Many of the drivers in the A1GP championship are relative unknowns but you can't say that about team management.
The "seatholders", "team principals" and executives involved include some of motor-racing's greatest names.
John Surtees, the only man to have won world championships on two and four wheels, is
team principal of the British team. He is well known in this country because he raced here many times, winning the first NZ Grand Prix to be run at Pukekohe in 1963. He won the Formula One world title the next year.
He has returned to the Pukekohe circuit a couple of times in recent years to compete in the classic motorcycle festival on some of the bikes that won him seven world titles.
Brazilian seatholder Emerson Fittipaldi won Formula One world titles in 1972 and 1974. He also won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993 and the IndyCar championship.
Another world Formula One champion, Alan Jones, is the boss at Team Australia. He won his title in 1980 with the Williams team. Jones has driven touring cars in this country and his father, Stan, was the first winner of a NZ Grand Prix at Ardmore.
Team Netherlands leader Jan Lammers competed in Formula One but has had his greatest success in sports cars, where he won the world championship in 2002 and 2003.
Perhaps the most influential figure of all in world motorsport is Team Germany's Willi Weber. He managed Michael Schumacher's career and remains a formidable operator in the multimillion-dollar world of Formula One.
Despite all these high-flying motorsport men, the biggest name in A1GP is that of Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, co-seatholder with Brazil. He is best known as Ronaldo, the footballing superstar.
