July 9, 200620 yr Ganassi tabs Montoya to drive No. 42 in '07 JOLIET, Ill. -- In one of the most surprising driver announcements of the decade, Chip Ganassi on Sunday named Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya to drive his No. 42 Dodge in 2007. Montoya, 30, has no NASCAR experience. Ganassi signed up Montoya to a multi-year deal, which makes him the first F1 regular to make the move to Nextel Cup. Stay with NASCAR.COM for updates. source
July 9, 200620 yr well thats sad as fritz said and have fun driving in circles for hours ... whoohoo :plain
July 9, 200620 yr Why? F1 drivers are too good to be driving in circles for four hours. JPM did not have a seat in an F1 car for 2007, McLaren didn't want him back and already signed their two drivers for 2007 and there were no other seats available on any other tier 1 teams, so unless he was willing to settle for a seat on a team like Toro Rosso or Red Bull, it was pretty well known his F1 career was over. I assumed he would go to CART or any of the various euro touring car series, but I had NO IDEA and never in my wildest dreams would have imagined him going to NASCAR. The article is wrong about him not having experience in a NASCARthough, Jeff Gordon and JPM actually had a testing day at Indy 3 years ago where JPM drove Jeff Gordon's car and Jeff Gordon drive Montoya's Williams F1 car in a testing session.
July 10, 200620 yr and mr.accord tell me who mclaren signed as a second driver since u talk like u know so much about the mclaren situation
July 10, 200620 yr At least on the oval tracks there is some actual racing. Anyway, Chip Ganassi is a huge tool, IMO, and I look forward to seeing his teams continue to struggle.
July 10, 200620 yr and mr.accord tell me who mclaren signed as a second driver since u talk like u know so much about the mclaren situation McLaren has already signed their #2 driver and they will be announcing who it as at Hockenheim.
July 10, 200620 yr montoya was a huge bust in f1.. went in with a lot of hype and never backed it up.. only success was in the US in the champ car league, so he might as well give it a shot.. he has experience with ovals.. just not in stock cars
July 10, 200620 yr A lot a buzz about this in the garage area yesterday. Some pretty excited people hoping he does well and brings in the latin population. This came out of no where though. His future teamates didn't even know until they announced the press conference. But it's going to take him a while. At his press conference he said something along the lines of this "It will be a big challenge because I'm not very good at the oval tracks." :plain...considering all but two are ovals it will be a long year. Also, I heard someone that represents Danica Patrick met with Robert Yates and Jack Rousch yesterday. This is what Jayski says: Danica Patrick could become the next star driver to defect from another major racing series to NASCAR. "I'm trying to get her here [into NASCAR]," said T.J. Patrick, father of the woman who dazzled the motor racing world last year by nearly winning the Indianapolis 500, but has struggled with a mediocre Indy Racing League car ever since. T.J. Patrick, who has managed his daughter's career since her childhood, was at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, holding exploratory talks with some Nextel Cup teams and sponsors about the possibility of Danica leaving the IRL for NASCAR as early as next year. Her contract expires with the IRL's Rahal-Letterman Racing team, co-owned by TV comic David Letterman, at the end of this season. In addition to considering NASCAR, the Patricks are negotiating with other IRL teams -- and appear unlikely to renew with Rahal-Letterman next year. Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman racing, declined comment through a spokesperson. Danica, 24, wasn't at Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 NASCAR race. T.J. and Danica's mother, Bev, came to the Joliet track because "we've had some inquiries" from NASCAR teams, T.J. said. The Patricks were in the Nextel Cup garage area as guests of the powerful Roush Racing team, which fields five Ford teams And this has nothing to do with money. He was probably making twice as much in F1.
July 10, 200620 yr money talks. oh there is MUCH MUCH more money in F1 even with a second rate team in F1? Do they also have huge endorsement deals? And F1 racing is boring as hell, the machines are great, but the racing itself is boring as hell.
July 10, 200620 yr u only say its boring cause ur from texas where everything is NASCAR great response. no i think its boring because there is little passing done....my geographic location has little to do with it. I used to watch F1, I would fall asleep time after time because you would never see any real action other than the leader basically doing time trials. Blame the system that has put forth a couple of dominant drivers and thats it.
July 10, 200620 yr money talks. oh there is MUCH MUCH more money in F1 even with a second rate team in F1? Do they also have huge endorsement deals? And F1 racing is boring as hell, the machines are great, but the racing itself is boring as hell. Yes. You obviously do not follow the sport and do not know the intricacies of it, to say that NASCAR is more exciting than F1 is flat out absurd. If you believe that it is boring, you obviously have not seen the Alonso vs. Kimi/Schmie battles this season, they have been epic. Just because NASCAR has more passing does not make it more exciting, there's more passing because they're on a stupid oval track where it's basically one long straight line for 500 miles, of course there will be more passing - does that passing make it exciting? ABSOLUTELY NOT. A pass through Eau Rouge or beating someone to a hard hairpin corner and then digging out with all the torque you've got side by side at the apex is exciting - not just mindless passes in what seems like a stupid 500 mile straight line.
July 10, 200620 yr It's an opinion dude. He can say whatever the hell he wants. He happens find Nascar more exciting because he enjoys passing and that type of racing. That happens to be a lot of people's opinions. You like the F1 for its 'intricacies'. fanf***ingtastic. It's your opinion and I respect that. I happen to find Nascar a hell of a lot more exciting, but again just one man's opinion. I'm not sure how you can criticize someone for not liking something you like. There is nothing absurd over liking one sport or one series over another. I just think this is a pointless argument to get into because it obviously won't go anywhere as we have seen in the past
July 10, 200620 yr money talks. oh there is MUCH MUCH more money in F1 even with a second rate team in F1? Do they also have huge endorsement deals? And F1 racing is boring as hell, the machines are great, but the racing itself is boring as hell. Yes. You obviously do not follow the sport and do not know the intricacies of it, to say that NASCAR is more exciting than F1 is flat out absurd. If you believe that it is boring, you obviously have not seen the Alonso vs. Kimi/Schmie battles this season, they have been epic. Just because NASCAR has more passing does not make it more exciting, there's more passing because they're on a stupid oval track where it's basically one long straight line for 500 miles, of course there will be more passing - does that passing make it exciting? ABSOLUTELY NOT. A pass through Eau Rouge or beating someone to a hard hairpin corner and then digging out with all the torque you've got side by side at the apex is exciting - not just mindless passes in what seems like a stupid 500 mile straight line. Thank you for the first part. For the second part, get a clue God. I love road racing, I hate road racing where passing rarely occurs. Idiot. I dont follow F1, because it bores me to death, there arent any truly good drivers there other than a couple. So basically you admit there are really 3 good drivers this year. The rest are just field filler. Fun.
July 10, 200620 yr money talks. oh there is MUCH MUCH more money in F1 even with a second rate team in F1? Do they also have huge endorsement deals? And F1 racing is boring as hell, the machines are great, but the racing itself is boring as hell. Yes. You obviously do not follow the sport and do not know the intricacies of it, to say that NASCAR is more exciting than F1 is flat out absurd. If you believe that it is boring, you obviously have not seen the Alonso vs. Kimi/Schmie battles this season, they have been epic. Just because NASCAR has more passing does not make it more exciting, there's more passing because they're on a stupid oval track where it's basically one long straight line for 500 miles, of course there will be more passing - does that passing make it exciting? ABSOLUTELY NOT. A pass through Eau Rouge or beating someone to a hard hairpin corner and then digging out with all the torque you've got side by side at the apex is exciting - not just mindless passes in what seems like a stupid 500 mile straight line. Thank you for the first part. For the second part, get a clue God. I love road racing, I hate road racing where passing rarely occurs. Idiot. I dont follow F1, because it bores me to death, there arent any truly good drivers there other than a couple. So basically you admit there are really 3 good drivers this year. The rest are just field filler. Fun. All of the F1 drivers are great, but it basically boils down to the reliabiliity of the cars moreso than anything since unlike NASCAR the cars have their differences.
July 10, 200620 yr there is strategy that goes along with Formula1 that any other racing lacks oh and there is nothing like a formula1 race starts ... once the whistle blows its pure mayhem and one of the funnest things in all of sports
July 11, 200620 yr BTW Danica Patrick might be moving from the IRL to Nascar as well. IRL to Nascar isn't that big of a change. You go from open-wheel to stock cars, but they're both rolling on ovals almost exclusively.
July 11, 200620 yr BTW Danica Patrick might be moving from the IRL to Nascar as well. IRL to Nascar isn't that big of a change. You go from open-wheel to stock cars, but they're both rolling on ovals almost exclusively. Tell that to A.J. Foyt, Christian Fittipaldi and others who have made the jump and completely failed to make a dent. If Montoya and IF Patrick makes the jump, its going to be the willingness of their teams and owners to give them the equipment to go out there and be successful. As for Gnassi, he hasn't exactly shown in Nascar that he can put together great equipment with a great driver.
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