In an era where television ratings and attendance at many sporting events are showing declines, the American Le Mans Series is moving the needle appreciably. Any way you cut it or count it, attendance and television viewing for the Series is up significantly. Attendance at American Le Mans Series first three rounds is averaging more than 106,000 per race while television viewers increased more than four and a half fold. The attendance mark is a 3.2 percent increase over the same period last year. Reported estimated attendances this season are Sebring 170,000; St. Petersburg 45,000; and Long Beach 105,000. Sunday attendances for the IRL races at St. Petersburg and Long Beach are not taken into account.

Last season, SPEED telecast the first three races of the year to more than 156,000 television viewers per race. This season, two of the American Le Mans Series races have been on ABC, while the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring remained on SPEED. The two network telecasts have shown a 37 percent increase over network telecasts last season, while Sebring’s viewership increased 14 percent, giving the Series an average of more than 710,333 viewers per race for the three telecasts, a four and one-half times increase from 2007. Last weekend’s Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach telecast on ABC generated an 0.8 ABC rating, the Series’ highest rated network show since a similar 0.8 CBS rating at Lime Rock in 2006.

President of the FIA Max Mosley has said he will step down from his post voluntarily next year, after 16 years in office. Speaking to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, he defended his right to privacy, and maintained that his private life did not interfere with his ability to do his job.

Mosley is currently suing another British newspaper, The News of the World, for publishing details about his involvement in what the newspaper alleged was a Nazi-themed orgy with prostitutes.

He will face a vote of confidence at an extraordinary meeting of the FIA general assembly in Paris on June 3. During the interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said that he will address the meeting, and state that it was always his intention to step down in 2009, because of his age – he will be 69 next year. This report came from SportsBusiness.com.

US based strategic marketing company, Dynamic Response Group, has signed an exclusive three-year deal to market The Official NASCAR Members Club to millions of NASCAR fans living in the US. The deal comes on the back of a successful marketing test, for which Dynamic Response Group created a scalable model to market both ‘The Club’ itself and a bundled merchandise package marketed as a VIP membership.

“NASCAR has a tremendous brand, and we recognized the opportunity to work together with the Official NASCAR Members Club to take its brand to the next level with our affinity marketing program,” said CEO Melissa Rice. “In working on this initiative for the Official NASCAR Members Club, we have established an invaluable model that we can replicate with other brands around the world.”

The Official NASCAR Members Club is the only official fan membership organization licensed by NASCAR. Membership enables fans to become Official Members of NASCAR, with access to exclusive events, information, merchandise, deals, discounts and other benefits. This report came from SportsBusiness.com.

Here’s another one from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter. Yes, He REALLY Said That Adrian Fernandez, on Juan Pablo Montoya: “Juan Pablo’s personality is just right for NASCAR. He’s so cold. Sometimes I feel like he’s not human. Before the race, maybe you are a little nervous. He’s not at all. He doesn’t have respect for anybody, in a good way. On the track, he doesn’t give a (bleep). That makes him unique.”

Join us at Fleet Week’s kick-off event on Saturday, May 3. Come to the San Diego Big Bay to see an exciting display of military vessels parade through Harbor and Shelter Island. Also, a very special event is being planned for Friday morning, May 2, aboard the USS Midway, which is sure to make a splash, complete with key executives arriving in a helicopter, landing on the flight deck – a sight not to be missed!

We encourage everyone to take the trolley down to the Sea & Air Parade to avoid the traffic. You can take the Event Service Trolley from Q Street to the Convention Center. For more information, visit www.Sdmts.com.

Danica Patrick told the Wall Street Journal in 2006 that Saving Jane’s hit debut single “Girl Next Door” was one of her favorite songs. This year, she handpicked “Supergirl” as her official theme song, as heard on her web site danicaracing.com

Let’s check the weekend motorsports action on the tube. Starting Friday at 1:30 p.m. Speed offers Final Cup Practice at Richmond. At 4 p.m. Speed/TSN air Nationwide Series Qualifying at 4 p.m. from Richmond. At 5:30 Speed airs Sprint Cup Qualifying from RIR. ESPN2/TSN air the Nationwide Series race from RIR at 7:30 p.m. with a Replay at 11:30 p.m. on TSN. Saturday get going with a noon airing of the Grand Am Rolex race from VIR on Speed. At 5 p.m. Speed offers NASCAR RaceDay from RIR. Fox/TSN kicks in with the Sprint Cup go from RIR at 7 p.m. At the same time Speed offers IHRA action from Texas. ESPN2 airs NHRA Qualifying from Gateway in E. St. Louis at 9 p.m. For Sunday Speed airs the ARCA RE/MAX race from Rockingham, NC at noon. At the same time CBS broadcasts the AMA SuperX Season Review. The Duce returns with NHRA Finals from Gateway at 7 p.m. (END)

NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.