Feature: Waiting for the Americans to Arrive

One by one, the young hopefuls emerged from behind a curtain to a brief introduction and polite applause.

Former Grand Prix racer and Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan presented 15 young drivers to the media at Indianapolis last week as part of a sponsored development programme to bring an American into Formula One.

Of them, 14 will fly to France after the Grand Prix season ends this month for an intensive test session that will lead to four being backed for at least a year's racing in Europe's junior formulae.

"If one of these drivers, or a driver in the future, gets to Formula One then the interest in the crowd will increase," declared Sullivan. "When Mario Andretti was winning F1 races, there was a lot of coverage of F1 here."

As the smartly dressed candidates, mostly with identical haircuts, filed past, they were watched by a man who could become the next American in Formula One but who sat almost unnoticed in the audience.

"I sat at this press conference with a lot of interest watching these young kids, kind of shaking my head to myself saying 'God, I wish Red Bull had this type of a programme 10 years ago for me,'" said Bryan Herta afterwards.

Minardi Test

A former race winner in CART, Herta is now 32. He will test for Minardi later this month, after impressing the team when he did 30 laps in last year's car on a damp track at Donington Park in Britain in July, but would have loved to roll back the years.

"I wanted to go over when I was younger, I tested in Formula Three and did the Formula Ford festival. But it was just damn hard to find any sponsorship to do it," he said.

"And I think it takes a higher level of commitment to do Formula One than it does to race some of the series here in the States because you have to leave so many things that are important to you behind.

"You've got to be willing almost to chew off your own arm to get there."

Herta said he would do two days of testing with Minardi after next week's Japanese Grand Prix but he had no commitment from the team for next year, although he has been listed by team boss Paul Stoddart as a possible for 2003.

Much will depend on what backing he can bring.

"I'm grateful to Minardi to give me the first chance to drive a Formula One car and based on how well it went, I'm going to come back and do some more testing with them," said Herta.

"It's got a bit of momentum behind it right now and I've got some interest from some groups in the States as well. I'm quite hopeful that something could happen. I've certainly got a lot of energy of my own going towards it right now."

"I'm still young enough, I can go over and do it for a few years," he added. "Hopefully I'll be able to show that there are Americans who can get it done in Formula One.

"Genetically, heck, most of us are descendants from Europeans so there's no reason why it can't happen. There's a stigma but it's not insurmountable."

Lacklustre Spell

The last U.S. driver to race in Formula One was Michael Andretti, former champion Mario's son, who quit before the end of the 1993 season after a lacklustre spell with McLaren as Ayrton Senna's teammate.

Since then it has often been said that Formula One needs America and its massive market more than America - with NASCAR, CART and IRL to choose from already - needs Formula One.

The lack of an American driver and team, and plans by 71-year-old former Grand Prix winner Dan Gurney to rectify that with an all-American outfit for 2003, provided plenty of discussion at Indianapolis.

Crowds were down and one reporter, visiting the media canteen during Sunday's race, found that the staff were watching NASCAR on their television.

Unfavourable comparisons were made between a USAC Midget race - involving small but high-revving 350 horsepower cars on small oval tracks - run at Raceway Park on the pre-race Friday and the Grand Prix.

The former was fast and furious, full of overtaking and gripping to the last. The latter was won by Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello with most of the debate focusing on the last seven centimeters of road before the line.

There was no doubt which was the more exciting. Change, variety, excitement and America - Formula One needs them all.