As a youngster resident in Austria Juan Pablo Montoya struggled to save enough money for his basic needs. At this stage of his life he recalls having no money even for public transport; instead he used roller blades to go from one place to another. Retirement from motorsport seemed likely, but a call to take part in the 1997 Formula 3000 season was the break he was looking for. He finished second in the championship in his rookie season, The Williams Formula One team noticed his potential, and signed him to a multi-year testing contract from 1998. Alongside his Formula One testing duties for Williams he competed again in F3000 and took the title in a close contest with Nick Heidfeld.
Renault, Williams engine supplier for most of the 1990s, left Formula One at the end of the 1997 season. With no major engine suppliers available, Williams were forced to sign a contract to run customer engines for the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In 1998 the team failed to win a race for the first time in a decade. For the 1999 season, in the hope of attracting more investors to the underperforming team, Frank Williams agreed a driver swap with CART team owner Chip Ganassi, in which Ganassi's 1997 and 1998 CART champion driver, Alessandro Zanardi, would return to Formula One and Montoya would take his place in the competitive American series.
While Zanardi had a miserable year in Formula One, Montoya, with Honda power and a great Reynard chassis at his disposal, took the American motorsport scene by storm. He took the 1999 title in his rookie year, something accomplished six years earlier by former Formula One Champion, Nigel Mansell.
The season that saw Montoya crowned as the youngest ever CART FedEx Championship Series Champion at the age of 24 was closely fought, especially with Dario Franchitti who led the championship going into the final race in California. Both drivers finished the season with equal number of points but having won seven races to the Scotsman's three decided the title in the Colombian's favor. Montoya's tally of wins, pole positions and fastest laps meant that he was considered the fastest driver in a series which lacked electronic aids such as traction control, adaptive suspension or automatic gearboxes. However, the CART rookie also attracted criticism - notably from Michael Andretti and his team - for his aggressive style of driving.
Montoya still had a contractual relationship with Williams and after his impressive rookie season the Grove-based team were keen for him to drive for them in Formula One. However, the young Colombian decided to race in the US for one more year.
In 2000 the Ganassi team switched to Toyota engines and Lola chassis. The package was strong for ovals and high speed tracks, but was less well suited to street and most road circuits. Toyota’s engines were not yet reliable and often failed the team. Despite this, Montoya led more laps than anyone else and took the maiden victory for a Toyota engine in the series. He was also the most popular driver, but in a season where he failed to finish more than 60% of races he was out of contention for the championship.
That season the Ganassi team also competed in the prestigious Indianapolis 500 race, part of the rival Indy Racing League series. Media and drivers were critical of the way Juan Pablo approached the Brickyard, many IRL drivers labelled him as reckless and predicted an early retirement from the race. The media activity around the event was intense, with Montoya and his CART teammate Jimmy Vasser being the first CART drivers to "cross-over" to drive in the Indy 500. Despite public warnings from two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser, Jr. claiming that if a driver doesn't respect the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the place "will bite you - hard" Montoya shrugged off the advice claiming that all four corners were exactly the same and that the track required less attention than the road courses in the CART series and in European racing.
n the event, the Colombian star led 167 of 200 laps and claimed top honours at the end of the 500 mile race, taking an easy victory on his first attempt. He was the first to do so since Formula One World Champion Graham Hill in 1966 and was the first Colombian winner. His compatriot Roberto José Guerrero had previously finished twice as runner up.
Over the weekend of the 2000 Indianapolis 500, BMW.Williams announced a two year deal for Montoya to partner Ralf Schumacher starting in 2001. His entrance was very much anticipated by the Formula One community due to the talent and raw speed showed in the America's based series.
Montoya showed great potential from the beginning. Critics and fans alike anticipated that he would challenge for the World Drivers Championship. During the first half of his Formula One career he consolidated his position as a fast driver and a race win challenger and also became a title contender during 2003 but the hopes of fighting for the title gradually faded as stronger and more consistent challengers arrived on the scene.
Montoya has been criticized during his Formula One career for his unreliability and tendency to make costly mistakes. His driving style is too characteristic of the 80's Formula One era. In this matter it is difficult to build a car that suits him well as engineers and aerodynamicists have adapted their work to build chassis that are more appropriate to a more fine and soft, and perhaps less live, driving style.
Entering his sixth season, in 2006, it was evident that Juan Pablo Montoya had not developed into the title contender that racing fans and the media had predicted. In particular after five full seasons the necessary consistency never materialised. However, he often challenged for race victories and was voted top Latin American driver at the Premios Fox Sports awards in 2003 and 2005.
Montoya announced his plans to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series beginning with the 2007 season, racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge.
On September 25, 2006, it was confirmed that a deal has been struck between the Chip Ganassi and McLaren that allowed Montoya to give closure to his contract with McLaren, and begin testing with Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates' NASCAR operation.
On October 6, 2006, Montoya raced in an Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) event in a Texaco/Havoline Dodge at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Montoya qualified second, led the first nine laps, and ended up finishing a credible third after the race was called after 79 of 92 laps.
On October 28, 2006, Montoya made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Series Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park. He drove the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger to an 11th place finish, despite spinning and dropping back to 30th earlier in the race. He competed in the final three races of the Busch Series season, finishing 28th at Texas , 20th at Phoenix, and 14th at Homestead
On November 19, 2006, Montoya competed in his first career NEXTEL Cup race, the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway He qualified 29th in the #30 Texaco Dodge. On Lap 251, after contact with the #12 Dodge of Ryan Newman, Montoya's car hit the wall and caught fire, taking him out of the race. He was unharmed, and was credited with a 34th place finish after running on the lead lap throughout the race up until that point.
When questioned by Michael Schumacher on why Montoya would go to NASCAR, Montoya retorted the next day that no one in Formula One had any idea just how difficult stock car racing was, and that he didn't care what Schumacher thought anyway because "Schumacher in America is nobody."
On January 28, 2007, Montoya won the Daytona 24 hours with teammates Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran.
Montoya raced in the Daytona 500, the first race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season on February 18th 2007. He finished in 19th position after starting 36th, complaining of handling problems with the car.
On March 4, 2007, Montoya won the NASCAR Busch Series Telcel-Motorola 200 in Mexico City. It was his first Busch Series win in only 7 starts. He managed to come from 19th position in the final 24 laps to win the event. He had held the lead earlier in the race until an issue with the fuel overflow caused him to have to make an additional pitstop. There was controversy when Montoya tried to make a pass on the inside of his teammate, Scott Pruett. The move ended up resulting in Pruett spinning out, and dropping to 17th position. Pruett recovered however, and finished 5th in the race. Pruett was livid after the conclusion of the race, thinking that Montoya spun out a teammate to win his first race.
--Wikipedia
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