“I’m calling BS on your little factoid.”
Franchitti - Scotland
Kanaan - Brazil
Castroneves - Brazil
Hidaki- Japan
Several are from England. A couple of them are from Australia. One is from New Zealand. One is from South Africa. A Brazilian female is in the mix. The list goes on and on or would you like for me to give to you a complete breakdown by country?
Even if you say that “They are now American citizens,” I do not consider them to be Americans. They are foreigners, period. They were born in foreign countries and their hearts are still in their home countries. Therefore, they are foreigners. We do not need anymore of that sort.
Maybe in your world the U.N. should rule. Not in mine.
Interestingly, you named the most popular drivers on the Indy circuit.
But your view of the foreign drivers ruining Indy doesn't hold up. If you've been a fan of Indy long enough, you'll recall that a major driving force behind the formation of the IRL was that young, american drivers coming up in USAC couldn't find rides with major teams. Guys like Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kenny Schrader, who became NASCAR stars, were all USAC drivers. So one of the main ideas behind IRL was to allow opportunity to US drivers. Unfortunately, we all know how the split with CART turned out for Indy car.
The Indy 500 is the biggest race in the world. It's always attracted a lot of foreign drivers, and it always will. It's a world-wide race. That's the attraction of it.
The irony of the past two decades is that before, all the young drivers grew up in USAC and then went to NASCAR when they couldn't get a ride at Indy. Now, when the money has dried up in NASCAR, all the best young drivers are turning to Indy where they can get rides. I expect that in the next 5-10 years, you'll see NASCAR suffer a problem with a lack of quality young drivers (much like Indy had 10 years ago) as they are all in open wheel.
Um, by Hidaki, you don’t mean Takuma Sato, do you?