Montoya and NASCAR***SPOILER***

Originally Posted by cwsqbm

Juan wins his first race. Big surprise, its a road course, in Mexico of all places, and he knocks his teammate out to do it.

Yes, true to form JPM takes out his teammate. But it is a demolition derby series after all.
Scott Pruitt was pissed...called JPM a dirty driver.

Drive this race from Scott Pruitt's seat. You are leading with a couple of laps to go. Montoya has a reputation for all out driving. He's already dove inside you in T1 to take the lead. He's got 9 laps fresher tires, and clearly the better car. The very best you can hope for is second place. In braking for T1, you see him disappear from your mirror to the right side. Do you turn in, and get taken out, or do you leave room and take second place? It was his choice

Pruitt is one the most experienced road racers in North America. This was JPM being impatient and over-aggressive. It was his teammate for Christ's sake.

It's why he lost his ride at McLaren and why no front teams in F1 were interested in picking him up.

Originally Posted by Scott_H

Drive this race from Scott Pruitt's seat. You are leading with a couple of laps to go. Montoya has a reputation for all out driving. He's already dove inside you in T1 to take the lead. He's got 9 laps fresher tires, and clearly the better car. The very best you can hope for is second place. In braking for T1, you see him disappear from your mirror to the right side. Do you turn in, and get taken out, or do you leave room and take second place? It was his choice

I totally agree, except he could have done it on turn 7 and it would have been a much better deal for both drivers. JPM was so much faster through the S's and getting out of turn 6. He could have carried a lot more speed into turn 7 and continued the pass into turn 8 as he did with 2or 3 other cars earlier. I do agree that Pruitt should have "known better" than to turn in as hard as he did when JPM was right on his ass, but I think he felt JPM would pass in a more open area, rather than the turn that produced the most fender benders throughout the day.

Originally Posted by dwette

Pruitt is one the most experienced road racers in North America. This was JPM being impatient and over-aggressive. It was his teammate for Christ's sake.

It's why he lost his ride at McLaren and why no front teams in F1 were interested in picking him up.

Where was this race and what series?

Originally Posted by franka

Where was this race and what series?

Busch series road race, Mexico City. It shared the weekend with the Rolex series race (in which Pruitt came in 4th IIRC).

Now that I think about it, why didn't JPM drive the Rolex race? Surely he could have gotten a seat.

Originally Posted by dwette

Busch series road race, Mexico City. It shared the weekend with the Rolex series race (in which Pruitt came in 4th IIRC).

Now that I think about it, why didn't JPM drive the Rolex race? Surely he could have gotten a seat.

What other series runs the same course, beside Busch and Rolex?

Originally Posted by franka

What other series runs the same course, beside Busch and Rolex?

ChampCar, Nov. 9-11

Originally Posted by dwette

ChampCar, Nov. 9-11

Thanks.

Originally Posted by dwette

Busch series road race, Mexico City. It shared the weekend with the Rolex series race (in which Pruitt came in 4th IIRC).

Now that I think about it, why didn't JPM drive the Rolex race? Surely he could have gotten a seat.

well, they like him in Mexico...a lot.

Originally Posted by berford

well, they like him in Mexico...a lot.

They like any Hispanic that beats Americans. They like the one most who has the best chance of doing that. (no offense intended towards Hispanics)

Originally Posted by dwette

Pruitt is one the most experienced road racers in North America.

Exactly, so then why didn't Pruett do a better job defending the inside line.

Originally Posted by elbert

Exactly, so then why didn't Pruett do a better job defending the inside line.

His line was just fine. JPM wasn't next to him. He was behind Pruitt, and did not have the corner, and braked too deeply for the situation. That's how it goes for road racing. If it weren't, it would be the demolition derby NASCAR is and we would have DNFs for half the field.

If it had been a Rolex or ALMS race he very likely would have gotten a drive-thru or stop-n-go penalty. But it was NASCAR, so the rules change with the situation, and the situation is the France family wants more Hispanic viewers.

I'm siding with Pruitt (and Dave Despain, Robin Miller, Ed Hinton, and others). Even Montoya's crew and boss knew he screwed it up. JPM has a history of taking people out and blaming it on others. He never takes responsibility.

And Boris Said finished third...hooray for Boris! Juan has taken teammates out before...remember the F1 race at Indy?

Originally Posted by dwette

His line was just fine.

No, if his line were "just fine" then Montoya wouldn't have been able to stick his nose in there in the first place. You seemed to be confused: this isn't club racing.

Although I do think Montoya could have used better judgment, Pruett should have known better.

Originally Posted by dwette

I'm siding with Pruitt (and Dave Despain, Robin Miller, Ed Hinton, and others). Even Montoya's crew and boss knew he screwed it up. JPM has a history of taking people out and blaming it on others. He never takes responsibility.

He DID pass about 18 cars in about 8 or 9 laps....I guess he gets a pass on one scew up.

Was Montoya fined or penalized in any way? If not, then all was well. Isn't that how it works?

Originally Posted by franka

Was Montoya fined or penalized in any way? If not, then all was well. Isn't that how it works?

I think it's beating a dead horse at this point. On to important things...next week: Sebring and Melbourne.

Do they post laptimes for NASCAR/Busch races anywhere? I haven't been able to find them for Mexico anyway. I would suspect that JPM was doing some pretty good laps along the way. He was making up a lot of time. I can understand, in all the negotiations for passes going on among the crew chiefs, that Boris would want to race. If Pruett didn't have the laptimes JPM had, he should have let him through. Why race? Seems like there's all kinds of deals being done. Why not let JPM through if he's really faster, why say the 41's going to race you. As a team owner that's a recipe for disaster. Then the Ganassi guys are 1/2. Seems like this is something that could have gotten managed from the pits.

This was a minor league race. But all the big boys in the Cup series I'm sure took notice of what JPM did. When they race the road courses they will have an eye on him. If he drives rough he will be knocked into the gravel. Drivers have no problem teaching a new driver about basic etiquette.

Originally Posted by Robsa

This was a minor league race. But all the big boys in the Cup series I'm sure took notice of what JPM did. When they race the road courses they will have an eye on him. If he drives rough he will be knocked into the gravel. Drivers have no problem teaching a new driver about basic etiquette.

I love it. He taps one car all weekend and automatically he is a rough driver! Did you see how beat up Scott's car was by the end of the race?

Originally Posted by Robsa

This was a minor league race. But all the big boys in the Cup series I'm sure took notice of what JPM did. When they race the road courses they will have an eye on him. If he drives rough he will be knocked into the gravel. Drivers have no problem teaching a new driver about basic etiquette.

I don't think any NASCAR veteran thinks he can teach Montoya anything on a road course. They can teach him drafting etiquette all day long, but you can bet they'll be trying to learn anything they can off this guy when we get to the first right turns.

Originally Posted by Test_Engineer

Did you see how beat up Scott's car was by the end of the race?

Yeah, it got all beat up at the beginning of the race, by Montoya. I think JPM is trying to master taking the contenders out in the first turn of the race without taking himself out to. He was practicing on Pruett.

Originally Posted by dwette

Yeah, it got all beat up at the beginning of the race, by Montoya. I think JPM is trying to master taking the contenders out in the first turn of the race without taking himself out to. He was practicing on Pruett.

You may want to take note of your "Custom User title." Seems odd that you profess no interest in NASCAR but spend a lot of time here. I'm just sayin'

Originally Posted by berford

You may want to take note of your "Custom User title." Seems odd that you profess no interest in NASCAR but spend a lot of time here. I'm just sayin'

I do not have interest in NASCAR per say. I find it very boring. This particular race was different and roused my curiosity. It was a road race outside the US with some heavy hitters from the road racing arena (Montoya, Pruett, Said). The only thing NASCAR about it was the big lumbering cars that could barely corner (compared to sports and open wheel cars), and the other drivers.

With that said, it will most likely be the first and last complete NASCAR race I watch. Previously, I tried watching NASCAR oval races twice (Busch series televised at my home track -- GIR -- and the recent Daytona 500). I found both to be very boring, and stopped watching within a half hour.

But I take your point and will leave the remaining discussion to the rest of you.