Several years ago there was a popular song by Simon and Garfunkel that contained the line "Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio?" For reasons I wasn't entirely sure of at the time, I kept thinking of this line whenever I thought about this past two week's Formula One races in Japan. It wasn't Joe that I kept wondering about, of course, or even baseball; it was someone and/or something else. But, who and/or what? On top of this, I kept finding myself asking another rhetorical question. Was he or it ever really here? Presumably so, if he or it is now gone. But, then again, not necessarily. Lots of things about Japan are mysterious to Western minds.

After much deliberation and some research, I came to a conclusion concerning who and what was missing--Japanese drivers and engine manufacturers, and, by extension, fan enthusiasm about racing.

Now, I know what you are thinking. "This guy is crazy. What about Aguri Suzuki, Taki Inoue, Ukyo Katayama, Mugen Honda, and Yamaha?" Well, to an extent you are correct. These drivers and engines are Japanese. They are, however, not JAPANESE! Japan and quality have become synonomous in this technologically sophisticated world. Indeed, Nikon, Sony, and scores of other brand names have long dominated markets because of their superiority. No other country makes optics and electronics as good as those of Japan. Many people argue that the Japanese make the best passenger cars as well.

Does this mean that today's Japanese F1 drivers lack quality? To a certain extent, yes. They are, of course, some of the world's best drivers--all F1 drivers are world class. However, among the best, they are clearly the worst. Of the world's top 24 drivers, these guys must rank 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.

And, what about Mugen Honda and Yamaha? Are these inferior engines. Well, just look at the standings after any race, practice or qualifying session. Yamaha can't keep up with Renault. And, Mugen Honda is...well, more Mugen than Honda. The name "Honda" may appear on the engine, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this engine is not on par with the pure Honda engines of years past. Those engines may well have been the best ever built, even better than today's Renault.

Their engines powered the constructor's cup winner the last seven of Honda's nine full seasons in Formula One. Furthermore, no fewer than five driver's championships were won in Honda-powered cars. The factory Honda was, in terms of the number of championships per seasons run, the most successful of all engines in the modern history of Formula One.

Do you miss Honda? I do. I even miss Honda's fair-haired boy, Satoru Nakajima. Here was a Japanese driver of some merit. Chosen by Honda to represent them in F1, Nakajima won five Fomula 2 titles, three consecutively--1984, '85, '86. His stint in Formula One might not have seemed all that impressive at the time, largely because he was brought up to Team Lotus to be the number two driver alongside Ayrton Senna and later Nelson Piquet. In retrospect, however, it must be noted that he rarely spun, he caused few collisions, and he scored points in each of his five seasons. Although he never won, he usually ran well, even finishing 7th, 6th, and 5th in his first three races. In the 1989 Grand Prix of Australia, a race run in disgustingly heavy rain, he finished 4th and turned the fastest lap.

The Japanese people seem to miss Nakajima and factory involvement on the part of Honda as much as I do. Did you notice all the empty seats in the grandstands at this year's Grand Prix of the Pacific? By some accounts the attendance was only 25% of what it could have been. Things weren't that much better this week at Suzuka. In years past there were literally millions of fans who wanted to see the race, but couldn't. The organizers even had to impose a lottery system to distribute tickets. This year there were seats available a week before the race. Enthusiasm seems to be waning in the land of the rising sun.

Some might argue that the remoteness of the Aida track and the earthquake earlier this year might have had an impact. To this I say "Bunk!" Hey, folks, these fans have money. There is also no cultural-environmental reason for their absence. Suzuki isn't all that remote either. The only conclusion to be drawn is that the Japanese people are addicted to success. When there is a chance a car or a driver wearing their colors may win, they turn out in droves. If the best they can hope for is to see a 22nd ranked driver in a slow car, they stay home. These are not F1 fans. These are Japan fans. Somewhere in that country there must be a statue of American football coaching legend Vince Lombardi who once said: "Winning isn't the most important thing, its the only thing." People who put such emphasis on quality, deserve more than what they have been getting lately in Formula One. I looked up the definition of Honda in my Japanese dictionary. Next to the word was a picture of Joe Dimaggio.