Amidst multi media hype
last year, Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM) entered his first full year of NASCAR competition. The major media outlets that have for
years ignored NASCAR as the top racing series in this Country were all of a sudden interested. If Juan Pablo Montoya, Indy
500 winner, winner of an F1 race is running NASCAR then suddenly NASCAR is somehow legitimate. Let us examine this for a second
before we move back to Juan Pablo…
The Indianapolis
500 is not the historic Indy 500 of memory. The Daytona 500 over shadows the former glory of Indy by a long shot. Last year
Forbes Magazine wrote that the Daytona 500 ranked 4th place of all sporting events in the world, 4th to the Super Bowl, the
Summer Olympics, and the World Cup Soccer Championship. Neither the Indy 500 nor any F1 racing event was mentioned. No other
racing event was mentioned. Basically despite the whine and cheese European wannabe crowd claiming differently, Open Wheel
racing is just the minor league. It is further evidenced by some of the top stars of open wheel moving to NASCAR. This brings
me back to Montoya…
First off, why does he
always have to be “Juan Pablo Montoya?” Why can he not just be Juan Montoya or Montoya? In this Country about
the only people known by three names without a hyphen are assassins: John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and etcetera. The
only recent deviation from this would the washout quarter back from USC “John David Booty” who was never referred
to by anything other than his three names. He is not impressive, However Juan Pablo Montoya is.
Montoya has won every
Indy 500 he has entered. He did not find it to be a challenge. Question after he won it: "Any thoughts on what Indy will be
like next year?"
JPM: "I don't care. I won't
be here." Been there done that against some weak drivers was obviously his point of view.
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Montoya has won in Cup, Indy,
and F1. He has won in the Rolex series. Point in fact; he has won every Rolex 24 hours of Daytona he has entered. Yet he struggled
a little bit in the NASCAR Cup series. What does that say about the Cup series? One could conclude that the competition is
fierce, yet Montoya is up for the challenge. He proved that last year by refusing to be bullied by veteran Stock Car drivers
who thought his years of Open Wheel driving would make him hesitant. When Scott Pruett came down on Montoya last year on a
road course, expecting Montoya to brake like an Open Wheeler, he, (Montoya), held his line and sent Pruett spinning off behind
him. When Kevin Harvick tried the same stuff, Montoya held his line. Later he said, “I have stood up to Michael Schumacher
in F1. Dealing with Kevin Harvick is nothing.” Montoya is one of the most talented drivers driving a race car in any
and every series. He finished 20th in points last year in Cup but it will be surprising if he is not in the “Chase for
the Championship” this year after race number 26. If he is not there one would suspect that it is an equipment problem,
not a driver problem. Montoya is the real deal.
2006 StockCar Review.
