I've been a GTPlanet member since December 5, 2003. And did you know that I have absolutely NO posts in the F1 forum? That trend ends with this post. I'll sort of break down this issue from an analytical point in the "Drifting and Other Motorsports" forum by going into old topics.
As far as this goes, allow me to share my views. I admire Juan Pablo Montoya. He is a great driver and was the only way I'd watch (then) CART. My first CART experience was watching the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston back in 1998. I got to know of Montoya's abilities when it was reported he won three in a row and going for four at Rio de Janerio. JPM ultimately won that race and the championship. Only one to try Montoya out for size then was Dario Franchitti in the days of Kim Green's Kool Racing. Juan Pablo would have a miserable 2000 with engine failures and such. He moved on to Formula One where he did the hardest thing to do in Formula One- win a race. He won about ten of them, right? His best year was 2003 where he had a chance to have some championship hardware. He didn't get it. Now he says he wants to return to racing. The typical American traditionalist would say, "yes! He's leaving a no passing sport for a sport where he can do much better." The usual international traditionalist would say either "wait.... he IS in racing! What is he talking about 'returning to racing?'" Or one would say, "Montoya has won a number of races. Why give up racing the most capable race cars on earth for NASCAR?"
As for his chances in NASCAR, I'll give him about a 45% chance that he becomes a pure competitor and can last the stretch of all these races. That's pretty low for of my personal favorite racing talents. The discriminating American would say that he wouldn't stand a chance against the likes of Jeff Gordon (my favorite NASCAR talent), Tony Stewart (my least favorite NASCAR talent), Jimmie Johnson, and such. Don't assume that just because his talents are mostly in road racing and isn't American that he won't amount to much. He said he wanted to race in NASCAR, not Audi R8 his way through the Daytona to Homestead swing of races. If Marcus Ambrose could snatch a pole in NASCAR trucks, then I'm sure Montoya can be as dominant of a racer as he wants to be. Making the deal sweeter is that he's back with Chip Ganassi. Montoya under Ganassi is going to give him as much of an edge as possible. And I don't want this deal to come down to "non-Americans don't need to compete in an American motorsport." Don't assume anything about this Columbian competing on the American stage. This isn't a case of USA vs. Ghana in the World Cup, Team USA losing to Lithuania(?) in Men's Basketball, or even Team USA's woes in the World Baseball Classic. Look at this on the basis of racing talent and not nationality. There are reasons why I am more about the international perspective than the basis of domestic racers in a domestic series. NASCAR wanted to be international or appeal to an international audience and look what they are going to get. Hell, what if Michael Schmacher or Fernando Alonso decided to hang up F1 and challenge NASCAR? Would you support them as quality talent or write them off because they aren't American and have no clue about stock car racing?
I believe in prosperity. So I'm giving him a 45% chance that he'll succeed. Doesn't mean he's going to win every race or run away with the championship. It just means that he'll kick as much ass as he wants. Out of 100%, how much of a chance do you give Montoya a chance in NASCAR? I will make other posts in other threads to discuss this from an analytical standpoint. I don't visit this forum often, so I'm likely not going to know what responses I get. I'll just leave it as this.
