Foreign drivers, motors dominate race

When the Indy Racing League originally was founded in 1996 by Tony George, its main goal was to counter NASCAR's growing dominance through the use of more home-grown American drivers. However, it now seems the "American way" has been lost at the Indianapolis 500. \nIn fact, if this year's Indianapolis 500 results can be used as a gauge, it seems that the IRL was founded to showcase Brazilian drivers rather than their American counterparts. Gil de Ferran, the soft-spoken Penske driver, took this year's race, followed closely by the more flamboyant 2001 and 2002 winner Helio Castroneves, and third place went to Tony Kanaan -- all Brazilian drivers. This year's race marked the first time since the race's 1911 inception that foreign drivers took the top three spots. Foreign dominance did not stop there, as each of the top five drivers were from foreign countries. While Brazil's dominance in this year's race was impressive, it was not unexpected as names such as two-time Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi and the long-time king of Formula One Aryton Senna are both from Brazil. \nWhile Castroneves is happy with the success that people from his country have enjoyed in auto racing, he was quick to point out that American fans are the best in his eyes.\n"Not as much as here in America, especially here in Indianapolis. I mean, the support of the fans was incredible," Castroneves said after the race. "This race is incredible. It's not me, but it's been the tradition, and the American people basically are doing those things because you guys kept such a live tradition since 1911."\nForeign dominance did not stop with just drivers as the Chevrolet engines displayed their lack of power throughout qualifications and into the race. The Chevrolet engine, which is essentially a rebadged version of the original IRL Aurora, was utterly dominated by Toyota and Honda in this year's race. Buddy Rice led the Chevrolet pack but could not break the top ten, finishing 11th. In fact, only four Chevy-powered cars made it into the top 20 in the 2003 contest.\nDespite the race's foreign dominance, there was one American driver who had a good chance at capturing the coveted bottle of milk. That driver was Michael Andretti, who raced in his 14th and final Indianapolis 500 and led 28 laps until a throttle linkage failed in his engine. Unfortunately, the Andretti enigma struck again. The Andrettis have sent four family members to the race and have led for a combined 984 laps off of 53 total starts, but have only one Borg-Warner trophy to their surname.\n"Same song, a different day," Mario Andretti said. "Obviously, the thing that is so disappointing is that it was such a fluke mechanical thing in the engine, just the throttle body that came apart. The first thing he said to me was, 'Why did it have to happen to me?' I feel for him, obviously."\nAfter Sunday's race, Michael led the race over the years for 426 total laps, the equivalent of more than two full races, and 11th on the all-time laps led list, but still could not take the checkered flag. Michael's total places him as the man who has led for the most laps without taking home the Borg-Warner trophy. In fact, if Michael had led for just two more trips around the Brickyard, he would have tied Rick Mears, who is one of three men to have ever taken four Indy 500's in his career.\n"I don't know, something went wrong. Loss of power," Michael said after his mechanical failure on lap 94. "It's been incredible. At least I can say I had a shot at winning my last race"