JB
Do you know who originated the projection method? The history lesson (http://www.thorograph.com/archive/history%20lesson.html) in your archives documents the early use of the \'dogmatic\' statistical creation of a daily variant after correcting for the effects of weight carried, wind, and ground loss including run-up.
But I don\'t see much talk about using the projection of certain horse\'s figures to come up with a track variant that may or may not be constant for the day, due to changing track conditions, especially changes in the surface as you claim.
I seem to recall Beyer talk about it in one of his books, but I don\'t remember if he took credit for the idea.
Easy-- The term \"projection method\", as far as I know, was first used by Beyer, and then by Steve Crist. It refers to using the specific horses that ran on a particular card to judge track speeds, rather than pars (10k claimers etc.), and is used by all serious figure makers today, whether they think the track is changing speed or not.