The inimitable Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2003 Monaco GP 20 years ago today. Few drivers can claim Indy 500, F1, NASCAR and Daytona 24 Hours wins, but this hard-charging Colombian has rarely followed convention, as he explains in today's Great Read
In these times of relentless specialisation in everything, including motor racing, true versatility is rare. In his day Mario Andretti was F1 world champion, won the Indianapolis 500 and won NASCAR's Daytona 500. Graham Hill was twice F1 world champion; he won the Indy 500 too, and Le Mans. Dan Gurney won in F1 – in one of his own Eagles, on one historic occasion – and was also a winner in Indycars, NASCAR and in endurance racing, Le Mans included. To that tally you can add Can-Am and Trans-Am.
But in the modern era, maybe no one has moved across different categories quite like Juan Pablo Montoya. He's not much interested in statistics, or indeed in championship titles: in his view, the one thing that matters is to win the next race. In whatever class or formula he finds himself, what presses his button is crossing the finish line first. When I remind him that he won the CART Championship in his rookie year, he answers with a shrug...
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