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We’ve talked about the rising of popularity of bears  and their tendency to appear on the cultural scene at appropriate junctures (see Socio Times entry of June 27). This might be another example. What’s even more interesting, from a socionomic point of view, is that “NASCAR's television ratings, after years of acceleration, have shifted into reverse.” Not including two races that were shifted to Monday’s, national ratings are down 8.2 percent from 5.42 last year to 4.75 so far this year. NASCAR’s  blames a lack of promotion by NBC, but another key measure of popularity, attendance, is also down. “This sport which once couldn't seem to print tickets fast enough suddenly finds itself at a crossroads.”  NASCAR and the “Need For Speed” emerged at the beginning of Cycle III in the late 1940s and went big time with the establishment of asphalt speedways in the 1950s. After years of steady growth, the sport boomed in the bull market of the 1960s. At the beginning of Cycle V in 1976, “the  Daytona 500 was one of the first races aired on television in its entirety.” As Cycle V pressed higher, “sponsors grew during the ’80s and ’90s,” and “so did drivers’ earnings.”  Now, however, NASCAR ratings are clearly diverging from the uptrend in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which suggests that there may, in fact, be a larger significance behind Tony Stewart’s 280-pound bear trophy.