16 replies to this topic

[karlth]

Montoya's father has written a small biography on his son's racing career. Someone called Guillermo has translated the first part of it into english and posted it in another forum.

So her it goes ....

--

Time has flown, I realize that whenever I get into an airplane. When I am at thousands of feet up in the air, is the only time that I have to take a deep breath and rest my mind. It is in those eternal flights between Bogota and Los Angeles, when I remember every step I have had taken next to my son to achieve what many call success. #1... It is incredible, almost miraculous. Sometimes I think that Juancho’s achievements are not more than part of a pretty dream of which I do not want to wake up. Inadvertently, I stare at the announcement of fasten seat belt in my mental screen and it projects a great moment. The dining table at the house of Germán Mejía (today my companion of adventures) appears so clear to my eyes, which it gives me the sensation that I have returned to the past.


#2... Biography... 1975... A Kart, tools and my grease clothing are a clear image of that moment. Suddenly I listen the doorbell ring and see my wife, Libia, with her maternity dress. The awaited moment had arrived.... We ran to the Hospital “Clínica Country”. It was September 19, 1975. But it was only until 4:00 A.M. of the following day, they gave me the good news: It’s a boy!!! What I always had wanted, and I decided to call him Juan Pablo... · Juan Pablo Montoya was born September 20, 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia

#3... Looking back... A slight airplane movement, product of the turbulence, takes to me suddenly, to what we called “kartódromo de El Salitre”. Juan Pablo already had turned three months and Libia took him to one race. On that day I won and I did not resist the temptation to mount him in my legs (lap?). My wife agreed, and that was the beginning of a ritual that I would repeat at each victory... Those were the first contacts of my “Negro” (in Colombia, “Negro” is a term of endearment) with speed. He liked it and he was very exited when I accelerated, even, I would spun my kart to see his reaction. It never bothered him and for that reason, I daydreamed that someday he would be champion.


#4... 1976... After a year, Juancho showed again symptoms of affection for wheels. He, still not walking, managed to climb into a Fisher Price car, and on his baby talk language he used to say (before papá and mamá) brum, brum, brum... 1977... Tall tells say: This history began September 20, 1977. On this day, the son of Pablo and Libia was two years old. Their parents gave him a gift, a fantastic (fantastic on those days) Fisher Price, toy car. Tells tell, that the little boy, from that day on, had a new smile to his life. That day he climbed to his little car and never stop to accelerate. That he went passing one by one all of his imaginary rivals until he raised his arms to celebrate his first victory. The little two years old boy stopped being the magic son of Pablo and Libia. He became, forever and ever, as described in a Colombian newspaper, “Juan Pablo Montoya, the son of Colombia”.


#5... 1979... The stewardess says: Sir ¿Do you want soda or wine? Her short interruption helps me to give a small jump back on time. Now I am in Venezuela, where small children, encouraged by their parents, competed. I did not doubt at any moment, like many of my fellow travelers, in getting one of those karts. I do not remember if it was US$300 or less what I pay for it... 1980... In Colombia, the Federation did not have an infantile category, then, we the parents organized ourselves a championship for them. Juan Pablo’s first race was in “kartódromo de Cajicá”. It was very funny. He was so tiny that the helmet did not let him see anything, only what he could see under the steering wheel. I chose not to say absolutely anything in the beginning, my intention was that he realized on what he was seated and to experiment by him self. · Without any doubt, inspired by its father Pablo Montoya, who also was a car-racer (pilot), Juan Pablo initiated his career as a pilot at the early age of 5 years

#6... 1981... “This is the captain. Fly time will be approximately eight hours. We will make a one hour stop in Mexico City…”... After Juancho had a good number of kilometers I began to teach to him, to correct him. I must recognize that the hardest thing was to make him understand what is the kart set up. To teach him, I changed everything, so that he had to tell me how he felt it, I took him to extremes. What he did was to look at me straight to my eyes, to find my approval.... · He was National Karts Champion, Infantile Category, when he was only it was 6 years old, and continued a bright career wining several Colombian championships.... 1982.. · National Champion, Karts Infantile Category.... 1983.. · National Champion, Karts Infantile Category.... 1984.. · National Champion, Karts Infantile Category.


#7... 1985... · When he was 10 years old, Juan Pablo was forced to the jump to the junior category. Facing older and more experienced pilots, Juancho did everything to be in the first places. This year he was second, but in the following season he would put things in order and he was champion. · Second place, National championship, Junior Karts Category.... 1986... · National Champion, Komet Category.· Bogotá Champion, Komet Category.... 1987... · History repeated it self when he moved to the following Komet category, while in the 87 he was the best one, in the 88 and the 89 once again, had to be on the second position.... Bogotá Champion, Komet Category.... 1988... · Second place, National championship, Komet Category.... 1989... · Second place, National championship, Komet Category.


#8... Thinking about Overseas... 1990... “In a few minutes we will show the film Days of thunder”... I’m glad is about cars. This brings to my recollection, when he still was a boy, the moment that I decided to take him to the Karts World-championship of in Lonato (Italy). That helped him a lot. There he realized that a kart pilot had to be more alert. He saw how all the competitors were very involved with the sport. He did not doubt in taking the same attitude, and that stayed with him as good habit... A hard time for him was when most of his karts friends, like Angelo Vega, Andrés Felipe Gómez and others, moved-up to car racing, specifically to the Sprint Cup. (Sprint model is one of the Chevrolet cars made in Colombia)


#9... I did not like what was happening, and for that reason Juancho used to be “friquiado” unmotivated (I have not heard that expression since I left Colombia 20 years ago), because he remained almost alone in karting. One of the fundamental reasons for this decision was that to be able to race, pilots had to take driving lessons at Esso with Jorge Cortés and Jose Clopatofsky. Elmer Vega, father of Angelo (who took the lessons), told me: “Listen, Montoya, we do not have not even the slightest idea of this thing, you can not imagine how Jorge Cortés has helped my son”. But at their first race I confirmed that the misled ones were others, since Angelo, with its vast experience, could not even overtake the rocky Felipe Triana. I remember that I told the Leal brothers: “If Juancho gets to drive like that, I will pull him down of his car by the ear” to which they sarcastically responded to me at unison. “¡Oh, sure!, you are the best”.


#10... The ratification to my concepts happened when Juan Pablo had to take Diego Fernando Mejía’s (Germán’s son) place, who had a broken leg, in his Sprint car. At the pits, all the guys said that they were going beat us hard. But they were surprised “aburridos” because we won the two legs. (leg = part of a race)... · To go overseas it was necessary and for that reason, Pablo and Juan Pablo, father and son, made suitcases to go to the World Junior Karts championship in Italy in 1990. It was the beginning of a ritual that would be repeated several times. Karting continued to be “the great school”... · Fastest lap at World Junior Karts championship, Lonato (Italy)... 1991... · From the junior category he moved up to Komet category, in which Juan Pablo dominated again. (1991-1992 champion)... · Bogotá Champion, Komet Category.


#11... 1992... Things changed for me when the “Formula Renault” was announced. I began lobbying so that they let Juan Pablo race on it, it was my obsession, facing so much obstacles from Jorge Cortés, José Clopatofsky y Ronny Albretch, among others. They said that Juancho was dangerous and instead of him, I should think about racing myself... How wrong they were! How did they pretend that I put Juan Pablo on their hands so they would teach him bad habits. They had to accept my son’s application to the Formula Renault, because they had not been able to sell all of the places and also that I paid my son’s fee in cash... The next step was to accept Germán Mejía’s advice, who had all the paper work for the Skeep Barber school in the United States. We went to Sears Point with the intention that Juan Pablo learned to drive with a flat pinion gearbox. Over there, Mr. Vickelford appeared in our lives, when he saw Juancho on the track, he told me: I have never seen a pilot with so much talent...

#12... And the first Formula Renault race came. All the stewards were looking at Juan Pablo because they were ordered to watch him very close, because he could put in danger the integrity of all the pilots. His answer was forceful: pole position. In the end he obtained second place, with four victories... · At age 17, he debuted in car racing. In 1992 he was accepted to participate in the Colombian Formula Renault. In spite of its short age, the native of Bogota dazzled everyone with the pole position. In this championship he won four races... · At age 17, he graduated at the Skip Barber School (U.S.A.)... · Raced at the Junior World Championship (France)... · Bogotá Champion, Komet Category... · Raced at the Formula Renault Series, where he obtained the pole position and the fastest lap on his first race and wins 4 out of 8 races.

#13... 1993... In our life we have had many benefactors. One of them was Manuel Antonio Lince, “Autoniza” car dealer owner, who told Juancho that he would like to sponsor him for the Swift GTI Cup. I talked to him and he seemed to be a nice guy. Since he was a new Chevrolet dealer, he only wanted that Juan Pablo win the first race. He did not disappoint him. Juan Pablo got the pole position and won the race, even beating Jorge Cortés, who suddenly replaced Jorge “Bombita” Arango. We were National champions with seven victories... · Returns to Colombia and won the Swift GTI Category National Championship, with 7 pole positions and 7 wins out of 10 races.

#14... 1994... The next milestone was the Barber Saab in the United States. We had the unconditional support of Manuel Lince and Pedro de Narváez. We went to the Miami Grand Prix, a street circuit, and Juan Pablo beat everyone. This alerted the organizers. In the Barber, supposedly, the turbo’s were sealed, but our mechanic confessed us that Rob Wilson always sabotaged Juancho’s car. The Barber left us with a very bad felling... But again, Mr. Destiny put in front of us another great ally. His name is Peter Argentzinger, who did not doubt in telling me that “I have seen every wrong doing what they have done his son here. His future is not in the United States but in Europe. I have connections and I can help you. I only ask you that pay my airline ticket and I will connect you with Formula 3 people…” I wrote him a check for US$500.

#15... “Please, to fasten seat belts, we are about to land in Mexico City”... I cannot forget that right after the Laguna Seca race, before the Barber championship ended, the Colombian Federation had received an invitation From Mexico so that two pilots of our country tested in F-3 in that country... The chosen ones were John Estupiñán and Juan Pablo. We traveled from Los Angels to Mexico City and from there to Puebla, where we found a sad organization. They could not get the Formula 3 started and it was replaced it by an old little formula... Juancho was unmotivated and did not showed any interest for the test, for that reason Estupiñán was faster. So, I told him: “Either you give all off you or we go home”. But the miracle happened. Finally they started the F-3. At that moment Juan Pablo returned back to the life and he surprised all on the track, among them Tommy Bernd, English F-3 ex champion who did not doubt in asking who was lapping at the track.

#16... The Englishman was even more surprised when Juancho arrived to the pits and took off his helmet, and he said: He is not only very good, but he still is a little boy... Then it was Estupiñán’s turn, who took advantage of the Briton’s advice to lower a little the spoilers. Nevertheless, he was slower than Juan Pablo... In order to know the result of the test we had to travel more or less 12 hours by bus to Zacatecas. In that city, a gentleman who’s last name was Galicia, told us that the chosen one was Juan Pablo, but at the moment in which we were going to sign the contract, he told us that we had to bare all expenses in the event that something wrong happened to the car. Obviously we did not sign the contract. But John did... THAT's ALL FOR TODAY, I WILL CONTINUE SOON... GUILLERMO

[Flash]

Yeah, this was written when Montoya was still in Champcars, very cool to know the real deal.

[sepolo2]

very nice indeed... it's really good to know more about how difficult was it to go up through the different junior formulas...

[BMW FW22]

AAAAAAAAH

I love it !!!! SUPERBE

[Flash]

The translation is not full yet, but the guy that is translating it made some progress:

#17... Ups and downs... With our spirits down we returned to the hotel. As soon as we enter into our room I noticed that on the telephone there was a message. It was from a gentleman who proposed us to run in prototypes. They sent us first class airline tickets to Mexico City. And just like that, we were registered to Guadalajara’s race. Paradoxically, the reaction from the people at the race was the same one that we had in Colombia. They said: How come you guys are going to let that (chamaco) urchin to race? In qualification, that Colombian little urchin got the pole position, with a new time record... Open wheel racecars were practically out of the question, but an outside bet prompted our participation on that country’s Formula N. The very well known Mexican figure, Mario Domínguez’s team owner, never shut his mouth saying that his pilot would eat alive the ****ing (pinche) Colombian.

#18... This insult found an answer in another team. The team owner decided to put a good amount of money and bet that Juan Pablo would win. He swapped one of his drivers with Juancho. The deal was to race at Leon City, where we set the second time in qualifications, ahead of Domínguez. The following day we were shocked to hear that Juan Pablo was disqualified supposedly because his car failed the technical inspection and had to start behind the last row. The team owner was scared, but Juancho told to him: Let me race and I assure you that you are not going to loose your money. He raced and won... Once again, my thoughts take me to the Barber’s final in Phoenix. Peter Argentzinger and I agree to meet at Donington Park and be introduced to Jackie Stewart. It was the very first time that spoke to the former Formula One world champion, who told us that Juan Pablo’s merits were not good enough to make his team, but instead he proposed us to go to Vauxhall Lotus.

#19... I also spoke with West Surrey, team in which Ayrton Senna had raced, and scheduled a test. Also we crossed some words with Fortec’s owner. But something unexpected happened. At one of the airport checkpoints, I lost our documents and all the money, with them; also we lost our chance to test with West Surrey... Then, the only ready available resource was Fortec. Soon after we made it to Donington and at the test, Juan Pablo gave it all, all up to the maximum. Suddenly, I heard my name on the tower loudspeaker. Some one was calling me. As a mater of fact I was scared, because I thought that my son ****ed up (la habia embarrado). When I got there, I saw an old gentleman surrounded by a great amount of TV monitors, on which he had a perfect view of all strategic zones of the track. And he said: “Señor Montoya” usually I don’t do this, I don’t like to talk too much, but I want to congratulate you because you have privileged son.

#20... · In 1994 he took overseas his talent. Made his first appearance in Barber Saab. Finished third in the championship... · As a kid, his dream was to meet Ayrton Senna, who was his great ídol. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, because on May 1, 1994 on one of the Formula One championship races, all of the Brazilian’s talent was left at the Tamburello curve of Ímola’s circuit... · Kart Champion SUDAM 125Category... · Participated in the Barber Saab (Dodge) Series, with two poles, winner of two races, and finishing third in the season... o GP of Miami with Record of Track.. · Prototypes in Mexico (Guadalajara)... o First race: Pole and new lap record... · Mexican Formula N... o On his first race, started on the 17 position... o 3 victories in 5 races

#21... 1995 - All or nothing - We returned to Bogota to get money for the F-3 series, but it was very hard. It was too much money for us. Nevertheless, on January 95, I received a fax from Paul Stewart (Jackie’s son) in which he offered me a Vauxhall Lotus place, for a good price. I accepted immediately. I mortgaged mi house and sent Juancho to England and his learning at Vauxhall was the best. Finished third with a victory at Europa... · {A year later, hoping to become a racing figure, he crossed the Atlantic and went to try his luck in Europe, with the Stewart’s team at the English Vauxhall Lotus, with not only astonishing victories but astonishing accidents too. That same season he was invited to participate in Formula 3, in which he did the second best time in the qualifications. He had to work very, very hard... o [3rd in points] o [4 victories – including Europa) o [2 track records] o [4 faster laps] o [9 Podiums]}

#22... · {England’s International F3 Cup. 2nd. fastest time in qualification.} ... · {6 Hours of Bogotá... o Absolute new track record – 5 seconds faster than the previous record.} · {Winner Prototypes Category. o Spice Pontiac.} ... · {Winner Great Tourism Category. o Oldsmobile Cutlass 7,5 Ls.}

[andviv]

very good stuffffffffff

[Keith_Jagrs]

good material!

looking forward to read the next part of the story...

[fifi]

ok me thinks its time to write my biography but lets warn you its wont be that interesting


seriosuly, theres nothing i hate more than people writing there biography who are in there early 20's as they havent acheieved as much as they could or will achieve

[dan2k]

Great stuff!
Absolutely incredible!
I love Montoya even more now.;)
This cleary shows what a great natural talent Montoya is.
Whatever he sat his ass in, he was fastest, the trend is looking good for F1 too.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I know both Vic Elford and Peter Argetsinger from Skip Barber. Their praise of Juan Pablo is high indeed. In late 1998 I was working at Road America as a flag worker and that morning I had learned that Montoya had clinched the F3000 title. Later that afternoon during a gap between cars in practice I asked Mr Elford if he had heard of Montoya, he kinda laughed and said "oh yes". I asked him what he thought of his F1 chances as I rated him very highly. His reply was very basic. "If the Williams is capable, he can be World Champion in his second season"


From my perspective as someone trying to make a professional career out of being a racing driver, every pilot from Formula Junior to Formula 1 is a potential rival. With all of them I kind of yawn and roll my eyes when people talk about how talented they might be. Juan Pablo is the only guy I rate and would respect. I wouldnt give him an inch though

[MONTOYASPEED]

Originally posted by Flash
#17... Ups and downs... With our spirits down we returned to the hotel. As soon as we enter into our room I noticed that on the telephone there was a message. It was from a gentleman who proposed us to run in prototypes. They sent us first class airline tickets to Mexico City. And just like that, we were registered to Guadalajara’s race. Paradoxically, the reaction from the people at the race was the same one that we had in Colombia. They said: How come you guys are going to let that (chamaco) urchin to race? In qualification, that Colombian little urchin got the pole position, with a new time record... Open wheel racecars were practically out of the question, but an outside bet prompted our participation on that country’s Formula N. The very well known Mexican figure, Mario Domínguez’s team owner, never shut his mouth saying that his pilot would eat alive the ****ing (pinche) Colombian.

I attended that race

[MONTOYASPEED]

Originally posted by Flash
Prototypes in Mexico (Guadalajara)... o First race: Pole and new lap record...

He never drove before in Guadalajara (Circuito Hermanos Gallo) and he didn't have any lap in Friday's Practice. He didn't have any lap on Saturday morning and he only had one lap to know the circuit in qualifying. In his next lap (his 2nd ever at that circuit) he was on pole with a new track record.

[dan2k]

Originally posted by MONTOYASPEED


He never drove before in Guadalajara (Circuito Hermanos Gallo) and he didn't have any lap in Friday's Practice. He didn't have any lap on Saturday morning and he only had one lap to know the circuit in qualyfing. In his next lap (his 2nd ever at that circuit) he was on pole with a new track record.

Your bloddy joking!
That is incredible. This guy is an animal!
No doubts the one of the most talented driver since Senna.

[MONTOYASPEED]

Originally posted by dan2k
That is incredible. This guy is an animal!
No doubts the one of the most talented driver since Senna.

Absolutely

[Flash]

Ok here's some more:

#23... 1996... Then, Formula 3 step-up was a must. It was almost a done deal, that the F-3 Stewart pilots were going to be Helio Castro-Neves and Juan Pablo, but Johnny Kane couldn’t be champion in 1995 and for that reason team owner decided that he should repeat in 1996. As a result we lost our place on the team. West Surrey was not racing on Formula 3 any more; as a result, Fortec was again the only option left. Entrepreneur Augusto Lopez gave us economic support, as much as he could, therefore, we painted the car yellow with Clausen decals (Clausen is a beer and soda factory in Colombia). We started well, but at the end of the season, because Mitsubishi’s budget went for the World Rally championships, the engines did not performed as desired. Juan Pablo won three races and was fifth on points. Due to his good performance, eventhough he did not win, he was invited to substitute the ITC Mercedes’ team driver, Magnussen, in one race...

#24... At this point, there was a cloud on Juan Pablo’s racing future, because his participation on F-3000 was unsure, due to the lack of sponsorship.... · In 1996 he enrolled British Formula 3, with Team Fortec, and obtained two victories. It was a good year, in addition to his good performances in F3, he was invited to the Zandvoort’s Marlboro Masters race, in which he got the pole and finished in fourth place.... · He raced at British Formula 3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport obtaining one pole, five fastest laps and three victories in 16 races. o 2nd best driver according to Autosport magazine.o 5th in points. o 5 Podiums · F-3 Marlboro Master's (Zandvoort, Holland) o 4th place... · Substituted Jan Magnussen racing for Silverstone running for Mercedes Benz team at the ITC (International Turing Cars Championship) championship, 16 position... · At the Macau Grand Prix DNF after 21 laps... o 6 Hours of Bogota. o New track record. o Absolute Winner. o Won Prototypes Category. § Spice Pontiac

#25... 1997... The next step on his career was F-3000, but on this class, the zeros to the right increase considerably. Just the test, was US$25.000. I confess that I panicked again. But God didn’t forget us and we were on the right direction again. The Alpha Plus team offered us a free test and about the same time, Autosport contacted us with the same offer... We went to “Jerez de la Frontera” with a handful of desires (suitcases loaded with illusions?), and he had the luxury to match Tom Kristenssen’s times, but he had new tires while Juan Pablo didn’t. We insisted, jumped up and dawn, begged, etc. When we thought that nothing was going to happen, they gave us a new set of tires and that day, Juan Pablo was the fastest driver... We went back to Colombia and our goal was to find sponsorship. We needed a lot of money, much more money than it was required for F-3.

#26... We took some time off and went to “San Andrés Islas” (the best Caribbean island, and it is Colombian, I was there this past August), while there, my cellular phone rang and it was a gentleman with a very heavy accent, it was so bad, that I didn’t understand a thing. I asked him to fax me all the information to “telecom” (the Colombian long distance office). It was Helmuth Marko, who proposed me to sign a contract. I explain to him our economic status and he said that with that amount of money (or lack off it) we wouldn’t go anywhere. He insisted very hard, but in reality, I did not have all the money. Soon after, he told me that he would take the money that I had at the moment but I have to pay the balance at the end of the season... To accept that contract was a difficult decision, because the people from Alpha Plus were very motivated with Juan Pablo. But my brother Diego told me:

#27... “Pablo, in auto racing we can not think with our heart, we must think with our head”... We signed the contract with Helmuth Marko and Juan Pablo went to Austria. Over there, he lived in an attic and a pair of roller blades was his transportation. It was a very hard time for my “Negro” because of the language barrier and also they had opposed temperaments, because of this, they fought every other day and finally the relationship broke down. Juan Pablo finished on second on place.

#28... · Juan Pablo starts practices in European F3000.... Because key people recognize his talent, Juan Pablo obtains a spot in F3000 on this season. He enchanted the Fórmula 3000 Austrian “escudería RSM Marko” with victories in Pau, Austria and Spain and 2nd place in points.... o Fastest lap at: § Magny-Cours (France) § Estoril (Portugal) § Sherry (Spain) § Silverstone (England) · FIA Formula 3000 Championship. o Pole Position on his 1st race in Silverstone. o 2nd place in points. o Won street Circuit in Pau (France) § Pole position with 0.5 sec over 2nd § Biggest gap on this circuit’s history: 35 seconds § Fastest lap with full tanks o 4 poles o 4 victories o 3 fastest laps · 6 Hours of Bogota o Absolute Winner o Won Prototypes Category § Spice Pontiac

#29... 1998... Formula One... For that reason, I accepted David Sears’ proposal to be Juan Pablo’s manager. The fore coming change occurred at Jerez, we moved my son’s belongings from Marko’s truck to Super Nova’s truck. At the same time, thanks to the fact that Frank Williams’ son (Jonathan) had become a faithful follower of Juan Pablo, we had the opportunity to fight for the Formula One test driver seat at Williams... Frank called Juancho to his office. That day, we bought a new shirt and tie. Juan Pablo interviewed by himself and when he came out, he told me that Williams was a cool and easygoing guy. As a mater of fact, nothing or nobody bedazzles (descresta) Juan Pablo... At about the same time, we got the Williams F-1 test driver seat and the participation in Formula 3000. Thanks to Sears’ wit, the Japanese put part of the money and Juan Pablo’s teammate father the other part.

#30... Everything started going well; we even paid off Marko’s money (principal and interest). Luis Fernando Lenis, who had helped us a lot, returned to Cali, Colombia and for that reason we thought that Felipe Santos could commercialize Juancho’s image in Colombia. He did and still is doing it now. On one of the greatest days of my life, we were F-3000 champions... Juan Pablo was very close to being a Stewart’s F-1 driver. After his great performance in Monaco, Jackie called us; his plans were for my son to replace Magnussen, who was not doing well. Our dream to race on Formula One almost became a reality, but Williams didn’t allow it. Juancho was a little upset, because he considered that the Briton was shutting his chances to be a F-1 driver. Later, the relationship returned to normality when the Cart negotiations started.

#31…Also, one of the BAR engineers tried very hard to have Juan Pablo as a teammate for the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in the new escudería, but Villeneuve, perhaps afraid of Juan Pablo, fully opposed his hiring. The position was for Zonta… Without any chances at F-1, CART and Chip Ganassi was a breath of fresh air and a great chance for my “Negro” whom once I carried on my lap for the first time at “El salitre”, being Formula One world champion one day. At the moment, I cannot stop thinking about Laguna Seca’s race. A victory there would get us closer to our goal… “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Los Angeles…”…EVENTHOUGH THE INTERVIEW WITH PABLO, IS OVER, STILL THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION. IT WAS GREAT, DON'T YOU THINK SO? HOPE EVERY ONE ENJOYDED IT AS MUCH AS I DID. SEE YOU SOON GUYS/GALS. GUILLERMO. PS: DUE TO THE FORMAT OF THE BOARD, I THINK THAT MIXING STATS WITH THE INTERVIEW WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA, BUT IT IS TOO LATE, HUH? (

Some guy put the biography at this address: http://montoyabiography.homestead.com

Cheers.

[Donny]

JV was scared to have JPM in the same team??????????

[cygnus]

"perhaps afraid of Juan Pablo, fully opposed his hiring"

It's his dad's opinion, but certainly a valid assumption.

Very interesting account of JPM's history. Being from a family who doesn't have a large bank roll makes life difficult when trying to get on the path to Formula 1. I am sure other drivers (excluding Pedro Diniz and Alex Yoong , heh) have similar stories .. but I'm happy to read this one.