CLASS WAR; With Sebring right around the corner, the ALMS defends its pricey prototypes.(Motorsports)(American Le Mans Series)

Byline: PETE LYONS

Dumbing-down race cars is the rage these days, as sanctioning bodies adopt more of NASCAR's successful business plan. Even Formula One-where high technology has long been a chief selling point-is trying to make its machines slower and cheaper.

Standing stalwart against this tide is Scott Atherton of the American Le Mans Series.

"I like our positioning,'' says the ALMS president and CEO. "We're not trying to be NASCAR... It would be the equivalent of Nordstrom's trying to be a mass merchandiser.''

Atherton asserts that the ALMS's upscale business plan is doing nicely. While admitting 2004 was "a challenging year'' in terms of car counts, he points to other gauges that continue to rise. These include the quality of the cars, their drivers, the teams and the racing. He calls the ALMS television package "second to none,'' and says the 2005 schedule-increased to 10 races with a more even distribution through the year-is "probably the best the ALMS has had.'' The calendar is courtesy of cooperative Le Mans organizers who moved dates to accommodate the Americans(!). Atherton holds all up as evidence of solid, carefully managed growth that continues to attract corporate sponsorships.

He cites independent media-tracking firm Joyce Julius to claim the top 10 ALMS sponsors receive better value than do those backing the IRL, Champ Car and Grand-Am. (He insists on taking the IRL's Indy 500 out of the equation, reckoning it as an anomaly; with it figured in, the IRL has the better Julius numbers.)

In all, Atherton says, "The ALMS has kind of settled into a level of maturity and... acceptance of what the ALMS is now, that still seems to draw significant numbers of fans.''