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| Birth Name(s) : Juan Pablo Montoya |
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Full Juan Pablo Montoya Biography
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (born September 20, 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a race car driver in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing and a former Formula One and Indycar driver. 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 has enjoyed great success, most famously in top open wheel racing series.
Montoya moved to the Copa Formula Renault Series in 1992. The same year, he also participated in a U.S. series operated by Skip Barber. 1993 saw Montoya switch to the Swift GTI Championship, a series he dominated by winning seven of eight races. The following year, 1994, was a very busy year for the 19-year-old Colombian, as it saw him race in three separate series: the Sudam 125 Karting, USA Barber Saab, and Formula N in Mexico (a series in which he won the title). As his success continued year after year, Montoya came to be known for his uncanny ability to win pole positions (as well as races), in some cases taking 80% of a season's poles (see Career results below). For the next three years, Montoya raced in various divisions, continually progressing upward. He raced in the 1995 British Formula Vauxhall Championship, and in the 1996 British Formula 3 with Fortec Motorsport, as well as taking part in events in Zandvoort, Netherlands and Silverstone.
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 in 40% of the 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.
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
Although the 2003 chassis was built by the team specifically for Montoya's driving style, the machine needed time to be developed. Problems with oversteer were still present, often resulting in 360º spins in front of the crowd, in addition to reliability problems with the BMW engine.
During the year Montoya suffered even more from oversteer than he had at Williams. On several occasions he spun during practice. More seriously he spun in his return from injury at the Spanish Grand Prix and most notoriously at the last corner during qualifying for the German Grand Prix. On that occasion he made up for it by climbing from 20th to 8th after the first two corners eventually finishing in a respectable 2nd.Juan Pablo Montoya qualifying in the 2005 US GP.
On April 24, 2007, Montoya was fined $10,000 by NASCAR and placed on probation for the rest of the season for an "inappropriate gesture" he made during a Busch Series practice session at Phoenix International Raceway the previous weekend. The gesture was captured on live television by the Speed Channel during their coverage of the practice session. Montoya apparently didn't know the camera was being used for live tv, and apologized, saying that it was only meant as a joke to one of his friends.
On June 24, 2007, Montoya won his first NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, becoming the first foreign born driver to win a Cup race since Canadian Earl Ross in 1974. Montoya joined Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win the Indianapolis 500, a Formula One race, and a NASCAR Nextel Cup race. |
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