Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Juan Pablo Montoya: How Could We Know That Promises End?

Brazilian motorsports writer, on Speedtv Cassio Cortes has an awesome article on Speedtv about Montoya's shock move, which expresses just about everything I want to say:

How Could We Know That Promises End?
Written by: Cassio Cortes, RACER Magazine Sao Paulo, Brazil – 7/11/2006

For sheer shock and awe value, Juan Pablo Montoya’s switch from Formula 1 to NASCAR was great news, in the classic journalistic sense: a secret kept better than Deep Throat’s identity, and an undeniably a coup for NASCAR and, to an extent, American racing. Today’s confirmation that he will no longer be racing for McLaren this season was hardly a surprise, as his new Ganassi deal made him the proverbial lame duck at the Woking squad.

I confess to having always had a soft spot in my heart for JPM. A South American from a mess-stricken but affable country, he burst onto the F1 scene as a CART-bred talent ready to take no prisoners. An Indy 500 win in a one-off as a rookie in 2000 was the icing on the cake of his brilliant U.S. career.

Devoid of a feisty latino since Ayrton Senna’s death in 1994, the pinnacle of motorsport was soon introduced to the Colombian’s fiery side - in only his third race as a Williams-BMW driver, matter-of-factly. It was April Fool’s Day, 2001, and an F1 world craving for a man with the huevos (not to mention the talent) to match up against one Michael Schumacher seemed to have found a new Messiah.




Read the Rest Here.

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