Bob Cook

One of the biggest attractions at the Indianapolis 500 this year is a driver who combines the rocket-scientist smarts of female racing pioneer Janet Guthrie with the drop-dead gorgeous looks of a telenovela hottie.

Alas, Milka Duno, one of a record three women in the field, has the driving ability of Jack Miller the racing dentist, whose white-knuckle driving was to auto racing as Sir Lawrence Olivier’s character in the movie "Marathon Man" was to tooth extraction.

That the 35-year-old Venezuelan engineer-turned-driver is getting so much attention speaks to the sad state of affairs for open-wheel racing in America.

Open-wheel racing has been reeling since the 1995 rift between CART (now called Champ Car) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which split the sport into two series just as NASCAR was rising to national prominence. To become more than a niche draw, open-wheel racing needs a real star — someone who can attract fans to a sport that, in terms of quality of racing, is far more exciting than those racin’ taxicabs.

Instead, year after year, the attention to Indy-car racing focuses on gimmicks like Duno.

The IndyCar publicity machine's anemic horsepower is the equivalent of go-kart racing. Witness hiring Kiss’ Gene Simmons to handle the league’s image — based on his formula for success, is he supposed to have drivers wear codpieces, spit flames, and expose their hairy man-boobs? This year, the circuit is promoting four drivers: Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr., Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick. These selections tell you how Duno can become such a big story.

Wheldon is a legitimate driver to hype. He is the best open-wheel driver in America, with 13 victories in 67 starts over the past five years, including two victories (Homestead-Miami, and Kansas) in the first four races in 2007. He won the Indy 500 in 2005, the same year he took the league championship, and has finished second in points in 2004 and 2006.

Wheldon, who will turn 29 on June 22, is a dashing, devil-may-care Brit, the likes of which Indy hasn’t seen since Graham Hill and Jim Clark in the 1960s. Did I mention he’s a Brit? It would be much easier for Indy to connect with U.S. fans if Wheldon grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla., rather than merely residing there.

Of course, if Wheldon did grow up in the U.S., he might be doing what Hornish is doing — flirting with NASCAR. That makes promoting Hornish problematic, even though he is the defending Indy 500 champ, winner of three IndyCar series titles, and as Middle American as they come, the proud son of small-town Ohio.

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Hornish hasn’t officially made the jump to NASCAR, but he’s run a few Busch Series races for his boss, Roger Penske, and seems primed to join Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya and other ex-IndyCar drivers who have sought greater fortune in roofed vehicles. Penske warns such a jump is not easy to make, but the money and exposure are just too tempting.

But at least with Wheldon and Hornish, IndyCar is pumping up legitimate stars. By trying to focus attention on Marco Andretti and Patrick, IndyCar creates the environment that opens up the chance to make gimmicks such as Duno the center of attention.

Marco Andretti, only 20, has had his moments, but there’s no way he would be racing in a major series if he wasn’t the grandson of Mario, son of Michael. The Unser and Foyt dynasties are dying on the vine, and IndyCar is desperate for a reliable big name to pull some weight, as lesser Andrettis like Jeff, son of Mario, and John, nephew of Mario (back at Indy this year after some time and limited success in NASCAR), could not.

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Marco finished second in last year’s Indianapolis 500, but this season, racing for his father’s team, has been a disaster. He finished fourth in St. Petersburg, but otherwise has recorded one last-place finish (Homestead-Miami) and two third-from-lasts (Motegi, Kansas). Mechanical problems contributed to two of those finishes and an accident the other, but Marco’s tossing out his steering wheel in disgust is not the image of Andretti-dom IndyCar seeks.