It would be nice to see Adrian Fernandez back. I live in Southern Cal and went to Long Beach in 2002. There was a stretch where AF was either leading or contending, and the fans were very charged up for it. I didn’t realize he had that kind of fan base because you couldn’t pick it up on tv, but being in stands–you could feel it.

That’s when I began to think a little more broadly in terms of drivers’ ethnicity. A Mexican race driver doesn’t necessarily appeal to fans living in Mexico, he picks up a lot of fans in the US from Mexico, or who have some sentimental connection to it. And these days we’re getting a lot more Central and South American immigrants (I have a coworker from Belize!), they like the guys from their neck of the woods. And these are people, here in the US, who watch TV and buy sponsors products, etc.