Montoya

Colombian Formula One racer Juan Pablo Montoya is switching to SUCKCAR NASCAR.

Announcing his new plans at the weekend to drive Chip Ganassi’s No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger, Montoya said: “When people think of moving from Formula One to NASCAR, some people think I’m crazy, but I think it’s exciting…” [Formula1.com: Montoya to switch to NASCAR]

I don’t know whether I should now disdain Montoya, or deign to actually watch NASCAR. [shudder]

MTT: Your Montag hasn’t been following closely enough this season to be up on the latest motorsprots politics, but I wonder what role, if any, DaimlerChrysler plays in Montoya’s move from a Mercedes F1 car to a Dodge stock car…

Probably not much of one.

Montoya has a history with Ganassi. He was the 1999 CART champion behind the wheel of a Target/Chip Ganassi Racing car. Can they get similar results in NASCAR? I’ll be interested to hear about it, but I doubt I’ll be watching.

I’ll watch when they ban the use of petroleum products.

I propose a new formula: Formula Montag: Anything goes except maximum speed shall be limited to [insert arbitrary number less than 200 here — say 175?] mph, and vehicles shall be powered with renewable energy.

And dont’ forget the ‘no petroleum products’ thing.

UPDATE:

McLaren have announced current race driver Juan Pablo Montoya will not drive for the rest of the 2006 season and test driver Pedro de la Rosa will race alongside Kimi Raikkonen for this weekend’s French Grand Prix. [Formula1.com: De la Rosa to replace Montoya]