In Sunday's second United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway there will be plenty of American fans but there won't be an American driver, an American car or an American team.

	Michael Andretti, right, didn't fare as well in F-1 as his father Mario, left, did.

For whatever reason, grand prix racing doesn't embrace nor encourage participation from this country.

"It's pretty obvious nobody in F1 cares if Americans ever get involved," said Bobby Rahal, the three-time CART champion who was hired to run Jaguar's F1 program in the fall of 2000 before being out-ranked and ultimately fired by Niki Lauda. "I felt like a stranger in a strange land during my time over there."

What makes no sense about this disconnection is that America and F1 have a long history together.

When Jack Brabham and Colin Chapman launched the rear-engine invasion at the Indy 500 in the early '60s, it changed the face of open-wheel racing in this country. By 1970, the front-engine Indy cars were obsolete and rear-engine cars became a tradition that still exists today.

And while F1 stars Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Denis Hulme became fixtures at Indianapolis every May, Yankee heroes like Dan Gurney, Peter Revson and Mario Andretti were winning races and respect in F1. Starting in the '80s with two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, there has been a steady stream of F1 refugees coming to the USA to run CART or the IRL. CART champs Jaques Villeneuve and Juan Montoya cut their teeth in CART before heading to F1.

But it's a one-way street because there hasn't been an American driver in F1 since Michael Andretti's ill-fated sojourn with McLaren in 1993. There were overtures made to Jeff Gordon about leaving NASCAR to try F1 a few years ago but nothing serious.

"What makes it tough is that America has the most to offer a racing driver with all our different disciplines," said Mario Andretti, arguably the most versatile racer of all-time as his USAC, CART and F1 championships bear out. "You can make a living here and satisfy a lot of things. Plus, today's contracts make it much harder to jump around like I did.

"It's also tough to lure guys over there when there are only one or two seats available with any team that is worthwhile."

	“	It's pretty obvious nobody in F1 cares if Americans ever get involved. I felt like a stranger in a strange land during my time over there.”
		—Bobby Rahal

"Yes, there is a stigma about Americans but who started that?" growls Gurney, who carried the U.S. flag in F1 during the '60s with his All-American Racers and became the only American driver to win a grand prix with an American-built car (his Eagle).

"There are plenty of candidates out there but they need some support and I don't see that right now."

It's not for lack of trying by Americans. Alex Gurney (Dan's youngest son), Paul Edwards, Patrick Long, Derek Hill and Jeffrey Jones are currently competing in Formula 3 or Formula 3000 in Europe. Their goal is F1 but the one direct link they might have had was Rahal.

"My intention was to give a promising American like Patrick a ride in the Jaguar Formula 3 car and take it from there," said Rahal, who made two F1 starts himself in the late '70s. "But now there is nobody to carry that through."

When Mario was winning in F1 there was great media interest but, with nobody to follow, F1 is barely a blimp on the U.S. sports scene.

"As long as there is no American driver or team in F1, I don't see how it can successfully survive here," said Rahal. "After it left Long Beach (in 1983), it really fell off the radar map.

"Having the USGP in Indianapolis certainly will help F1's visibility and popularity but I still think it's going to take an American driver or team."

Derek Daly, a former F1 and CART driver from Ireland who now works for SpeedVision, agrees with Rahal.

"When Mario Andretti left F1, so did the interest in America," said Daly. "Until the manufacturers and grand prix people understand you've got to get an American driver, it won't grow here in the States."