I can't remember a good driver came from us motorsport. Jacques villeneuve won in f1 with a car that was 2 seconds faster than the others. The real value of JV was on the Bar.
Alex Zanardi was the best in cart... in F1 was a tragedy.
I can make a lot of name: michael Andretti (poor guy...), Danny Sullivan, Mario Andretti (we all know that Peterson was faster than Mario... much more faster... but there was an agreement and Mario was the first driver), JP Montoya (sometimes I think he has no clear idea of what he was doing...).

American motorsport is a "b series" where low level driver can have a career.
I tell you some name:
Ayrton Senna Da Silva, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda, Jim Clark "the king"... I can go for many pages...

Sorry, but I can't see this level on american motorsport.

Bullitt (from his mobile... far from home... on track today too).

: I don't agree. I agree that it is easier to find a good car but the
: truth is that American open wheel racing is simply different.
: IndyCar decided that they wanted to limit the way money could
: influence competition. The result was that you have one
: manufacturer of bodies, two engine makers and rules which limit
: the modifications a team can make. F1 let's money dominate. The
: rules allow for much more diversity so money wins. Every time
: there is talk of changing this Ferrari starts to whine.

: Both philosophies have their downsides. IndyCar has sort of generic
: looking cars. F1 has dominant teams and it costs so much money
: that there are just a few teams...and there is very little
: competition.

: Both philosophies have their upsides. IndyCar has great competition
: on most tracks with the possibility of a good driver on a lesser
: team (metaphor for Alonso) to win. F1 is sexy.

: I love F1. I have been a fan for decades and my bet is that I have
: been to or watched as many or more F1 races than most of the
: people on this forum. Money attracts talent. There is no
: question about that. But, watching F1 is generally pretty boring
: these days. Watching IndyCar is at least exciting from time to
: time. At the beginning of this season, Sebastien Bourdais, who
: drives for the poorest team in the paddock, was dominant and
: leading the pack. Unfortunately, while he was on top of the
: speed charts during practice for the 500, he had a terrible
: crash during the first round of qualifications and will be out
: for the rest of the season at least.

: So, yes, "the level of American motorsport is far from
: European. It's not just for rich kids. The competition is
: better. If you really want to see some racing you need to come
: here to see the sprint races on the dirt at Eldora.
: http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/ This is where the racing is
: best. This is where the level of American racing far exceeds
: anything European. The only challenge to this might be at
: Surfers' Paradise in Australia!

: JohnCote
: Stirring it up here boss!