For those of you promoting television as the salvation of racing, a friend of mine just e-mailed me a statement from Paul Tracy that Geico was not interested in sponsoring him at any races broadcast on Versus because there were not enough viewers to matter.

Unlike us rabid race fans, all an advertiser (sponsor) is interested in is the number of people who will see his message. It's the same whether it be the print media (how many subscribers) to broadcast (how many viewers or listeners) to interet (how many page views) to race cars (how many people are in the stands that will see the advertisement on the side of the car).

I think we've been working it backwards ever since the days of the Thunder broadcasts. It's the number of people in the grandstands that convince a television network (or a sponsor) there's a market for their financial investment. That helps race teams attract and retain sponsors.
Jim Morrison