man i'm going to sound like a nerd for saying this, but seeing as i just took an econ final at school last week, i thought i'd share.
US urban consumer price index (whole year adjusted for 2004) from 1/1/00 to current is 12.4%. 1/3/00 exchange rate for the dollar vs. euro was .984, currently it is .746. that is a 24.2% drop.
someone mentioned $56 initial cost, add 12.4% = 62.94. take (.984 / .746) * 62.94 to get the exchange/inflation adjusted total of $83.02.
the 'gouge' factor, perse, would be the yearly % adjusted increase over CPI, which = (1 - (83.02 / 95)) / 4 or 3.15% per year.
as far as the editorial portion of my post goes: good, bad, justified or not.... higher comparitive costs = smaller consumer markets. smaller consumer markets = less racers. all things being equal, anything that kills turnout at the track, i hate to see.