Jalopnik: juan pablo montoya

NASCAR: Colombia

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:15:00 EDT

Colombia is not home to many important racing championships, so how they birthed racer Juan Pablo Montoya was a bit of a mystery until we learned about the country's famous downhill homemade car race — the approximate equivalent of NASCAR.

For the record, this is tongue-in-cheek. We're not trying to go all Bob Greise on you.

Photo Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images

ESPN Analyst Suspended For Calling Juan Pablo Montoya A "Taco Eater"

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EDT

ESPN color analyst Bob Griese was suspended for saying Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was not in the NASCAR Sprint Cup top five because he "was out having a Taco." This raises the question: do they eat tacos in Colombia?

To find out, we called our favorite Colombian restaurant in Houston, Mi Pueblito. Angie, who picked up the phone, denied that Colombians eat tacos:

"We don't eat tacos. We eat empanadas and arepas, which are similar to a Mexican gordita, but we don't eat any tacos. And our food is not spicy."

There you have it. Bob Griese deserved to be suspended for not understanding Colombian food. Though, in his defense, we think he was referencing a completely different taco. [Deadspin]

My Name Is Juan Pablo Montoya, I Raced The Toyota-Save Mart Road Course, Prepare To Die!

Ray Wert — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 20:36:15 EDT

Wait — what? Juan Pablo Montoya, the man who came from Formula One all the way across the pond to the lands of middle 'merica. The man who's got a talent for crashing just won his first Nascar Nextel Cup race — and it's the first race of the year won by a car other than a Chevy? Holy shnikes, we didn't think we'd ever live to see the day. And the man did it with barely a drop of fuel left in the gas tank. Wait — the Toyota - Save Mart 350 is what kind of a course? Oh, a road course. Well of course he won — I don't think the rest of the field even knows how to turn more than one direction. We'll have more coverage tomorrow morning — we need to get over the shock first. – Ray Wert

[Picture: Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images Sport]

Connie Montoya May Heart Juan Pablo, But The Walls In Brooklyn Heart Him Just As Hard

Ray Wert — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:00:00 EDT

The wife of Juan Pablo may be absolutely gushing the love over her #42, but apparently so do the walls of the Michigan International Speedway (MIS) in the lovely li'l town of Brooklyn, MI. Juan Pablo Montoya made it all of 67 laps yesterday before a wall decided to jump out and partake in some sensual car-wall loving. But the mad hearting of Connie for her man and the hearting of her man and the track-wall wasn't the only love going on at MIS yesterday. The #99 Ford Fusion was getting all sorts of love at the end of the race as "Hot" Carl Edwards drove it to victory in the Citizens Bank 400. We've got a full gallery below of the hot racing action, and we'll let you spend some time showering it with your affection, or whatever it is you'll end up doing with that picture of Connie above. – Ray Wert

[Photo Credit: Getty Images Sport]

Prelude To The Dream: Watching NASCAR Drivers Learn How To Drive In The Dirt Is Dirty Work

Ray Wert — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:45:00 EDT

"You know better than anybody how much I like having the car sideways, and actually to be sideways and in control is pretty cool."
-Juan Pablo Montoya

Well, in case you haven't already heard, or weren't paying the mad money for charity for the HBO coverage last night, the winner of the Prelude to the Dream feature race was Carl Edwards piloting the #2 late model. If you're interested in the rest of the results, we've got them below the jump. But we've also got the skinny on some of the other fun that we experienced at Eldora Speedway last night — shots of the Qualifying runs, including Juan Pablo Montoya's first laps on a dirt track evah (including that shot above)! And since we're on the subject, if we'd ended up playing that drinking game off of JPM's laps as we'd posited earlier, we'd probably be pretty drunk. Although the man took a run directly into a wall in one of the late heats, he still managed to, as he said, "run pretty good." Juan made it through all 30 laps in the feature race at a middle-of-the-pack 15th place. Which ain't bad considering he knocked the front end of his car off. In addition, we've also got shots of the first heats to determine Group A and Group B status, which we've got to say — if you've never been to your local dirt track, get down there — it's exciting, it's fun and yes, it's dirty. But it's worth every bit of mud and grime you'll wipe off when you leave. Trust us. – Ray Wert

Eldora Speedway - NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream Presented by Old Spice
ROSSBURG, Ohio - Results of the NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream Presented by Old Spice Dirt Late Model event June 6 at the half-mile Eldora Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Carl Edwards, 30

2. (8) Kyle Busch, 30

3. (4) Jeff Gordon, 30

4. (1) Ken Schrader 30

5. (11) Clint Bowyer, 30

6. (7) Kasey Kahne, 30

7. (16) Matt Kenseth, 30

8. (10) J.J. Yeley, 30

9. (15) David Reutiman, 30

10. (5) Mark Martin, 30

11. (9) Aric Almirola, 30

12. (18) Dave Blaney, 30

13. (13) Kenny Wallace, 30

14. (20) Kevin Harvick, 30

15. (25) Juan Pablo Montoya, 30

16. (17) Denny Hamlin, 30

17. (21) Red Farmer, 30

18. (12) Ryan Newman, 30

19. (24) Cruz Pedregon, 29

20. (22) Mike Wallace, 24

21. (6) Bobby Labonte, 17, Accident T2

22. (3) Tony Stewart, 17, Accident T2

23. (23) Ray Evernham, 5, Spin T2

24. (19) Ron Capps, 2, Mechanical

Elliott Sadler, DNS

Bill Elliott, DNS

Race Statistics

Margin of victory: .305 of a second

Cautions: 3 (Lap 2: Capps stalled backstretch; Lap 6: Evernham spin T2; Lap 17 Stewart, Labonte, Kahne accident T1)

Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers

Lap leaders: Schrader 1, Edwards 2-10, Gordon 11, Edwards 12-30

Attendance: More than 20,000

Broadcast: HBO Pay-Per-View

Related:
All of our Prelude To The Dream coverage [internal]

Prelude To The Dream: Juan Wreck Watch?

Ray Wert — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:00:00 EDT

I feel like the shot above should be captioned "My name is Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart is behind me, prepare to die!" Sorry, just had to get that one out of my system. Anyone want a drinking game idea for tonight? How about taking a drink for every lap Juan Pablo Montoya finishes tonight? Wait. Scratch that. We just heard him say "I'm not even sure where or how to shift these cars." It'll probably be over too quick to get drunk. Anyone have any other drinking game ideas? Sorry, after just walking through the driver scrum, we're kinda going to be bored before the race starts. For the meantime, here's our scrumtastic gallery. – Ray Wert

Prelude To The Dream: What To Watch For Tonight In The Dirt At Eldora Speedway

Ray Wert — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:00:00 EDT

Well, we're now here in lovely Rossburg, Ohio in the lovely ~~media room~~ trailer outside of the track. We've already had a chance to get credentialed and although we were supposed to sign some release stating we wouldn't be able to take photos of the track — we may not have had the chance to sign it — wink, wink. So we're going to try our damndest to bring you the fun as we see it. Already we're hearing all sorts of fun stuff, and we've even heard from our track insider their five key points we've got to be watching for tonight. So, in no particular order — other than, you know, the top one — just because it'll be fun to watch:

1.) Juan Pablo Montoya — here for a good cause, NEVER raced on dirt.

2.) Kurt Busch — is he coming? We know Tony hopes so? Will he and Tony get to "talk things over?"

3.) Jeff Gordon vs Tony Stewart — the prime matchup

4.) Red Farmer, the ageless wonder

5.) Schrader — is he the favorite tonight?

What are y'all gonna be watching for tonight on the dirt track — or what else should I be watching for? Stay with us tonight and I'll keep you in the loop at the Prelude To The Dream tag. – Ray Wert

UPDATE: Prelude To The Dream: Juan Wreck Watch?

UPDATE #2: Prelude To The Dream: Pretty Practice Pictures

UPDATE #3: Prelude To The Dream: Watching NASCAR Drivers Learn How To Drive In The Dirt Is Dirty Work

Related:
Jalopnik Gets Dirty With Nascar Tonight! [internal]

Ad Watch Exclusive: My Name Is Juan Pablo Montoya, I Race A Dodge Avenger — Prepare To Die?

Ray Wert — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:45:00 EDT

Dodge's decided to continue to "hit it" with their new ad campaign for the Dodge Avenger R/T. And by "hit it" we think they mean the accelerator with this new ad featuring NASCAR drivers Kasey Kahne in the Avenger and Juan Pablo Montoya in the Ram-brand's big sedan, the Charger R/T. It's certainly a commercial that's more funny than the last ones for the platform prostituted Chrysler Sebring, although that's only due to the first-ever inclusion of the new 5-0 edition Charger at the end. – Ray Wert

Prepare to Die! Spinning Pruett, Montoya Wins First Nascar Race

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:45:00 EST

It took a tricky road course and the spinout of a pole-placing teammate to get former F1-hothead Juan Pablo Montoya into his first Nascar win yesterday. With eight laps to go in the Telcel-Motorola 200 in Mexico, Montoya paint-swapped with leader Scott Pruett, spinning him to a stop like a CHP putting the clampdown on a perp fleeing in an '88 Lumina. Pruett said the incident was a matter of Montoya's "lowdown, nasty, dirty driving" on the 2.518-mile Aut dromo Hermanos Rodriguez course. But Montoya, while apologetic, chalked it up to an accident he vaguely blamed on Pruett's choice of racing line. The jury's out on who's responsible. We're blaming the gentle giant, Fezzik. – Mike Spinelli

Montoya win leaves Pruett fuming [CNN]

Related:
SUPER MONTOYA POTENTIAL! [internal]

We're Not Going To Live-Blog Daytona 500 Pole Qualifying

Ray Wert — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:45:10 EST

Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images Sport

I was seriously considering trying to live-blog the pole qualifying laps for the Daytona 500, but after a mere five minutes watching the left-turn only driving, I was in snoozeville. But, like what happens to me when "watching" televised golf, I found myself approaching levels of consciousness only when the announcement team of Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip would get ~~loud~~ excited about some silliness. The only difference between ~~sleeping through~~ watching golf and NASCAR pole qualifying would have to be instead of getting excited about Tiger nuttin' the ball, the NASCAR team was gettin' excited about the new nuts on the Charger nose, Boris Said-Heads and when nuttin' about the man Fox booth boy ~~Mike Joy~~ Larry McReynolds called Juan Pay-bloy Mon-tow-a. And speaking of Juan, he took a hell of a good second lap for a "rookie" in his Texaco/Havoline Dodge and as of now, he's holdin' third place of cars that have already run today. Pardon us while we go back to snoozing. We'll let you know if anything else excitin' happens, but don't bet on that happening. – Ray Wert

QUALIFYING ORDER [NASCAR.com]

SUPER MONTOYA POTENTIAL!

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 10:06:46 EST

Sure, we feel for former F1 hothead Juan Pablo Montoya, who crashed in his first Nextel Cup outing at Homestead Miami last week. But on the bright side, we're totally watching Nascar in Japanese from now on. – Mike Spinelli

[via Motorpasi n]

Related:
Que Pasa, Bubba? Juan Pablo Coming to Nascar [internal]

Montoya to Depart F1 Soonest, de la Rosa to Step In at McLaren

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:15:00 EDT

We wonder about the internal machinations that led to this bit of driver-wrangling. Apparently, Juan Pablo Montoya is out of F1 immediately, supposedly to give him more seat time in stock cars, while McLaren test driver Pedro "Don't Call Me Pee-droh" de la Rosa's buns will warm the seat of Montoya's old McLaren MP4-21. According to de la Rosa, "I know the MP4-21 better than anyone else and I'm confident that I can achieve important World Championship points for the team." Good onya, Pee-droh. Meanwhile, we're wondering if the Eurotrash didn't want their series tainted by Southern trash, and as such let Juan Pablo go, posthaste. [Thanks to Brandell for the tip.]

Montoya leaves McLaren, de la Rosa to race [F1Racing.net]

Related:
Que Pasa, Bubba? Juan Pablo Coming to NASCAR [Internal]

Que Pasa, Bubba? Juan Pablo Coming to Nascar

Mike Spinelli — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:12:27 EDT

The fate of Mercedes-McLaren's F1 team, in an uproar since Fernando "soul patch" Alonzo announced he was coming on board in 2007, is becoming clearer. MMC's perennial sleeper, Colombia-born Juan Pablo Montoya, now says he will leave F1 for barbeque-stained pastures. Montoya won Indy in 2000, so it's clear he knows how to hang a left, a skill he'll get to exersize when he brings his latin mojo to the Sherwin-Williams-white Nascar next year. He and Indy 500 buddy Chip Ganassi will team up, as Montoya replaces Casey Mears in the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. He may even enter some Busch Series races when his F1 season with McLaren-Mercedes ends later this year.

First Toyota, then Montoya? Who thought Nascar would become ground zero for multiculturalism? [Thanks to allenparkpete for the tip]

Montoya ro Drive Nascar Circuit [TSN.ca]

Related:
F1 Champ Alonzo Signs with McLaren for 2007 [internal]