When Championship Auto Racing Teams first ventured to Mexico City in 1980 and '81 the reasoning was two-fold. It needed tracks in its war with the United States Auto Club and there was a general feeling Mexico might embrace Champ Cars.

But, despite putting local drivers Michel Jourdain and Daniel Muniz in the show, the experiment didn't work. The Autodromo Rodriguez offered a great circuit but had nothing in the way of crowd control and there wasn't much of a crowd anyway. Plus, the promotion was very weak and CART was virtually unknown south of the border.

Twenty years later, when CART decided to try Mexico again in 2001 at Monterrey, the climate had changed dramatically. Adrian Fernandez and Michel Jourdain Jr. were series regulars. Co-promoter Gerry Forsythe had turned Fundidora Park into a real road course and sponsors Tecate, Telmex, Gigante, Herdez and Quaker State did a marvelous job of getting Monterrey charged for CART.

The result was a race-day crowd of 100,000-plus and, last year, CART returned to Mexico City and drew more than a quarter of a million people in three days in the revamped Rodriguez complex.

As CART heads for its second stop of the 2003 tour this weekend at Monterrey, the country of Mexico now rivals Canada as CART's best supporters. And having five Mexican drivers (Mario Dominguez, Rodolfo Lavin, Roberto Gonzalez, Fernandez and Jourdain) to cheer on is obviously a big plus.

"I'm proud of how my country has taken to CART racing and it's been a while since things like this have happened in Mexico," said Fernandez, who is revered like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods in his homeland and literally needs bodyguards just to go into a restaurant.

"It's been a process, from different drivers starting from the Rodriguez brothers (Ricardo and Pedro, who both died racing in the '60s) then we have Hector Rebaque, Josele Garza, Bernard Jourdain, just different drivers, different eras, different times.

"For a period of time, we really didn't have anything. But over a period of time, racing has grown tremendously in Mexico to the point of having more interest in companies, and this is all part of also the initiative of Tecate, Gigante, Quaker State, Herdez and Telmex, to be able to support us right from the beginning and believe in this project.

"With a combination of promotions and results and all that, it grew up to the point of making a lot of noise in Mexico, becoming a big sport. Now that has influenced other companies, other drivers to come to CART."

	Fernandez finished 15th in the season-opener at St. Petersburg.

At 37 and in his 11th season in Champ Cars, Fernandez is by far the most accomplished of all the Mexican pilots. He's got seven career wins, three poles, 160 starts and finished runner-up in the 2000 championship. He's also CART's lone owner/driver.

"Adrian really got Mexico excited about racing again and he's worked very hard to achieve his success," said Jourdain, who began his CART career in 1996 when he was only 19. "He went to Europe, then came back to Mexico and went to the United States. He was very smart and worked so hard at the sponsors.

"I think all that has helped all of us here so that later Herdez got in, then I came in. Just more and more people started coming. It has changed so, so much. I mean, the racing world in Mexico is so different now than 10 years ago."

The 26-year-old Jourdain's father competed in both CART races in 1980 and '81 before a young man named Josele Garza came to CART, followed by another Mexican, Hector Rebaque.

"My dad, when he used to race in Mexico, he could just go on a Sunday with his helmet and he could drive five cars," said Jourdain, who finished second in last month's CART opener at St Petesburg, Fla. "But if he tried to go to the States or Europe, nobody would help.

"One of the first things I remember was Josele leading 13 laps at the Indianapolis 500. That was big. Then, when Adrian came back from Europe and went to the States, everybody got interested."

Fernandez feels like the two CART events have energized Mexico's passion for motorsports.

"Events like Mexico City and Monterrey, they do good for our racing in Mexico, for the local racing, because it attracts new sponsors, brings in new companies and all that," he said. "That's fantastic. It's starting to become a little bit like the Brazilian sort of situation -- but not yet as big. If we continue like this and we all put our help to try to keep all this, I mean, I think our future in racing looks pretty bright.

"It's nice to see it growing because it's something that we always wanted. I think, you know, now with people like Michel and Mario and Roberto coming, you have secured I think for a great part of our immediate future for international racing."

Gonzalez knows Fernandez and Jourdain have paved the way for himself, Dominguez and Lavin.

"I think what they have achieved has really changed motorsports in Mexico and it's really helped us," Gonzalez said. "They've opened international motorsports to the eyes of business companies here in Mexico.

"Between Adrian and Michel and the sponsors, we owe them a lot."

Robin Miller covers open-wheel racing for ESPN and ESPN.com. Miller answers user e-mails on ESPN.com and questions on ESPNews.