[Tommy]

The rise and fall of NASCAR reminds me very much of the rise and fall of the WWF (now WWE) professional wrestling endeavor. There was a brief time when pro wrestling peaked that it was on the cover of major magazines, was analyzed as a successful business model, and was the subject of articles on serious television news shows. In my opinion it was a fad - an activity that became briefly popular with a much larger than usual audience as people became curious about what their friends were watching. After the larger audience had watched for a brief time, they became bored and went on to other forms of entertainment, leaving the WWE with its much smaller core audience. .... I believe NASCAR has seen a similar cycle. I have no doubt the bad economy has contributed to the problem, but I believe (or hope) that NASCAR's biggest days are behind it. Perhaps now that its fan base has shrunk, SPEED Channel will make room to cover some other motorsports.