It is now 10 days since The New York Times ran a scathingly critical page-one Sunday sports section story on NASCAR, based on its declining TV ratings and arrested growth. The well-researched article by former Orlando Sentinel reporter Juliet Macur began by recalling NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France’s claim at Daytona in February that the stock-car racing sport was continuing its remarkable rise. She followed up by reporting that six races into a new season NASCAR was at a crossroads, suffering from an identity crisis and a TV ratings decline of 14 percent. Her lengthy critique, supported by photographs and graphs, was followed a week later by an AutoWeek race report by Al Pearce headlined “Is NASCAR’s Popularity Waning?” with similar commentary. So far, no response from Daytona, but in Sunday’s N.Y. Times letters column a writer penned, “Perhaps NASCAR’s popularity is not growing so fast because people realize that it is a monopoly and that there are forces at work to manipulate the outcome of races.What was once a sport has become the equivalent of professional wrestling.” This writer does not buy that; however, at this desk it has long been suspected that more than a few people at the upper levels of the U.S. sports world are jealous of the remarkable success NASCAR has enjoyed and are now pleased to see it humbled. Sad.

Possible trouble for NASCAR? Advertising Age magazine asks if a new advertising agency can rescue “struggling Sprint,” parent company of NASCAR’s biggest sponsor, Nextel. The magazine’s detailed report tells us Sprint is this country’s third biggest telecommunications carrier with 53.1 million subscribers, behind Verizon Wireless with 59 million and leader AT&T’s 61 million. The reason for the Ad Age concern is that fourth-quarter 2006 financial reports show Sprint gaining only 1.1 million new subscribers, while 2.3 million new ones were added by AT&T’s Cingular and a like number by Verizon. Telecom experts report concern because Sprint is performing at only half the level of its rivals, blaming it for not having dumped the Nextel name.

Skip this paragraph unless you are crazy about engines. Those concerned with reducing emissions and increasing fuel economy are exploring recently announced HCCI technology engines. That stands for Homogenous Change Compression Ignition, which combines the best features of diesel and gasoline engines. Its fuel-air mixture is ignited by compression — as in a diesel — not by a spark plug. The HCCI engine runs on leaner fuel than normal, thus reducing emissions and oxides of nitrogen. Reports indicate many of the world’s leading automakers are experimenting with this new concept.We can’t wait until one tries it in a racing car. Then there’s the new Variable Compression Ratio Engine being developed by FEV Engine Tech of Auburn Hills, Mich. Its heart is its electronic pivoting of the engine crankshaft. Early durability tests have been favorable, with few, if any, problems reported. Again, the world’s major automakers have expressed interest. Might this be another powerplant headed for the race track?...Remember when NASCAR founder Bill France praised General Motors for producing an engine that delivered one horsepower per cubic inch of displacement (the now-famous small-block Chevy V-8)? That was a half-century ago. Today, GM’s 250-HP Ecotec four banger, found in versions of the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, develops more than 130 HP per liter (61 cubic inches). You do the math.

Drag-racing star John Force is not one to dawdle — on the strip or off. Shortly after Eric Medlen died at the wheel of one of Force’s Funny Cars, it was learned his death was due not to the car’s crash into a concrete wall but to brain injuries suffered by the violent side-by-side shaking of Medlen’s head when a rear tire was punctured and went flat. While skipping the subse-