So much has changed for Montoya. In 2000, he drove to victory in an Indianapolis 500 that was then the centrepiece of the Tony George-led Indy Racing League as a full-time competitor in the rival CART World Series, and did so in spectacular fashion for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, leading 167 of the 200 laps, wiping the floor with the IRL regulars who, in every way possible, were dominated.
All the public hyperbole from George and others about how IRL drivers were better than their CART counterparts was proven to be a load of steaming rubbish by the end. Deep into the long IRL-CART civil war that put American open wheel racing on life support, and very nearly destroyed the tradition and pageantry of the Indianapolis 500 itself – it’s unthinkable how close it came to that – the CART guys were laughing, and the IRL guys were seething.
Tensions at the Speedway were so high as Montoya streaked away with arguably the easiest 500 win in history, with this CART guy coming in and destroying George’s competition, that the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway track announcer Tom Carnegie refused to call Montoya’s name for about the last ten laps.
To further rub salt into the wounds of George and the IRL, Montoya famously quipped in victory lane that the G-Force Oldsmobile was so easy to drive, that his grandmother could do it and win. Well, you could’ve just about heard a pin drop at the track when that went down.
That was the brash and daring Montoya that CART fans knew and loved, and the one that Formula One fans would soon know, a guy who revelled in rocking the boat, in taking the establishment and turning it on it’s head. Montoya had success in Formula One with Williams, doing so in an era well and truly dominated by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, and truly surprised many – and saddened many more open wheel fans – when he vacated Grand Prix racing for a mostly unsuccessful seven-year stint in NASCAR.
I must admit, when he was let go by Ganassi’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series squad after 2013 and quickly announced a return to the IndyCar Series, this time with Ganassi’s great rival, Roger Penske (he of, as of Sunday, sixteen Indianapolis 500 wins), I wasn’t sure what sort of an impact JPM could have. I mean, he hadn’t exactly excelled in NASCAR, winning two road course races, and nothing else, though Ganassi’s team there isn’t anywhere near the force that it is in IndyCar Series racing.
The other elephant in the room seemed to be his age: and he was 38 when he returned to IndyCar Series racing in 2014. And he had a truckload of money, more than enough to life ultra-comfortably for the rest of his life. Would the fire be there to battle in dangerous open wheel cars with guys half his age – hungry guys – at over 200mph? The question was asked in many quarters: would Juan Pablo have a meaningful impact on American open wheel racing again? Or was this just a farewell tour? I must admit, I was leaning to the latter.
Well, I’m happy to admit I was wrong – and I don’t think I’m alone in that, either. Turns out, we should’ve trusted Roger Penske after all! A shaky start to 2014 saw Montoya getting up to speed and reacclimatising to open wheel racing, but a win at Pocono and a solid end to the season (that his teammate, Australian Will Power won) paved the way to a remarkable return to top notch form in 2015. Montoya won on the streets of St Petersburg to open the 2015 IndyCar Series season, won at Indianapolis and holds a nice advantage on the field as far as the points championship goes.
A more rounded Montoya, a family man and a wise veteran of good times and bad on the racetrack, you could tell that he took more out of his second Indianapolis win. When you’re young and with the world at your feet, you tend to take one victory and move on to the next. Perhaps Montoya figured he had bigger fish to fry.
Although the wins came in Formula One, the World Championship never did, and not much happened to him in NASCAR racing, and all of that contributed to a far more humble and grateful JPM in victory lane on Sunday, when all he really wanted was to find his wife for a congratulatory kiss.
It was a well-deserved congratulatory kiss, too. Watching Montoya dice with Power, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and others on Sunday was like the old days when he drove for Ganassi in the CART World Series, and that memorable victory at Indy fifteen years ago.
The fire is there, no doubt. He drove like a man possessed, scything through the field after being run into by Simona de Silvestro during the race’s first caution, forcing a pit stop to replace bodywork. It was a drive of incredible power, and perhaps something of a message to Ganassi, the man he won Indy for in 2000, and the man who fired him from his NASCAR team. If so, it was definitely a resoundingly-delivered message.
For a while there, the clock was wound back at Indianapolis. Montoya was that same brash guy behind the wheel, part of perhaps the best three-way fight Indianapolis has seen in a good few decades, or maybe ever at all. It was scintillating stuff, and Montoya was a deserved winner.
The way he’s going, Montoya is odds-on favourite to win the 2015 IndyCar Series championship, and if Sunday’s performance is anything to go by, there’s every chance he’ll win two or three more 500 crowns before he’s done, too.
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