NASCAR is sometimes cited as a sport that horse racing should emulate. To be sure, the car racing that originated with drivers hauling bootleg whiskey in the South has grown into a blockbuster enterprise with the most television viewers among all sports except football. But the growth spurt looks to be in trouble.

[Read more →]

Whenever the sport has experienced low points like the tragedies of Barbaro and Eight Belles, it has tended to react by heaping on more and often emotionally-charged publicity with negative connotations of its own.

[Read more →]