Cheever

Three things I'll never forget about Japan:

1. It was the very first place where I received money to drive a race car. I was 18 years old, driving in Formula 2, and I'd never been to Japan. It took 27 hours to get there. We stopped in London and Brussels, flew over Moscow, and stopped in Seoul, where we waited in a tiny room for eight hours at the airport waiting for a connecting flight to Tokyo. I won 4,000 pounds. I thought I was the king of the world.

2. One night before the Japanese Grand Prix, I couldn't sleep. I woke up at about 4 a.m. and looked out the hotel window, only to see about 30 fans waiting below my balcony. If you think American fans are intense, you might be right. But you haven't seen anything until you've been to Suzuka for the Grand Prix.

3. Alain Prost traveled in a flock in Japan. He couldn't move anywhere alone. At least 100 people moved with him everywhere he went. You knew exactly where you stood in popularity when you visited Japan by the flock surrounding you. If you had 50, you were good. If you had 20, you were OK. If you had 10, you weren't very popular.

The IRL IndyCar Series is racing this weekend at Twin Ring Motegi near Tokyo, the first time the all-American, all-oval series has been outside the United States. We'll be there with the driver of Red Bull Cheever Racing's No. 52 car, Buddy Rice, trying for a breakthrough win.

But the event itself is much more than that. It's a gesture of gratitude from the Indy Racing League to Japanese fans and manufacturers. It's a melding of two distinct cultures that are bound together by economic and political similarities, but also by another reason.

Love of the automobile.

Back in the late 1970s, during the energy crisis, Japanese auto manufacturers introduced American buyers to something they hadn't seen. Small, light, fuel-efficient cars. Nissan, Toyota and Honda eventually became serious competitors for Detroit's big three -– General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Word on the street was that American manufacturers were in serious trouble.

Much has happened since Japanese imports first arrived in the U.S., but one thing didn't happen. Detroit didn't go away. If anything, the strengths of the Japanese automobile served to make the American automobile better. Look around you; both sides –- along with European manufacturers -– are producing some remarkable cars these days. Competition among the makers is the key element in that improvement.

Along with the growing strength of automakers in Japan came their involvement with racing. Companies that build cars find that racing them is not just a nice way to advertise. It's a nice way to test their technology, too. That's why you find Toyota and Honda in the IRL. That's why you find the IRL in Japan this weekend. And that's why Buddy –- whose hair color changes by the day –- will be surrounded by young fans who click with his Gen X image.

Here's the best illustration of Japanese interest in the IRL. At our first two races this season, the count in the press room has been around one-third Japanese reporters and photographers. We have three Japanese drivers -– Tora Takagi, Roger Yasukawa and Shigeaki Hattori -– and cars with Toyota and Honda engines won the first two races of the season. Racing at Twin Ring Motegi is the IRL's way of showing appreciation for what Japan has contributed to motorsports and the automobile.

The other night, I happened to catch a Yankees game on TV. Hideki Matsui, the Yanks' rookie from Japan, was at the plate. The director cut to a shot of still photographers. At least 15 of them stood in the photographers' box, patiently waiting to get just the right shot of the newest Yankee. The same kind of interest has followed Ichiro from Japan to the Seattle Mariners.

Little known to us, this is the same type of attention Takagi, Yasukawa and Hattori are receiving in Japan. This race, believe it or not, is a very big deal in Tokyo. It's a very big deal for the IRL, too.

Why? Just as the competition from Japanese automakers made Detroit stronger, so too can it make American racers, manufacturers and racing series better. We can learn from this. And improve.

And, with any luck, get paid again.

IRL IndyCar Series owner Eddie Cheever Jr. owns the No. 52 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara Chevrolet driven by Buddy Rice. He provides a diary to ESPN.com. Cheever's team Web site can be found at www.cheeverindyracing.com.