Monday, May 29, 2000
Montoya puts CART before IRL horses
Dominates other league to win 84th Indy 500
By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Juan Montoya celebrates with car owner Chip Ganassi, right, and crew.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |
|
INDIANAPOLIS — Juan Montoya just flew in, then flew in the face of the Indy Racing League. The 1999 CART champion raced to a commanding victory in the 84th Indianapolis 500 Sunday, less than 24 hours after jetting in from his fourth-place CART finish at Nazareth, Pa.
Montoya's victory was seen as a swift kick in the face of the IRL, the junior circuit of Indy-car racing. Montoya led so easily and so often that, during caution periods, he was heard joking via radio with his pit crew.
“Yeah, it was fun out there,” a smiling Montoya said. “We worked so hard for this.”
He made the 200-lap day look simple, leading 164 of the final 168 laps and mostly running alone. The Indy record for laps led is 198 by Billy Arnold, who won the 1930 race.
Reporters tried to get Montoya to rub sand in the IRL's wound, which was viewed by the usual sellout crowd of 300,000-plus. But Montoya took the high road, crediting team owner Chip Ganassi with the decision to run Indy. Montoya and Target-Ganassi teammate Jimmy Vasser finished first and seventh in the first appearance by CART drivers here since 1995, just before the split with IRL.
“We're not here waving the CART flag or anything like that,” Montoya said. “Chip decided on an IRL team for the 500, and that's the way we did it.”
CART left a two-week window in its schedule for its racers to return to Indy, and Saturday's Nazareth race was a makeup that threw another bump in Ganassi's schedule.
But the well-heeled Ganassi team, winner of the last four CART season titles, was the only one with the money (estimated $1.75 million), manpower and motivation to run an IRL program in 2000.
“This is the biggest moment in my life,” said Ganassi, a former Indy 500 racer himself. “I've never been happier at any time.”
Ganassi used some racing jargon to explain Montoya's dominant performance, mentioning some “wing adjustments” that made the car faster. He also said Sunday's three-hour rain delay helped Montoya rest.
“The key with us,” Ganassi said, “is our people. We ask a lot of our team.”
Many agreed that Montoya had not only the best car but the best pit crew Sunday, consistently sending their man out in quicktime.
CART's racers ran with the same cars as their IRL foes Sunday, using IRL rules regarding engines and chassis. The IRL cars generate less horsepower than CART cars, but Ganassi's deeply staffed operation quickly accumulated enough knowledge to beat the IRL at its own game.
Yet, the exultant Ganassi also refused to trash IRL, whose teams are not as well-sponsored or well-funded as the established CART series.
“It certainly looked to me like any other race,” Ganassi said. “There's a group of fast guys and a group of guys you pass all the time.”
The fast IRL guys included Buddy Lazier, who finished second but just didn't have the power to overtake a flying Montoya. Lazier tailed Montoya briefly on some re-start situations, but Montoya's bright red Target car pulled away for a big 7.184-second victory, the biggest in six years.
“I was set up to get him, but I kept getting stuck in traffic,” Lazier said. “I was hoping some IRL guys would help me, but they didn't.”
Some of the top guys weren't around to help.
Polesitter Greg Ray, who had given the IRL a week of bragging rights, finished last (33rd) after being involved in two crashes. After a bad front-wheel assembly shot Ray into the wall early in the race, he returned from repairs only to crash again.
Al Unser Jr., the only two-time Indy 500 winner in the race, also had a bad day. Unser settled for 29th place after catching debris in his radiator, caused by Ray's first crash.
Aside from Lazier, no IRL drivers had the juice to run with Montoya. The only one who did was Vasser, who was running second before being forced to pit for fuel late in the race.
Montoya, a 24-year-old native of Colombia, is still getting used to the Indy tradition. Some remarked how calm and nonchalant he appeared after the race, even when accepting a victory wreath from none other than Tony George himself, the Indy CEO and IRL founder.
The presence of CART and Unser Jr. gave the race a buzz it hadn't had in five years. As Montoya drove a victory lap and pumped his left fist, the old speedway seemed to approve.
“I saw a lot of people standing,” Montoya said. “It means a lot to me.”
Sports Stories
Marlins 3, Reds 1
Box, runs
Results of our Reds poll
Sullivan fails in relief
REDS NOTEBOOK
Satterfield, Logan finalists for U.S. team
