Montoya article

Simon says on Jul 6, 2007, 12:16:

Here it is:


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Montoya's faithful followers now NASCAR fans, too

By Marty Smith

ESPN.com

In the year since Chip Ganassi announced to the world that Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya would drive his No. 42 Dodge in 2007, many pundits, myself included, have pondered what effect a star of such international celebrity might have on NASCAR racing.

I distinctly remember saying he could do for NASCAR what Tiger Woods did for golf. I also distinctly remember saying it'd be two or three years before he sniffed a win.

He needed all of 17 races.

And this week, I got a glimpse of insight into what that means, by way of an e-mail from a Colombian F1-turned-NASCAR fan and his nine closest buddies. Check it out. There's a definite "wow" factor in reading it.



Marty,

Just to describe you the picture I had last Sunday at home. Ten guys between 35 and 40 years cheering madly for Montoya at Sonoma, nothing different if you consider that many NASCAR fans were doing the same for their favorite drivers around the U.S.

The only difference is that we were not drinking Budweiser -- we had some shots of aguardiente -- and we were sitting in our home's family room in Bogotá, Colombia. Not Columbia, but Colombia, a South American country that is used to waking up early and watching Formula One or having soccer afternoons.

We are part of a big group of racing fans who have followed Montoya first when he replaced [Alex] Zanardi at Ganassi Racing through CART'S last golden years, then turned our heads to Formula One and nowadays are thirsty for information about NASCAR.

Hey, we all bought NASCAR '07 for Xbox for our kids (Yeah, we also need excuses with our wives). So when you write your very interesting columns for ESPN have in mind this group of racing fans. We are far away, but we exist over here and we went to Daytona and are going to Indy. That's if we don't change our minds and go to The Glen for obvious reasons.

Hey with this kind of fun in NASCAR, believe me that Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart are taking Fernando Alonso and Michael Schu... place. Michael Schu... Michael Schu... Michael Schu... . I guess I'm starting to forget that name ... Michael Schu ... something.

So if you are searching for evidence that proves NASCAR is growing, try to find out why I stopped using Mobil and turned to Texaco in my cars, not to mention the new Dodge my cousin bought in Miami -- we also have the auto racing disease.


-- Alfonso, Bogotá, Colombia

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Philly says on Jul 7, 2007, 10:22:

PhillyGuy, where are you from? People from Philly do not talk about NASCAR!!!!! If you are going to represent Philly, please do it correctly or just change your name.

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