RED, WHITE AND DUE U.S. SEEKS FIRST CHAMP SINCE 1998.

Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer

Never in the history of the Indianapolis 500 has there been such a foreign dominance of race winners. It's been six years since an American driver has won the Indianapolis 500 - an unprecedented streak bordering on epidemic proportions.

But there is hope.

With three Americans driving for three of the top teams in the Indy Racing League, this could be the year the foreign stranglehold lets loose on the most storied race in America.

Eddie Cheever Jr. was the last American to win the Indy 500. Since his victory in 1998, Columbian Juan Montoya, Swede Kenny Brack and Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran have followed.

Not since the mid 1980s have American drivers, such as Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Rahal, made much of an impact at the Brickyard.

Rahal Letterman Racing driver Buddy Rice, Andretti Green Racing driver Bryan Herta and Marlboro Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr. are America's best hopes for a homegrown winner in the 88th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway today.

But they are rivals in more than one sense. Aside from racing for three of the best teams in auto racing, they use rival Japanese power plants in their entries. Andretti Green Racing and Rahal Letterman machines are powered by Honda, which has its Honda Performance Development team based in Santa Clarita. Team Penske uses Toyotas, which has its racing-development team based in Torrance. The fight for supremacy at Indianapolis is intensified with these engine manufacturers battling for bragging rights.

``It's huge,'' said the 33-year-old Herta, who lives in Valencia and graduated from Hart High in Newhall. ``Honda and Toyota are very competitive with one another. It's a very big deal for our team, for Honda.''

Honda has been playing catch-up with Toyota since the two entered the IRL League in 2003. De Ferran won his only Indy 500 in a Toyota-powered entry last year. Toyota also holds the series championship with Scott Dixon, who won his first IRL title driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

But Honda has made some impressive strides. Herta's Andretti Green Racing teammates, Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, have won two of the first three races of the season.

Rice won the pole position for the Indianapolis 500, making it four poles in a row for Honda.

``I just take everything for what it is right there,'' said Rice, the driver from Phoenix who also won the pole for the IRL season opener in Miami. ``There's such a deep field here, anybody at any time could have taken us off. I mean, serious contenders were obviously the Honda-part AGR cars and the Fernandez group. You can't take that group lightly, especially with the Honda power. Obviously, my teammates were going to be extremely quick. Also from the other side, Penske and Ganassi have always had good runs here, they're very strong teams, have good drivers, as well.''

Wheldon also won two pole positions and the first IRL race of his career last month at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan, a huge accomplishment in the eyes of both Toyota and Honda.

``When Dan won the race in Motegi, Japan, because they had never won on home soil... it was a very big deal for them to win that race,'' Herta said. ``Now the biggest hurdle in front of us is to win the Indy 500 for Honda. That's one race they haven't won yet either. That's a big challenge for us.''

Hornish is driving a Toyota-powered entry for the first time in his career. He won two IRL championships driving a Chevy-powered car for Panther Racing. When he switched to Team Penske, Hornish took over de Ferran's seat and essentially the defending Indy 500 championship team.

``I've thought about the fact that an American hasn't won in a while,'' said Hornish, who hails from Defiance, Ohio. ``But there's enough pressure on me that I don't need to add those things.''

Coming into this year's Indy 500, it looks as if Honda has the momentum with victories in Japan and Phoenix. In addition, Andretti Green Racing drivers have led 416 of 600 laps raced this year in the IRL.

``Honda has really stepped up its program and has been giving us everything we need to not only win but dominate the last two races,'' said Michael Andretti, owner of Andretti Green Racing with partner Kim Green. ``Those last two performances by Tony and Dan have us feeling very confident and have just made us hungrier for the 500.''

But Toyota has history on its side. It won nine races last year and powered six of the top seven finishers in last year's Indy 500. Kanaan was the only Honda entry to finish among the top seven.

Additionally, Team Penske has won the past three Indy 500s, and according to Hornish, the team hasn't lost its hunger to win another.

``Everybody goes into these races like they haven't won before,'' Hornish said. ``As far as our chances go of winning, we have as good a shot as anybody. Everybody just wants to win. It's not selfish at all. It's about how to make everyone better.''

The early favorites to win the Indy 500 include Wheldon from England, Kanaan and Castroneves from Brazil, Dixon from New Zealand, Dario Franchitti from Scotland and Adrian Ferandez from Mexico. For the first time in a long time, three promising Americans - Rice, Herta and Hornish - can be added to that list. Perhaps this will be the year one of their names can be added to another list that includes Unser, Mears, Sullivan and Rahal as Indy 500 winners.

Tim Haddock, [phone]

timothy.haddock(at)dailynews.com

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Sam Hornish Jr., among America's best hopes for a homegrown winner in the 88th Indianapolis 500 today, signs autographs for fans. He is driving a Toyota-powered entry for the first time in his career.

Tom Strattman/Associated Press

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