ers who compete in IndyCar. Otherwise its hard to see where the next

Chantilly, a city of culture, history and horse racing, will now act as the backdrop for an England team looking to make history this summer, as it provides the training base for Roy Hodgsons side. Sky Sports News HQ were granted exclusive access to the team hotel and training ground and, after spending a day wandering the quaint little streets of this northern French town, its easy to see why the FA were drawn to this location.Less than 25 miles from the French capital, Chantilly was chosen by the FA because of its proximity to Paris and its transport links, as well as the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the city (it is classed as a city, despite having a population of around 11,000). The players will be allowed to spend their downtime venturing out on to the high street for a look at the shops or to stop at one of the traditional French cafés for a coffee. And judging by Chantillys equestrian background, you wouldnt expect them to encounter too many football supporters wanting autographs. Unless youre a certain Leicester striker that is… The five-star Auberge de Jeu de Paume will be Englands home during Euro 2016 As part of our shoot in Chantilly, our chief football reporter Nick Collins recorded a series of pieces to give SSN HQ viewers a behind-the-scenes look at what life might be like for an England player this summer.One clip shows Nick walking down the high street and stopping for an espresso at a local café. When I thanked one of the customers in the cafe for helping to translate, he jokingly asked for an England shirt on my return to Chantilly in the summer with a leading English strikers name on the back.Jamie Vardy? Hes good isnt he? Asked the diner, to my amazement. It seems the Leicester story has made it all the way to the Picardy region of northern France.While Vardy and co may get recognised in the streets of Chantilly, they wont be stopped by tourists in their hotel, the five-star Auberge de Jeu de Paume. The hotel has granted exclusivity to the FA, which has meant turning down a group of regular sponsors who usually stay for the Prix de Diane Longines at the adjacent racecourse. Jamie Vardy and his England colleagues should have no problem relaxing in the bedrooms at the Auberge de Jeu de Paume Exclusivity, as well as facilities such as a swimming pool, a spa and a room to build a bespoke gym, were the reasons behind the FA selecting the hotel. The proximity to the training ground was also high on the agenda. Englands training base is just a five-minute bike ride or short drive from the hotel.The training base itself still has lots of work to be done, but the evidence is already there of the investment that is being made at the Stade de Bourgognes, home to local amateur side US Chantilly.French pitch specialist Sebastien Ranson and his team were hard at work preparing the pitch when we were there - just ahead of laying seeds that had been flown in especially from the FAs St Georges Park headquarters.We have had lots of meeting and discussions but we are happy that the weather is good now or it could have been tricky, Ranson told us. This is the only training pitch of the 24 [qualified] countries to have a hundred per cent new pitch as the quality was too poor. Im pretty sure that were going to be okay and Im confident about the quality of the pitch. The swimming pool at Englands hotel for Euro 2016, the Auberge de Jeu de Paume Once Ranson and his team have finished their work, the FAs specialists will come in to oversee the completion of the project before the team arrive at the start of June. As well as the pitch, there is work to be done on painting the stand, erecting a fence around the perimeter of the training ground, and implementing all the relevant branding.Englands training base pitch designPitch was assessed in 2015 and it was decided that a new pitch would be installedThe pitch is a synthetically reinforced pipe and slit drained pitch with the added benefit of fibresand reinforcementIt has an automatic irrigation systemIt will be similar to the one used in Poland by the English FAThe pitch will be grown in and managed over a nine-week period ahead of Englands arrivalIt will replicate stadium pitch conditions Also See: England call up Heaton for Hart Neville delays England arrival Hodgson must make Euro semis England fixtures Adidas NHL Jerseys Outlet . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Wholesale Adidas NHL Jerseys . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. http://www.nhljerseys.us/ .ca. Hey Kerry, big fan of yours, just finished reading your book. I think that we all saw the Canucks/Flames line brawl just after puck drop. It was obvious that something was about to happen, even to the referees because the fourth lines were on to start. Clearance Adidas NHL Jerseys . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Authentic Adidas NHL Jerseys . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Its been 38 years since Formula One had an American race winner or world champion. Jimmy Carter was president, Tom Landrys Dallas Cowboys were Super Bowl champions and Pete Rose had just recorded his 3,000th major league hit.The driver who claimed both was Mario Andretti, winning the 1978 world championship with the iconic Lotus 79. He became the second American after Phil Hill to claim the F1 title, though his triumph -- and final victory at that years Dutch Grand Prix -- precipitated a nearly four-decade long drought for drivers from his country.There are several tragic parallels between Andretti and Hills championships. Both men wrapped up their championships at Monza after their teammates suffered fatal accidents. For Andretti, the loss of Ronnie Peterson has always left a cloud over his finest achievement.Of course, its bittersweet, Andretti tells ESPN about the memory of 1978. It could have been the happiest day of my career but I couldnt celebrate, I lost a friend and teammate, one of the best teammates I ever had.That day in Italy should have been the realisation of a lifes ambition at the place the dream began 24 years earlier. As a youngster living in Italy, Andretti had become transfixed on motorsport in 1954 after he and his brother Aldo watched Alberto Ascari beat Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1954 Italian Grand Prix, just months before his family journeyed the Atlantic for a new life in the United States.Andretti arrived in America dreaming of being Dan Gurney in a Ferrari. But in America, all paths led elsewhere. In his new country Andretti split duties between midget racing, NASCAR and national championship racing, making part-time appearances in F1 between 1968 and 1972. He claimed pole on his F1 debut, the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.Lets put it this way, Andretti says. If that had been happening today I would have got a lot more attention than back in the 70s. We had a press following and there was a certain appreciation but no-one really, but no-one realised what I was really going through and how I was mixing up the disciplines. At the beginning of the 70s I was going from a dirt track to a Formula One, doing that and Monza in the same weekend!If Id been doing that today I would have got a bit more appreciation for what I was doing! I always had such tremendous passion for all of it, but Formula One was always in the back of my mind and a very strong goal for me because thats where it all started in my mind. I was just very thankful that I was at least satisfy that part of my career, even though I started a little bit late on a full-time basis. I consider that time in F1 very precious.Though the sanctioning bodies have now changed, Andretti thinks the mindset in North American racing has remained the same.Here in the U.S. you have two major disciplines, IndyCar and NASCAR, where a driver can have a full career and be satisfied pretty much by staying here. You probably dont need a passport! Its probably the only country on the planet that has disciplines that are that strong as far as their own country.The dream across the board globally for a racing driver is to be a Formula One driver. I dont think thats necessarily the case here. The few that have that ambition I think are being totally overlooked by the Formula One contingent. Its always been particularly difficult to break through that.I look back at my case, my passion for the sport began when I was first living in Italy: It was Formula One, Formula One, Formula One for me. When I came here I started racing locally and built a reputation, but my idea was still to somehow get my career to Formula One.I had that passion that was with me from the beginning, so even in Formula One I had opportunities early on in my career but things were going so well for me here that I could just abandon it. Especially because even in those days, financially Formula One was not very rewarding. That was my case.Before committing to F1 full time midway through the 70s, Andretti claimed the Daytona 500 (1967) and Indy 500 (1969). He remains the only man to win those two events and the F1 world championship. Having grown restless at switching disciplines, Andretti finally completed a full season of F1 with American outfit Parnelli in 1975. He then accepted an offer to drive for Colin Chapmans Lotus team when Parnelli folded early in 1976, a successful partnership that would eventually lead to a world championship.Though he saw many of his American counterparts stay home to race nationally, he is still baffled by the limited amount of home-grown drivers who enjoyed major success in the pinnacle of motor racing.Im only the second guy to come away with a championship, yet look how much racing America has to offer. But only two of us have done it. I think Dan Gurney, if he hadnt been playing around with his own cars and maybe gone to a Lotus or a more established team he would have been a champion.But theres only two of us and Im the only one standing, which seems odd for a country that has so much to offer here, but thats the case.After Andretti, success for American drivers in F1 was hard to come by. Eddie Cheever, who debuted in 1978, failed to win a race in 132 attempts between then and 1989. Nine years later, Cheever would win the Indy 500 back in America.The next great hope was another Andretti: Marios son Michael, CART champion two years prior, joined McLaren in 1993. His name and success across the pond meant instant success was expected at a team which had dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s. But it was a team in decline. The iconic red and white livery remained but the Honda engines did not, having been replaced by Ford.He also joined in a year of dramatic testing restrictions limiting drivers to 23 laps in the mornings session and 12 before qualifying. Coming from IndyCar, Michael had no experience of concepts such as active suspension and traction control, meaning he struggled to master the McLaren MP4/8. On top of all that, Michael was paired alongside Ayrton Senna, widely considered F1s greatest ever driver, while McLaren had also signed Mika Hakkinen to a test role with a view to a future drive.His father is convinced F1 never saw anything close to the best of Michael Andretti.When asked if his sons struggles strengthened the negative perception of the calibre of IndyCar in the F1 paddock, Andretti said: Yeah, that plays. In Michaels situation I know -- and not just because hes my son -- the quality of his driving. He only did one season and the rules went against him because you could only do so many laps, it was a total of like 23 laps, counting the in and outs, and no testing allowed on any of the circuits they raced on.So all of that played against him, but he showed some moments of brilliance. He made some mistakes, of course, because he was used to winning and was trying to force things. But overall, part of it was that he was not patient enough. He was used to winning here and he thought Im not going to waste my time, they dont appreciate what I can do, so he just abandoned it. The true story was never really told on what happened to him. But the perception was that he was not capable of getting it done.That perception was not helped by what was happening across the Atlantic, where reigning Formula One champion Nigel Mansell, axed by Williams after his title-winning year, went and won the CART crown at the first attempt. Michael did not even make it to the end of the 1993 F1 season, parting ways with McLaren after his solitary podium at the Italian Grand Prix. It would be his last F1 race.Andretti is certain Michaels 1993 struggles had a negative impact on the chances of Americans making the grid in the future.Even his podium at Monza, nobody did as much overtaking as he did! So it was things like that [people didnt appreciate]. But a lot of this perception is plain, and a lot of the drivers who were there after myself, they were not as successful so they say oh, Americans cant cut it there. I beg to differ -- they can if given the proper opportunity.Two CART drivers who would be given that opportunity to show what they could do in a competitive car in the following years were Canadas Jacques Villeneuve and Colombias Juan Pablo Montoya. Villeneuve joined the dominant Williams team in 1996, winning the title the following year, while Montoya joined the saame team at the start of its resurgence in the early 2000s.ddddddddddddichael very nearly got that second opportunity. Having returned to CART in 1994, he soon had an offer to return to F1 with his fathers former team Ferrari. It was a Ferrari team on the cusp of the most dominant era of Formula One ever.He went back with Chip Ganassi, but then when he went to Newman-Haas [in 1995] he was still thinking of finishing in up in Formula One. I went there with his manager to Ferrari and they were ready to do a deal with him [for 1996].I told Michael dont sign more than a one year deal with Haas. He signed three years with the understanding they might release him [after one] if he had the opportunity, but they didnt. So that ended any possibility for Michael to do Formula One again but it could have changed everything for him.Instead, America would have to wait until 2006 for the next time it was on the F1 grid. The driver was Scott Speed, then in his early twenties and a product of Red Bulls American talent search in the early 2000s. Having been discovered by Red Bull, a teenage Speed moved to Austria and competed in various series in Europe, including the inaugural GP2 championship in 2005. After finishing third behind champion Nico Rosberg and and Heikki Kovalainen, Speed was promoted to Red Bulls junior team Toro Rosso.Despite high expectations, Speed struggled to make an impact with and now admits the complexity of the sport, and the difficulty in making an impression at a backmarking team, caught him by surprise.I had no idea when I got to Formula One just how technical it would be, Speed tells ESPN. Its hard for the driver to have too much impact on the result when you get further down the grid. If youre in a car that can finish 12th or 13th, you might finish 11th if you do a really good job or 14th if you do a bad one. But whatever you do -- youve still finished outside the top 10! In other series it isnt like that. That makes it difficult to ultimately make a good impression and get a top drive.The sheer scale of the technology in Formula One is incredible. IndyCar is a lot easier to drive, in the sense that the cars are similar and the level of competition is so good. But compare those cars to Formula One, its like kindergarten and college. F1 is a world championship not just between drivers but between engineers. So if you dont get a top drive, youre unlikely to be successful and winning races. I didnt truly appreciate that until I got to Formula One.Speed was ultimately dropped for Sebastian Vettel, who went on to become the most successful driver of the modern era. Speeds departure turned out to be the first part of a double-whammy, as America lost its only driver and only race (the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis) by the end of 2007.Andretti has seen how the failures of the Americans who followed him have had a negative impact on the F1 paddocks willingness to look across the pond for new talent. He remembers one conversation in particular with Helmut Marko, Red Bulls motorsport advisor and overseer of the driver programme, which brought Speed into F1.Im always speaking in Formula One with certain individuals, Andretti says. Like Helmut Marko, for instance, he was asking me if there are any talents in America, let me know. I once mentioned him a couple of names and he just sneered at it, and I said why?So they already have their mind made up on certain people who need to be given the opportunity. To them the ones who have been in havent shown what they should have shown, but they couldnt because of the teams they are in. So its a Catch-22.With the biggest F1 teams not looking at American talent, Andretti hopes 2016 debutants Haas -- run by Gene Haas and run out of Kannapolis, North Carolina -- pick up the torch and help create a pathway for young drivers in the States.The new American team... I would hope they would look at an American talent. There are a few who could be measured up in their roster. Then they can see if they can cultivate something for an American driver because that would do wonders for exposure over here.In 2015, it looked like F1 had suddenly found that perfect American team-driver combination. With Haas arrival on the horizon, American driver Alexander Rossi made five appearances in the final seven races of the season for Manor. Rossis arrival on the grid was significant -- no American had driven in the sport since Speeds departure in 2007, and the sport now had an American team set to join the grid.Like Speed, Rossis journey to F1 can be traced back to the fact he moved to Europe at a young age. Rossi grew up idolising Mika Hakkinen and dreaming of being Americas next Formula One champion rather than following IndyCar or NASCAR too closely. Perhaps in part due to the scepticism Andretti encountered with the likes of Marko, his wait for F1 was long, and his opportunity short. Haas overlooked the apparent natural fit for their maiden F1 season and Rossi -- who won the Indy 500 as a rookie this year -- now seems poised for a successful career in North America.Rossi thinks the cost of an American making it into F1 is too great for some to consider with the existence of series such as IndyCar and NASCAR on young drivers doorsteps.I think the reason of it is you have to commit to it at a young age, Rossi explained to ESPN. A lot of teenagers and families, for that matter, are not willing to go over to Europe, for understandable reasons. Americas not a bad place. You can have a racing career in America and not uproot your whole life.Thats the only reason, its got nothing to do with American drivers not being able to be competitive or not having what it takes. You just cant go from the junior championships to America and be successful in Europe. You have to start in Europe as a kid and prove yourself over there.Though he is convinced an American driver could cut it in Europe, he admits the quality of championships on that side of the Atlantic are greater than the ones he left behind.When it was put to Rossi that its hard to see the structure of junior racing changing in North America and Europe any time soon, he replied: Yeah, exactly. And it is true the junior championships in Europe are more competitive than the ones in America, without a doubt. Youll always see guys that are successful in the junior series in Europe and do a pretty good job in IndyCar. Going the other direction isnt always a guarantee for success.I think that speaks to the level of European racing and how competitive it is. I owe a huge part of my success in IndyCar this year to how hard Europe is and how quickly you have to adapt and how much on top of your game you have to be on a regular basis.The loss of Rossi from the grid also came before this years takeover of American media giants Liberty, who have promised a radical evolution of the sport in the coming years. There has been talk of a second race in the U.S. to capitalise on the popularity of the COTA event, while Libertys approach to broadcasting and social media promises to open the sport up to a new generation of fan base.While Andretti accepts more American races are something of a moot point without a competitive American on the grid, he thinks the recent changes to Formula Ones governance can only mean good things for his adopted country.The country is big enough that it could easily host two races, Andretti says. Absolutely. That would really reinforce the fan base -- the more the merrier. I would love to see that and I think it would be a step forward. I think Liberty now being part of it, they will want to grow it or start making some effort to grow it in the US as well.Im sure its a company that wants to make a difference, wants to improve and make it more appealing, thats their business. They arent investing millions of dollars to maintain the status quo....As for the chances of finding that driver, Andretti thinks the only chance might well be someone taking a risk on a Rossi or another successful IndyCar driver.Its a strange situation, really. Something will have to break through, again, to establish some kind of credibility with the drivers who compete in IndyCar. 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