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We thought something might be up, er down, for the sport when this giant bear was awarded to the winner of last October’s race here in Atlanta. A far more important signal was the drop in NASCAR’s TV ratings. Last fall, the most frequently cited reason for the dip was that NBC was leaving the sport and had stopped promoting NASCAR in anticipation of its departure. But now NBC is long gone and ratings continue to tumble. We’ll stick with the socionomic explanation that associates an emerging disinterest in car racing with an emerging bear market. Thus the slide in ticket sales and ratings. The April issue of The Elliott Wave Theorist also noted that the both publicly traded NASCAR companies, International Speedway Corporation of America (ISCA) and Speedway Motorsports (TRK), have failed to confirm the new high in the major averages. This has lasted for more than 18 months even though they report record annual revenue in 2006.



As the chart shows, both stocks remain well off their 2000 highs. “Like the major indexes, their prices will soon complete ‘B’-wave bear market rallies,” says the April EWT. The comment from Tony Stewart typifies the negative sentiments that tend to crop up in the early stages of a bear market. As the article notes, however, that Stewart simply expressing “what most race fans have thought for years.” When the time is right, frustrations that get repressed by a rising mood, find their way to the surface, thus the cheating, Chevy dominance and unruly fans. A bad mood finds all kinds of ways to run off fans.