Auto racing : Montoya looks to turn corner
Juan Pablo Montoya has ruled courses demanding left and right turns throughout his career. His first win in CART was on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., his greatest Formula One triumph came on the sharp corners of picturesque Monte Carlo, and his first NASCAR victory occurred March 4 on the winding Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.
But during a recent test at Virginia International Raceway, Montoya was reminded who remains king of the Nextel Cup Series, particularly in the Car of Tomorrow. While Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates brought one Dodge Avenger to VIR, Hendrick Motorsports was testing five Chevrolet Impalas.
“People are expecting me to go out and win Sonoma,” Montoya said, referring to Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. “But how do you compete against that? Yes, I’m probably going to do really well. Do I have a realistic chance of winning? Maybe yes, maybe no.
“It’s tough when you’re showing up at a test with a single car and the team you’re trying to beat shows up with five.”
Because of an impressive resume (the 31-year-old raced almost exclusively on road and street courses before moving to NASCAR), Montoya will arrive at Infineon Raceway on the list of favorites.
“It’ll be his best chance of the year to win a Nextel Cup race,” fellow driver Elliott Sadler said. “He showed at Mexico how fast his car can be and how good Ganassi is on road courses. He’s got a great shot.”
Winning opportunities for Montoya have been rare in a rookie season that has featured as many twists as Infineon, a 10-turn, 1.99-mile course in the wine country of Northern California.
The Colombian has enjoyed highlights such as a fifth-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a lead-lap finish in his first visit to Martinsville Speedway, perhaps the most technically difficult track to learn in the Nextel Cup Series.
Yet he has slumped since climbing to a season-high 13th in the standings with an eighth at Texas Motor Speedway on April 15.
Montoya hasn’t finished better than 20th in the past eight races and is 23rd in points.
Bourdais enters on hot streak
Three-time defending series champion and Champ Car’s current points leader Sebastien Bourdais goes for his fourth win in five races this season in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Cleveland, which will begin with a standing start for the first time in its 26-year history.
Bourdais won the event – his first U.S. victory on the circuit – in 2003 and he repeated in 2004. He finished fifth in 2005, but a crash on the first lap last year ended his race and sent him to the hospital.
“We’ve had two good ones and two bad ones here,” Bourdais said. “Hopefully, this can be another good one.”
Make way for Indycycles
Motorcycles could be racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year.
Track president Joie Chitwood is in negotiations with MotoGP officials. If a deal is reached, it would mark the first time in decades motorcycles have competed at the famed track.
“I have had some conversations with them this week, and we’re working hard to put something on the calendar,” Chitwood told the Associated Press. “But I have not signed anything.”
Speed Channel, a television racing network, reported earlier in the day a deal already had been completed for a fall race in 2008.
Own a piece of ‘The Rock’
Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, aka “The Rock,” says the 42-year-old track is no longer profitable and will be sold at auction.
“We regret we have to make this decision, but we really have no other choice,” according to a June 13 letter from H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, also owned by Speedway Motorsports. “We have been unable to sell it and track rentals are simply not enough to keep the facility running.”