Yesterday, Colombian Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya (image)announced that he will participate in NASCAR next year, which would lend international appeal to an auto circuit that has boomed in popularity in the U.S. over the past decade. Montoya will become the NASCAR Nextel Cup’s only foreign born and non-white regular driver. colombia, united states, sports
2 comments:
Ay Juancho... A lot of Colombian diehard auto racing fans are ticked off at the move. One of the oldest racing sites has this commentary:
http://deportes2000.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006020
I had an entry in Spanish here, more or less looking at who was behind the move. IMO Chip Ganassi and Target, NASCAR was caught off guard.
http://bolicarreras.blogspot.com/2006/07/colombia-usa-un-poco-mas-sobre-jpm.html
I highly recommend this article by Brazilian writer, Cassio Cortes, who has also followed JPM's career since he was in junior formula in Europe and who like many of us in the U.S. got to see him race in CART. Cortes provides a nice timeline of Juan Pablo's F1 career, and the expectations that it gave not only Colombians but also many Latin Americans.
http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/28405/
As a Colombian (-American) die hard racing fan I'm thrilled with Juancho's move to NASCAR. His job with his F1 team was in danger before this season began which was made much worse by his string of crummy results this year and the few vacancies with another top-flight F1 team. His hard-nosed racing style fits very well with NASCAR and from a PR standpoint it's win-win for Montoya, NASCAR, and Ganassi.
I've got a lot of faith that Montoya can succeed in NASCAR even though he will have a lot of pressure on top of him to be one of the best.
Thanks a ton for the links, especially Cortes' thorough look at Montoya's career so far.
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