Jul 17, 2006

Are You Sure this Isn't April 1?

Goodbye, caviar; hello, fried chicken.  See ya later, champagne; nice to meet ya, moonshine. 

In a move that is to racing what landing on the moon was to rocket science, Juan Pablo Montoya, who was ranked sixth among Formula One drivers this season, has decided to leave the series that is commonly thought of as the premier racing series in the world to join NASCAR's Nextel Cup.  Say what?

Did Babe Ruth bail on major league baseball to play for a semi-pro team in Waco?  Did Magic Johnson decide to leave the National Basketball Association to become a swingman on the Harlem Globetrotters?  Did Paul Newman figure he's quit the movie business so he could do one-act plays in the park?

With all apologies to NASCAR, which puts on a good, reliable show for its legion of fans darn near every weekend from February through November, the news of a current F1 driver jumping from his ride to take a seat in a NASCAR racer is stunning.  In his wildest dreams Bill France could never have envisioned this one, yet there it is.  Montoya, who earlier had success on this side of the pond in open-wheel racing, decided to turn his back on the Mclaren-Mercedes team in Formula One to sign a Nextel Cup deal with Chip Ganassi.

Okay, it is true that Montoya was on shaky ground at McLaren-Mercedes.  He was rumored to be on his way out anyway, and evidence to that effect is provided by the fact that as soon as he announced his NASCAR deal, McLaren CEO Ron Dennis essentially booted him off the team, replacing him immediately with Pedro de la Rosa.  Now it is entirely possible that Montoya might be the first driver to compete in Formula One and the Nextel Cup in the same season.  Ganassi was originally going to break Montoya into NASCAR racing by having him run a few late-season Busch races after the F1 season had ended, but that was before Dennis showed Montoya the door.

How soon Montoya will get behind the wheel of a NASCAR car is one question yet to be answered.  Another is this: when Montoya previously compete here in North America he called himself Juan Montoya, but after the shift to F1 he changed it to Juan Pablo Montoya.  Now the question is will he take on a more appropriate name for his NASCAR reincarnation, like, say, Johnny P. Montague, for instance?