NASCAR GETS MORE POSITIVE MEDIA; BRICKYARD LETDOWN?

     NASCAR is examined in today's WASHINGTON POST by Ken
Denlinger.  Subheads include "Selling the Sport," "From
Martinsville to Long Pond," and "Gordon and the Future."
Denlinger writes, "NASCAR is by far the most commercial of all
sports.  Long before baseball had billboards behind home plate
and colleges gravitated toward corporate tie-ins, NASCAR had
sponsor names splattered all over its cars and the uniforms of
its drivers."  Kyle Petty:  "All sports depend on outside money.
We're just honest about it and nobody else is" (WASHINGTON POST,
8/1).  The excitement surrounding the Brickyard 400 this weekend
is reportedly not as great as the inaugural race last year.
Although all 310,000 seats have been sold, "word has spread" that
seats are available through ticket agencies.  Jeff Gordon:  "I
don't know if it can ever be what it was the first time.  The
inaugural event, the first time stock cars ever raced here.  That
was just a huge event.  You wonder if it can be bigger than that"
(AP/Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/1).