Phoenix International Raceway held its 600 last weekend. Not a 300, 400, or a 500. What resulted from this is media professionals who would fail at Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.

This is not a broadly painted slam of public relation or journalistic individuals. Many are very intelligent and have a grasp on the world around them. But there were enough mistakes to call out the lack of common sense.

The Cup Series made its Phoenix debut in November of 1988 with a 500-kilometer distance. Since then every race has been contested with a 500-kilometer distance. Enter 2010 and a 600 label tagged onto the April race. The officials at the Phoenix speedway desired a nighttime finish to the challenge. Their reasoning to the change was with standardized circuit start times; extra laps were needed so the checkered flag flew under the lights.

Now 600 kilometers was the distance, not so difficult, right? Guess again.

One week prior to the green flag dropping in the desert began a sense of confusion. The press box at Virginias South Boston Speedway brought forward the first question asked that a little thought would have taken care of. Phoenixs race next week is 600 miles?

There are a number that have not paid attention to what has happened around them over the past 20-plus years. Phoenixs races have always been 312 laps around the mile surface. Does one honestly think the distance was now nearly doubled? Yes, someone did.

The press releases during the week contained some poor information also. Some claimed that Phoenix added an extra 100 laps. Others stated that an extra pit stop was needed. Neither was true. The possibility of an extra stop existed depending on when the last caution flag flew.

A well-know radio show host was asked by a fan caller how much longer the race was. The host stumbled over the question without giving an answer but was successful in babbling for at least twenty seconds. She has been around the NASCAR garage for years. Did she really not know that 63 miles equals about 100 kilometers? Obviously she didnt.

This is math that is on display every week in auto racing circles. I dont have trigonometry formulas chiseled into my brain. But laps/distance/miles ratios are part of information on display every single race weekend. After twenty or thirty years I would hope someone picks up some of it.

Motorsports helped teach me about arithmetic in grade school. Racing was something I was interested in and could transfer it to my math classes. That method sure helped a bunch.

Syracuse, New Yorks mile used to hold modified and sprint car races over a kilometers distance. Riverside, California would also hold kilometers races. Indycars and sports cars additionally hold races in metric units. Most are miles, but speedways sometimes find a need to advertise a kilometer length. Why I am not sure, but they do. The track lengths, laps, and conversions are all there. And have been for years.

Anyone operating as any kind of professional in this sport and was tripped up by Phoenixs change in distance should take a hard look at their common sense gauge. The distance alteration was very self-explanatory.

I am not above a mistake. I make plenty on a daily basis. Being human does that to a guy. But the multiple marketing and press-related career individuals that could not grasp Phoenixs 600 astounded me. What was even more shocking were those that didnt know, didnt bother with any research.