From F1 to NASCAR?

By Mark Young

Well if you have been away from any forms of media today you missed a very surprising announcement today by Chip Ganassi.  Chip announced today that Juan Pablo Montoya will be filling the vacancy to be left by Casey Mears starting at the 2007 Daytona 500.  I don't have a lot of deatils regarding this move but to this blogger the announcement came as a very big surprise on many different levels.

First off it is thought that F1 racing is the greatest level of racing on the planet.  I don't necessarily agree but from a technical and speed standpoint those guys flap out rip!  To have Montoya announce that he was coming to race stock cars after doing fairly well at F1 everyone is spurting out the proverbial "HUH?".

Now history has shown that with the exception of a very few (Foyt and Andretti come to mind) the drivers who have come to NASCAR have not had very successful careers.  What is Montoya going to do any differently than those who have come before him?  Time will surely tell but remember my friends, it isn't as if he hasn't strapped himself into a stock car before.  Last year (or maybe it was the year before that) Juan was at Indy testing his F1 car and Jeff Gordon made an appearance there with one of his road course Chevy's and the two drivers swapped seats for several laps.  From what I recall, Montoya's speeds were not that much slower than Gordon's.

Now I think to see Montoya go out and run up front right away is asking an awful lot.  There is sure to be a lot of bent up sheet metal at the Ganassi shop on Monday mornings but if NASCAR wants to reach out to new media markets this will take them to places they may not have been yet.  Montoya has a huge world-wide fan base and I am sure they will follow him to NASCAR.

Time will tell my friends but this is a very bold and surprising move.