INDIANAPOLIS -- Another race, another victory for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher. It's been that way all season in Formula One -- or so it seemed.

The U.S. Grand Prix this week will draw the biggest crowd in Formula One, as usual. But Ferrari's domination and Schumacher's record-tying fifth series championship, which he clinched two months ago, have taken the drama and a lot of the international interest away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

	Formula One fans have become used to seeing Ferrari's two red cars out front this season.

A crowd of 140,000 to 150,000 is expected for Sunday's race, but more than 90 percent of the fans will be from the United States. Two years ago, when Formula One returned to the States for the first time since 1991, about 25 percent of the estimated 200,000 fans came from outside this country's borders.

"This is typical of recent Formula One races,'' Speedway vice president Fred Nation said of the drop in attendance since Schumacher clinched the title at the French Grand Prix in July.

He said Monza was down 25,000 to 30,000 last week for the Italian Grand Prix, and Hungary was down about the same last month.

"While we can't really speculate why the European events are down, I suppose it has something to do with the championship being decided,'' Nation said.

TV ratings for Formula One also are down, and the number of journalists accredited for the Indianapolis race is about 350, down about 50 from the previous two years, Nation said.

Schumacher, who has won 10 races this season, and teammate Rubens Barrichello, who has three wins, have given Ferrari victories in all but two of the 15 F1 races so far this season. The final race will be on Oct. 13 at Suzuka, Japan.

"The racing doesn't stop whether the championship is decided or not,'' Schumacher said. "We have seen this very often ... a championship is not only for the first position. There are other positions to be settled as well.''

Jacques Villeneuve, who won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One championship, said people still enjoy watching the race.

"It has been clear what team and what driver would be winning the championship, so I don't think people were coming to see that,'' Villeneuve said. "People enjoy watching a good race even when a championship is not at stake.''

Nevertheless, plenty of good seats were still available at the Speedway early this week, although there were steady sales at the ticket office as race day approached. Downtown hotels, as in the past, were mostly filled and restaurants around the city expected about the same amount of business.

"Given the state of the economy, I think that is good news,'' said John Livengood of the Restaurant & Hospitality Association of Indiana.

Dennis Johnston, marketing director of the downtown Marriott Hotel, said the possibility that Schumacher's early championship might keep fans away was a big topic of conversation around town. But he, too, hasn't seen it reflected in room reservations.

"Our hotel is sold out, most of the downtown hotels are sold out,'' Johnston said. "Just doing our call-arounds, we're not even finding availability. The question that needs to be answered -- because downtown hotels are filled with corporate customers, you have these companies that have paid for blocks of rooms -- are those blocks being filled by the companies?''

	“	There is not one Formula One venue that would not trade places with us, in terms of the crowd. So while it is down from the curiosity of the first year, we are probably finding a base level of fans we can build from. ”
		— Nation

This year, with seats still available, it seems that ticket agencies are the ones losing business.

"Last year, we had corporate groups coming at least from overseas. Now it's next to nonexistent,'' said Kyle Kinnett, president of Front Row Tickets. "I don't know if the championship has anything really to do with it. People just aren't interested, period.''

For the 2000 race, there were 247 private aircraft parked at Indianapolis International Airport and another 89 aircraft at its general aviation facilities.

"It was down a little last year, as attendance was down some generally speaking, a combination of post-Sept. 11 -- this was the first major international event after 9-11 last year -- and then also just as sort of a sophomore year of the event itself,'' airport spokesman Dennis Rosebrough said.

"It looks as though things are going to be very similar to last year, in terms of volume,'' he said.

Most of the reservations from outside the United States seem to be from Britain and Italy, along with some from France and the rest of North America, said Scott Wilson, director of sales for the downtown Westin Hotel.

And the speedway is far from displeased.

"There is not one Formula One venue that would not trade places with us, in terms of the crowd,'' Nation said. "So while it is down from the curiosity of the first year, we are probably finding a base level of fans we can build from.

"We're optimistic we'll be able to improve from the base we have, but it's going to be a good event, an event that won't appear that much different from the one last year.''