Montoya makes history
Teammates, rookie etiquette, and conventional wisdom be damned.
In the end, Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Formula One star turned NASCAR newcomer, would not be denied yesterday as he proved to NASCAR fans that he is indeed one of the greatest driving talents on the planet.
The 2007 TelCel Motorola 200 in Mexico City may go down as the stuff that legends are made of. Not that Montoya wasn't already a legend, what with his 1999 CART title, 2000 Indy 500 victory, and seven Formula One race wins. But after being placed 21st thanks to a fuel-hose gaffe, his electrifying charge from 16th to the win in the final 23 circuits -- a charge that was punctuated by his spinning out of teammate Scott Pruett for the lead with eight laps left -- may be his most amazing accomplishment so far.
Of course, he ticked off a lot of drivers on his way to the front. Pruett dubbed Montoya's move as "no good, low, nasty, dirty driving" after the race. ESPN.com's David Newton got several drivers griping about the Colombian driver, including Denny Hamlin and Boris Said alleging that Montoya jumped restarts and was allowed to get in the middle of the pack illegally after pitting under caution with 27 laps left.
But if you've followed Montoya throughout his career, this was simply another classic case of who he is. While this may go as blasphemy for some who dare not place these three drivers together, Montoya comes from a hallowed line of racetrack "black hats" like Dale Earnhardt and A.J. Foyt. They were people who took nothing from no one and did their own thing, regardless of logic, reasoning, or consequence. To these people, the risk they take pales in comparison to the reward waiting in Victory Lane. They don't wait for the right opportunity to make their moves -- they just plain make the opportunities. Whether they make them in a clean or controversial way is their choice.
Like his team owner Chip Ganassi said afterwards to ESPN.com's Terry Blount, "That was vintage Montoya. How can I be surprised?"
And you can bet your lucky stars that NASCAR and the folks running the Mexico City event are jubilant that Montoya made his opportunity yesterday. He's the cornerstone of NASCAR's plan to finally seize the Spanish-speaking Hispanic market and all the economic power it holds. He's also part of NASCAR's ongoing quest for globalization (see the other Busch Series event in Montreal this August). And if you don't think that Montoya's victory won't help raise publicity for the other Latino drivers racing in the NASCAR Mexico Corona Series -- a series that NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston has stated is "changing the motorsports landscape in Mexico from open wheel to stock car" -- then you're just not paying attention.
So while NASCAR decides whether to keep its Mexican Busch Series race in Mexico City or move to Monterrey in 2008, they realize that the dilemma is a good one to have. Yesterday's victory by Montoya, who became just the second non-American to win a NASCAR Busch Series race, about sealed NASCAR's fate as a viable motorsports entity south of the border and may have been the key that unlocks a whole new world for stock car racing. We have seen this sport grow by leaps and bounds recently. But something tells me we haven't seen anything yet.
