INDIANAPOLIS -- The sheer strength in quality and numbers of Brazilian drivers at the Indianapolis 500 has been well documented over the past weeks.

But what about Americans? When talking about the popularity of CART and even Formula One in the United States, many observers wonder if these series need more American drivers. The common thinking is that American personalities help maintain or grow interest in the United States, and the complete lack of Americans in F1 is oft referred to as the primary reason the international series does not have a significant following in the U.S.

Currently, CART has just three full-time American drivers, while the Indy Racing League has more than a dozen. These numbers aren't surprising if one considers the IRL has always maintained it wanted an all-oval series -- to cater to the American race fan -- which had a good share of American drivers. The IRL's visit to Motegi, Japan, next season will mark its first race off U.S. soil.

Meanwhile, international interest in CART has grown, and the series runs nine of its 20 races outside of the United States.

Seeing as how the two series have different, if not overlapping, audiences, it's clear that team owners have different priorities in terms of selecting a driver and whether nationality plays a part in that selection process.

	2001 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is Brazilian. The last American to win the Indy 500 was Eddie Cheever in 1998.

"The criteria that we have is can they bring to the team what the team needs. If I had two equal drivers and one was American, Yes, I'd pick an American," said Eddie Cheever Jr., who owns a two-car IRL team which consists of himself and South African Tomas Scheckter. Cheever is also running a car at Indy for Max Papis, an Italian.

"For marketing reasons, it's good (to have an American). From a cultural point of view, an American would have an easier time living the crazy life we do."

Those "marketing reasons" translate into catering to a team sponsor's wants and needs. One reason IRL driver Shigeaki Hattori was able to land an IRL ride is because he has the sponsorship of Japanese company Epson behind him.

"I think sponsors play a role in (driver selection). They either think that's an important staple of their sponsorship or they don't," said Chip Ganassi, who has drivers representing three different countries in his open-wheel stable. Ganassi owns the two-car CART team of Brazilian Bruno Junqueira and Swede Kenny Brack, plus the one-car IRL effort of Jeff Ward, who was born in Scotland but was raised in the U.S. and lives in California. U.S. retailer Target is the primary sponsor of all three teams.

"I think Target's shown you don't have to (consider nationality). It depends if it's a retailer or a cigarette or auto company or whatever," said Ganassi, whose point basically boils down to this: Success on the track means good publicity for the sponsor, regardless of who is behind the wheel -- although there could be other considerations, depending on the product.

"Different sponsors do lend themselves to different types of programs. Obviously, if you had Secret deodorant sponsor, it'd be great if you had a woman because it's a woman's deodorant. Bruno wouldn't want to pitch that. That's an obvious one, and there are some that are not so obvious."

It may or not be a coincidence that Ganassi's one American open-wheel driver is in the IRL. Other factors, such as ability on road and street courses vs. ovals, certainly come into play when choosing a driver for either series. But it does seem clear that it remains part of the IRL mission to put more Americans in its cars, although driving talent is the most important element.

"I think the first and foremost thing I look at is quality and talent and raw talent," said Sam Schmidt, who owns the IRL car of American rookie Anthony Lazzaro but has Americans Richie Hearn and Mark Dismore driving cars for the Indy 500. "I would obviously prefer to have an American driver in my car in this series if we can put everything together. The first prerequisite, though, that you look at is talent and ability, and then it's a huge bonus if he's an American. It's definitely something we'd like to promote if we can."

And with Schmidt fielding cars in a league that caters to a mostly-American audience, pressures from sponsors interested in reaching a foreign audience haven't been too prevalent.

"You always have to work hand in hand with your sponsor and make sure they are happy with your driver because that's the driving force," said Schmidt, whose cars are sponsored by Grill 2 Go. "But ... I haven't had too many people that are interested in international coverage whatsoever, so I haven't really addressed it yet."

Teams want results
But as with any sport, it's about winning.

"Right now for this team the business model is winning and providing a valuable return for our sponsors, and that means winning," said Ganassi, who has one of his cars on the Indy 500 pole this season. "I don't care right now if the drivers are from the United States, Brazil, Sweden. The fact of the matter is I don't care if they're from Mars. If they can win races, that's great."

Despite his predilection to select an American if given the choice between two equal drivers, Cheever agrees that first and foremost, it's about what the driver can do and not where he's from.

"I raced for 11 countries when I was in F1 -- an American team, an English team, a German team, an Italian team. They all chose me for what I could do in a race car. I apply those same rules when hiring a race car driver."

Although talent and ability do appear to be the top criteria in terms of hiring a driver, some believe that nationality should not even be secondary, but rather not be in the equation at all.

"I don't think it's important where you come from. What's important is whether you can drive or not," said Bobby Rahal, who is fielding a car with Miller Lite sponsorship for American driver Jimmy Vasser in the 500. Vasser drives for Rahal full-time in CART.

"Some (sponsors play a role), but most want to win. I've got Jimmy -- I've got an American. But I wouldn't take an American ... If there were two guys and one was an American and one was a German and the German was a better driver, I'd take the German. I have an obligation to win for our team, for our sponsors, for everybody. I don't believe that nationality should play a role. There's always this spin about that and it mainly comes from our friends down south, but to me ... What's an American? Define an American for me. I think it's very troublesome. It concerns me that that's what's important more so than seeing who's talented and who isn't."

But Rahal might also be selecting his drivers for CART from a talent base that includes more foreigners. With many of the Unites States' developmental driving series being midgets and sprint cars or dirt or paved ovals, finding an American with good road and street course experience might not be easy.

"There are a couple of things that hurt U.S. drivers before the IRL. First, they couldn't turn right. Our guys have been going around circles and driving to make it to Indy," said Fred Treadway, owner of his son Rick's No. 5 car and the No. 55 of Arie Luyendyk. Rick Treadway's primary sponsor is Sprint, while Luyendyk's ride is sponsored by Meijer, a grocery and general merchandise retailer in the Midwest. Treadway is American and Luyendyk, a two-time Indy 500 winner, is Dutch.

Even with U.S. drivers being developed in sprint cars and midgets on ovals, many of those top drivers, including the likes of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, head to NASCAR rather than the IRL or CART. But Cheever sees that trend slowing.

	“	Right now for this team the business model is winning and providing a valuable return for our sponsors, and that means winning. I don't care right now if the drivers are from the United States, Brazil, Sweden. The fact of the matter is I don't care if they're from Mars. If they can win races, that's great. ”
		— Chip Ganassi

"I think more will come out of USAC (sprint cars and midgets) in the future (and drive open-wheel)," said Cheever.

Fred Treadway believes that aside from those oval roots of American drivers, the sponsors do play a larger role in driver selection.

"The biggest thing that hurts American drivers is money. Sponsors typically work hand and hand with me to get a driver. So if I want a Brazilian sponsor, like Hollywood Cigarettes -- a cigarettes company in Brazil -- they are not going to take an American driver. (Same way) if you are Phillip Morris, and you want to sell more cigarettes in Brazil, (or) if you are a Mexican food company."

Case in point: Brazilian IRL driver Felipe Giaffone's car carries Hollywood as its primary sponsor. With that, Treadway recognizes the differences between CART and the IRL in that each has sponsors with different target audiences.

"That in part is what CART's business philosophy is. They are more sponsors on a global basis, and in order to do that, you need (foreign) drivers. My competition for getting sponsorship in the IRL is the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League. If I go to Budweiser, that is my competition. It might be NASCAR, but it isn't CART. It is international. There are more opportunities to bring in big sponsorship. CART is worldwide. But the big thing a driver needs is a great car."

Larry Blair, owner of American Alex Barron's No. 44 Rayovac car, agrees that the two series have different agendas and therefore provide the sponsors with different audiences.

"It depends on which series you are participated in," said Blair. "The IRL is U.S.-based, there is an advantage with an American-driven car, but each team has a responsibility of putting together the most competitive team with what their goals and objectives are. Certainly an American series and an American driver has an appeal for certain types of companies. Those are some of the assets that we have to work with, so we want to leverage that."

Blair himself says he doesn't necessarily take a driver's nationality into consideration, but that he wouldn't mind seeing more American drivers competing.

"It's not particularly a concern. I don't have a lot of great sensitivity to that. I think open-wheel racing in general has to continue to build enthusiasm in the fan base, take a strong value in the IRL. I would like to think that more Americans can compete as well as the Brazilians and Mexican drivers."