying reason is not that this driver is female but it is the switch to the new car in 2007. If PKV waited until 2007 when the new car is scheduled for use I fear that adding that to the mix might be one too many things to master in a rookie year, especially if the PKV team isn’t the first to figure out the new livery. Having a years experience with a more level playing field should serve her well in 2007.

So Kate, here’s wishing you the best.

Attendance - Is it One or Two or Three

The way heads are counted at the CCWS events is confusing to say the least. I still am not sure how the attendance figures are arrived at.

When I buy a ticket for a three day event, am I counted three times?

When I buy a ticket for only race day, am I considered less than one or am I equal to one?

If I am given a ticket by a sponsor or some other benevolent group am I counted as one, two, three or zero because I didn't buy the ticket?

I haven't been to an event that does a turnstile count so there has to be another means of counting attendees. When Goodyear was in the series they commissioned a service to estimate attendance. There are crowd estimating services that use photography and base the number on density. How accurate can that be?

OK, does it even matter?

Well except for braggin' rights I suppose the count is most useful when it comes to sponsorship. I would think that sponsors or anyone looking to be a sponsor would like to know what they get for their advertising dollar. I'll bet they understand exactly what can be expected from a dollar investment in the series and it may not have as much to to with attendance as you might think. My guess is that the formulas for calculating advertising ROI include much more than attendance figures.

So what can we get from these convoluted attendance figures? Relativity - No not Einstein’s theory but the comparison of attendance from event to event or of an event year over year. So long as they continue to use the same method of counting heads the attendance numbers at least serve that purpose if no other.

Want to know what really counts? Monday morning when they open the cash register, they take out a dollar and guess what................it counts as one, nothing but one, not two, not three, just one! Isn't it interesting how that works?