Good bye F1, hello NASCAR...

[Monseratto]

Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR


Chip Ganassi has never made a secret of the fact that should the opportunity arise he would snap up the services of Juan Pablo Montoya once again.

The Colombian raced for Ganassi in CART (now Champ Car) with success in 1999 as he took the title before moving to Formula One with Williams in 2001.

Today, Ganassi confirmed at Chicagoland that the current McLaren Mercedes driver will join his NASCAR squad next season.

"It should be fun," Associated Press report Ganassi as saying. "Should be great. We've obviously enjoyed some previous success, and that made it a lot easier. We had a very quick negotiation - if you can even call it that.
It's nice to have somebody in your car who wants to be there, wants to be with your team, wants to be a part of it."

Montoya has competed in 95 Grand Prix with Williams and McLaren, scoring seven race wins, the last of which came in Brazil last year.

[mazdamazda]

Hmmm...

Probably it dawned to him that he would have a better chance in winning a championship NASCAR than in Formula1 with Kimi, Schumi & Alonso still around.

Great driver but lacks the discipline and focus of the current top 3 F1 drivers.

[redorange]

Hmmm...

Probably it dawned to him that he would have a better chance in winning a championship NASCAR than in Formula1 with Kimi, Schumi & Alonso still around.

Great driver but lacks the discipline and focus of the current top 3 F1 drivers.

If he lacks descipline then he will have a hard time in NASCAR w/ Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., J. Johnson, and Stewart racing against him. Remember they give each other little bumps in NASCAR. It's also a different kind of racing using fast heavy cars unlike open wheel racing which is a fast light car. This could be an interesting NASCAR season.

[mantoy]

well, good luck to him. the only good cars in F1 right now are Renault and Ferrari and he has no chance of driving either of them not with Alonso and Schumi still around.

Formula One star Montoya jumps to US NASCAR series
AFP
July 9, 2006

JOLIET, United States (AFP) - Colombian auto racer Juan Pablo Montoya made a shocking announcement, saying he will depart Formula One after this season to race in the American closed-cockpit series NASCAR.

Montoya, a former Indy-car star in the United States, will leave McLaren Mercedes to sign with Chip Ganassi's race team in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most popular form of US auto racing.

"When people think of moving from Formula One to NASCAR, some people think I'm crazy, but I think it's exciting," Montoya said.

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"I think it's a great challenge for my career. Coming here is probably going to be my toughest challenge ever."

Montoya, the 1999 Champ-car season champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, will replace Casey Mears and drive the car number 42 Dodge Charger next season.

"You have 36 races and race against really great guys, and I think sometimes people (around the world) don't know how tough it is out here (on the stock car circuit) and how many great drivers are out here," Montoya said.

[hens]

Remember they give each other little bumps in NASCAR.

yun ang trip niya eh di ba?..hehehe ginagawa na nga niya sa f1..

[mazdamazda]

yun ang trip niya eh di ba?..hehehe ginagawa na nga niya sa f1..

hehehe... instead of small bumps... those NASCAR guys will surely get big bumps courtesy of wildman JPM.

[badkuk]

legal nga ba ung mga "little bumps" sa nascar? kasi kung ganyan na rin lang ang usapan...e di demolition derby na lang B)

[GlennSter]

hindi ko magets ang nascar...hehehe

[mazdamazda]

hindi ko magets ang nascar...hehehe

as someone pointed out... "NASCAR is taxis turning left for 500 miles"

[finchy18]

f1 prin

[GlennSter]

hahrharhar...nag research ako about their histor..ang layo na ng narating ng mga kotse.but the race is so boring...or diko lang talaga naiintindihan.hehehe

[BlueBimmer]

baka favorite movie ni JPM ang CARS ng disney :D

[Horsepower]

Ang boring kasi paikot-ikot lang. Mas maganda siguro explore din nila yung F1 racetracks.

For me, the most exciting to watch is WRC.

[IPSG_SlimShady]

Panoorin nyo kasi yung NASCAR sa IMAX para ma-appreciate nyo hehe.

[allen_the_great]

inunahan lang ni jpm ang f1.. para ang labas sya ang nangiwan sa f1 and not the other way around.. surely mclaren, renault, ferrari didnt express interest in him kaya siguro instead of driving for, say, redbull, nascar nlng sya.

montoya peaked in 2003 and he's on his way down (if he's not down yet)

[mazdamazda]

Panoorin nyo kasi yung NASCAR sa IMAX para ma-appreciate nyo hehe.

I've watched it... ok naman sa IMAX.

Pero kapag pinanood na sa TV... parang ang gulo. Hehe. Sa dami ng competitors ang hirap sundun kung sino ang alin.

[scarab]

hahrharhar...nag research ako about their histor..ang layo na ng narating ng mga kotse.but the race is so boring...or diko lang talaga naiintindihan.hehehe

....ako rin eh, parang pag pinanood ko ng live duon i wouldn't know their race positions by lap 10. pero scary rin if you watch yung mga onboard cameras. neck and neck close to 200mph for 200 laps! guts kelangan ata dun nde skill.

[forza1]

Nascar for me is the most stupid race event, and of course it is like and invented by stupid americans also . Going oval what's the thrill in that?

[kimpOy]

tama, he is on the way out...with alonso to join mclaren, kimi to ferrari(?) dapat kasi may naririnig na siya (offer) from another team...eh kaso wala.....

[scarab]

....pati rin pala si danica patrick kino-consider jumping to NASCAR.