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Juan Pablo Montoya
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Motorsports career results
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Date Of Birth: September 20, 1975 Years: 2 He was born in Bogotá where he was taught the techniques of karting from an early age by his father Pablo, an architect and motorsport enthusiast. He was already Colombian National Champion at the age of 6 and Junior World Champion at the age of 15. Montoya got the opportunity to advance in his motor racing career, when he was hired by the RSM Marko, Formula 3000 team in 1997. Montoya was the fastest of them all, and he and was signed by WilliamsF1 to be test drivers for the following season. During the 1998 F3000 season, Montoya opened the season up with a record, four straight pole positions. He also achieved another record that year by being the first driver to lap the entire grid at the race in PAU. Montoya finished his F3000 career with seven wins and ten pole positions, both were F3000 records. In Indy 500 in 2000, the Colombian star led 167 of 200 laps and claimed top honors 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. Montoya made his Formula One debut for the BMW-powered Williams team in the 2001 Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix. in the Brazilian Grand Prix, Montoya shocked the F1 world by passing World Champion Michael Schumacher into the first corner. He held off Schumacher. From the Monaco Grand Prix 2003 the FW25 proved to be the class of the field, allowing Montoya to take victory at Circuit de Monaco. Andrew Benson, a Motorsports Editor for the BBC, wrote this about Montoya's Formula 1 legacy in 2006. "His incredible skills at overtaking - to which he brings an improvisation, bravery, deftness and flair that has arguably never been seen before - are inseparable from his mercurial character. It is easy to forget that until Montoya's arrival in the sport in 2001, overtaking in modern F1 was considered so difficult as to be almost impossible. That is still the case, but Montoya has been able to transcend the limits imposed on drivers by complex aerodynamics and shorter braking distances and pull off passing moves that can only be described as breathtaking." "The fact that no-one else has been able to emulate him merely underlines his astonishing ability - he will probably be remembered as the best overtaker in F1's history." On July 9, 2006, Montoya announced his plans to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series beginning with the 2007 season, racing for Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates’ NASCAR operation, Chip Ganassi Racing, in the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge. On March 4, 2007, Montoya won the NASCAR Busch Series Telcel-Motorola 200 in Mexico City. On June 24, 2007, Montoya won his first NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, becoming the first non-US driver to win a Cup race since Canadian Earl Ross in 1974. “For me, Juan has the fighting spirit and balls I never saw by any other driver after Ayrton Senna died. Therefore I immediately liked him and start following his career. But due to the fact of his way of driving I think he lost several win and a championship. The switch to Nascar came as a surprise for me, also because I had never seen or heard about Nascar. Now after 2 seasons I’m a fan of the sport, much better than F1. He still has his fighting spirit and balls (remember the incident with no.29 and last year when he hit cry-baby 18). I hope and believe that this year he will do much better and start fighting for the victories.”
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