KEY POINTS:
It happened to the Yanks in another high-tech sport this week. Italian yachting syndicate Luna Rossa took America out of the America's Cup - the first time a boat flying the Stars and Stripes won't race in a Louis Vuitton Cup and the United States' worst showing in
the world's oldest international sporting event.
But surely American prestige still reigns on the ovals - those motor racetracks rarely found anywhere else in the world.
The three most watched series in the States, Nascar, Indy Racing League (IRL) and Champ Car, all use ovals. So you'd expect IRL to be full of American drivers. Not so.
After four rounds this season, the top 10 in the points table comprise an Englishman, a Kiwi, a Scot, three Brazilians and a South African.
A Brazilian, Helio Castroneves, will start from pole in the Indy 500 on Monday.
It's generally recognised that foreign drivers have a slight edge on their American counterparts due to growing up and honing their skills on street and non-oval circuits.
This gives them a better all-round grounding in driving skills, unlike their American colleagues, who tend to learn how to go fast in a circle.
For the foreign drivers, there's the attraction of the IRL's Indy 500 centrepiece.
It's probably the one race that has a worldwide television audience greater than any other single motor race.
The exposure of competing in this race, and possibly winning it, makes any driver a household name.
IRL spokesman John Griffin says: "The Indy 500 has a mysticism about it that's attractive to drivers from around the world. Scott's [Dixon] Target Chip Ganassi Racing team won the 500 with Colombian Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.
"It's clear that everyone wants to drive here."
Oval racing has its very American roots buried in a very American pastime - boot-legging alcohol.
They ran moonshine around the back roads, delivering it to people during Prohibition.
From the profits, drivers would modify their cars in order to make them faster and handle better to evade the attention of the police. When the ban on drinking liquor in public was lifted, these "race-car owners" had a lot of time on their hands and started racing around dirt ovals in rural southern United States.
In 1948 a formal, sanctioning organisation was formed and a series established - Nascar (National Association for Stock Auto Racing). Today it draws television audiences second only to the American Football's NFL.
In the IRL's early days, there were a few incidents where officials, team owners, or drivers made disparaging remarks about international participants. At least one IRL official lost his job for making ill-considered remarks about foreigners.
Bitterness and resentment is somewhat understandable (if not excusable), considering that some of these same people were, under the earlier regime, shut out for years, in part because of their nationality.
Foreign drivers are now welcome - but the form of racing itself is uniquely American.
