Montoya To NASCAR In '07

jgredline · Post 10 Jul 2006, 18:45

I follow Nascar as close as I follow F1.
This is what I think.
Chip Ganassi like Dave guesses will be in a Toyota in 2008 as will penske
Both of their contracts are up at the end of 2007 with dodge.
JPM got a guaranteed contract for two years. I am guessing he will use the first year to learn. Chip ganassi while he is cheap will spend a ton of money next year. Montoya is a God send to him as the American media and people love JPM and this will introduce Nascar to the Latin community here as JPM will be able to speak spanish. I also heard from a good source that Nascar is paying most of if not all his salary for the next year and its much more than he was making in F1. Keep in mind that in the states Nascar is second in sports only to american football. Lets not forget also that with Chip Ganassi he could run the indy 500 again and win it again.

For JPM to have went to CART or the IRL with the way the series is today would have been a huge step backwards. Like Villenuve said, NASCAR is not a step down from F1. Its differant, but not a step down.

Chip Ganassi has not won a nascar race for a few years. If JPM could pull it off it would cement his name among some of the greats. Its too bad a F1 title will not happen, but a Nascar title to go with his CART title ( when cart was credible) along with wins at Monaco and the Indy 500 looks pretty dang good.

As far as F1 goes, the only two teams that can win a title is Ferrari and Renault. Unless your in one of those two cars, you can maybe pull of a win, but no title. The Mclaren was clearly built around Kimi as is the renault for Fernando and the Ferrari for Michael.
JPM has beaten his team mates everyplace he has been. At Mclaren he never had a chance.

jaslfc · Post 10 Jul 2006, 20:50

its a loss to f1 that one of the few characters left in the sport has gone.. i was actually hoping for him to lead renaults challenge next year.. see wats he made of!!

wazojugs · Post 10 Jul 2006, 22:44

Hello everyone i am back from a long holiday

I won't be missing him, as i think he is a hot head and a liability alot of the time.

But i do think that he is a good driver with some good race craft when it suits him or situation does

NickT · Post 10 Jul 2006, 22:51

I for one will miss him, but like others, I think he is right to move on, he is a real racer after all and there have been precious little oportunity for him to be racer in the last few years

I think it says a lot about the current state of F1, it is really quite rediculus that good drivers cannot compete unless they have the best car and the best tyres

Is the F1 championship a drivers championship

not really

jgredline · Post 10 Jul 2006, 23:05

NickT wrote: I for one will miss him, but like others, I think he is right to move on, he is a real racer after all and there have been precious little oportunity for him to be racer in the last few years

I think it says a lot about the current state of F1, it is really quite rediculus that good drivers cannot compete unless they have the best car and the best tyres

Is the F1 championship a drivers championship

not really

In reading your post and others like it what seems to keep cropping up is '' the state of Formula1''
It is sad that F1 seems to be heading the way of cart and irl eeeeeekk
I am sure there are some old guys in here like me that really got the oppertunity to see some of the greatest F1 racing ever in the mid80's to early 90's when the driver trully mattered. When you had to actully move a lever to shift gears, when you had to feather the throttle out of the corners, when you really had to look after your tires, aahhhh the good old days.

jgredline · Post 10 Jul 2006, 23:06

JPM and his style would have done real well back in the days.
today it is all about the car

dumrick · Post 11 Jul 2006, 02:09

jgredline wrote:I am sure there are some old guys in here like me that really got the oppertunity to see some of the greatest F1 racing ever in the mid80's to early 90's when the driver trully mattered. When you had to actully move a lever to shift gears, when you had to feather the throttle out of the corners, when you really had to look after your tires, aahhhh the good old days.

Oh, yeah, those were sweet days...

You are making me feel old, I'm 30 and the first season I watched was back in 1982

... I was a Gilles Villeneuve fan, back then...

jgredline · Post 11 Jul 2006, 05:52

Here are a couple of pretty good articles on JPM's move
http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/28356/

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/28307/

West · Post 11 Jul 2006, 06:15

That's the problem with motorsport - the adage "it's 90 percent driver, 10 percent car" is bogus at the highest levels. Motorsport is the only sport where the equipment makes the difference, aside from spec series.

I barely keep up w/ F1 these days (work is part of that) and now follow MMA a little bit closer now

bhall · Post 11 Jul 2006, 07:46

West wrote:That's the problem with motorsport - the adage "it's 90 percent driver, 10 percent car" is bogus at the highest levels. Motorsport is the only sport where the equipment makes the difference, aside from spec series.

The same people win in NASCAR all the time. Spec series or not, it's about equipment. Always has been, always will be.

Montoya will find that out, too, soon enough.

Spencifer_Murphy · Post 11 Jul 2006, 10:23

jgredline wrote:Chip Ganassi like Dave guesses will be in a Toyota in 2008 as will penske
Both of their contracts are up at the end of 2007 with dodge...
...I also heard from a good source that Nascar is paying most of if not all his salary for the next year and its much more than he was making in F1. Keep in mind that in the states Nascar is second in sports only to american football. Lets not forget also that with Chip Ganassi he could run the indy 500 again and win it again.

For JPM to have went to CART or the IRL with the way the series is today would have been a huge step backwards. Like Villenuve said, NASCAR is not a step down from F1. Its differant, but not a step down.

Chip Ganassi has not won a nascar race for a few years. If JPM could pull it off it would cement his name among some of the greats. Its too bad a F1 title will not happen, but a Nascar title to go with his CART title ( when cart was credible) along with wins at Monaco and the Indy 500 looks pretty dang good.

I dunno, as a form of racing I personally see NASCAR as a step backwards, BUT as a form of sporting event, not at all (just look at its HUGE viewing figures stateside!) But thats just a personal opinion.

More of a consipracy (well not quite) is...

You said about how Chip Ganassi will be running a Toyota (probably) in 2008, didn't he run a Toyota engined car in CART when Monty drove for him (and won the championship) or was that the year JPM won the Indy 500? Either way, strong links with Toyota.

Say JPM Wins a NASCAR title, wins another Indy 500, he already has CART (when like you said it was credible), and has GP's at Monaco, Monza & Silverstone under his belt. But surely for JPM to look back and see that the F1 championship has eluded him when he has reached the top in everything else he's tried would be a bit of a disappoint ment for him? Do you think maybe F1 could be "unfinished business" for JPM

Business which could be "finished" with Toyota in say 2009 or 2010? I mean I can't imagine JPM winning NASCAR, and then retireing, surely he'd take the chance to try his had at F1 one last time (ESPECIALLY when 2008 onwards looks to be more driver orientated and less about the car)

If having won NASCAR in toyota, the Indy 500 (or CART - cant remember which one) ina Toyota engined car, surely Toyota (who have yet to get a REAL big name in their F1 car's) would Jump at the chance at giving JPM one last try?

bhall · Post 11 Jul 2006, 11:58

F1Racing.net is reporting that Montoya has left McLaren and that de la Rosa will race in France.

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=123802

Spencifer_Murphy · Post 11 Jul 2006, 12:15

Yup ITV-F1.com says the same thing:

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=36587

Apparently Montoya will step down as driver with immediate effect, and this is a mutural agreement by both JPM & Mclaren so Monty can spend time with his family in Miami and then prepare for his new carrear in NASCAR.

No more JPM in F1

(least not for now neways - see my post above hehe

)

Ignis Fatuus · Post 11 Jul 2006, 14:10

I didn't know a race driver could get a gardening leave.

And now a question arises: What comes next?
Lewis Hamilton finally testing with McLaren? Mercedes taking over McLaren at the end of this season?

JimmyK · Post 11 Jul 2006, 16:47

He's staying in F1 for the rest of this season, it's next year he's going to NASCAR.

OK, you can rub that in :p

I suspected De La Rosa would come in before Hamilton though, Hamilton just doesn't have the experience atm.