Juan Pablo Montoya expects tight racing at PIR
Juan Pablo Montoya won the Verizon IndyCar Series season’s first race, three weeks ago on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
But what does the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner expect in Saturday night’s 250-mile Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway, IndyCar’s first PIR event since 2005?
“Once the race starts it’s going to get to the point you’re going to have to go through the traffic,” said Montoya, driving the Team Penske Verizon-Chevrolet. “What’s going to happen is you’re going to have 2-3 really fast cars pulling away from the field. Then they’re going to get to the backmarkers and they don’t want to give you an inch because they don’t want to go a lap down. And then you have everybody else (other drivers) coming. It’s going to create some good racing.”
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Montoya returned to IndyCar (2000 Indy 500 winner as a rookie) in 2014 after a seven year adventure in NASCAR, which followed six seasons in Formula One. His best finish in 14 PIR Sprint Cup races was fifth.
He only posted two Sprint Cup victories, both on road courses. As for his post-NASCAR success, Montoya said: “Being in a winning car makes you look really good. Since I left the (Chip Ganassi) NASCAR team (replaced by Kyle Larson) they haven’t won anything.”
Coach Dario
Now in his third year of forced retirement due to multiple concussions and other injuries, three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti works with Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball and rookie Max Chilton.
“I’m on the timing stand, maybe trouble-shoot a little bit, that’s my thing,” Franchitti explained. “During (practice) sessions I go from stand-to-stand. My job is to take an overview of what’s going on and look for ways to improve things, like the interaction between engineers and drivers, and ways we can work together as a team.”
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Franchitti, 42, is content with a “great career (31 wins), more than I ever expected” but understands the long-term effects of concussions is now a major topic throughout sports.
“My health is really good,” he said. “The reason I had to retire on health grounds is I cannot have another big accident. I’ve had so many concussions it simply was a case of I can’t do that anymore. In everyday life I limp a bit in the mornings with my ankle, but I’m unbelievably lucky to be in the position I’m in. My memory is OK. I have an occasional challenge but I’m good at remembering minute details from 10-15 years ago.
“I could get in (an IndyCar) but I’m not sure I’d go very fast. There’s a couple of times I thought I’d like to get in on road courses. Your brain slows down when you’re out of these cars and it would take a while to get back up to speed, if I actually could. As far as ovals, I’ve just moved on. There’s a certain mind-set to oval racing. And the guys who are doing it and have done it, I don’t think they get enough credit for what they do. Oval racing is a dangerous form of the sport. The price for mistakes is still unbelievably high. It takes a massive commitment to do it.”
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