This was a road course. I hear you sigh. This wasn’t NASCAR’s normal oval race and is, like Montoya, the future of the series. NASCAR is expanding into South America, a growing market which it is largely yet to explore. With the future of NASCAR in Mexico uncertain and a 2008 deal not yet confirmed, this was as much NASCAR’s chance as it was Montoya’s and amazingly, it looks like everyone benefits. Montoya showed himself to be a league above the rest and lived up to expectation. In doing so, he upholds the dignity and stature of European competition (including Formula One) and it in turn helps every European racing driver wanting to drive in the States. Crucially, it is perfect for NASCAR. Montoya’s win is the ultimate prize in negotiating next season and will surely win over much needed fans. But let us get back on topic. Why is Montoya a hero?

There was a time when racing drivers used to race everything and anything they could. Jim Clark, Formula One World Champion in 1963 and 1965 was also the 1964 British Touring Car Champion. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965 and finished third at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1966 Clark entered the RAC Rally of Great Britain and had he not have crashed during he final stages, very likely would have won. He was also no stranger to NASCAR and raced a Ford Galaxie for the Holman Moody team. He was an all rounder and for the most part, just loved to race.

Mario Andretti was Formula One World Champion in 1978. Previously, in 1967, Andretti won NASCAR’s most prestigious race, the Daytona 500. In 1969 he won the IndyCar championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the ferocious race to the summit of Pikes Peak, Colorado which climbs some 1439 metres on dirt and gravel. In 1974 he won the USAC dirt track series in addition to winning the Formula 5000 championship for the second time in a row. After Formula One, he won the IndyCar series for a fourth time in 1984. Just like Clark, he will be remembered as a legendary all rounder and as someone who simply loved to race.

So how about Montoya? After a successful career of karting he won the 1992 Colombian Formula Renault championship. The following year he also won the Colombian GTI National Championship Tournament before in 1994 returning to karts to win the Sudan 125 championship. In 1995 he came to England, finishing third in Formula Vauxhall with Paul Stewart Racing. For 1996 he remained in England for the British Formula Three championship and eventually finished third after two wins with the Fortec Motorsport. His single-seater career came to prominence when in 1997 he competed in the International Formula 3000 championship with RSM Marko. He finished second in the championship with three wins and remained in the series for a second year. After switching to the experienced Super Nova team, he dominated the series and won in 1998.

With no options available to him in Formula One the following year, Montoya returned to the America’s to race in the-then popular CART series, now known as the Champ Car World Series. He once again showed immense raw speed and dominated the championship to win overall in his rookie year with seven wins and seven poles. Remaining in CART for 2000, his Ganassi team switched to the newer Lola chassis and Toyota engine. This, regrettably, was a mistake and overall it was never competitive. However, Montoya salvaged his dignity from the otherwise least successful season of his career and won the prestigious Indianapolis 500. That weekend, BMW Williams announced a two year deal for him enter Formula One in 2001.

During his time in Formula One, Montoya achieved seven Grand Prix victories and finished third in the championship on two separate occasions. Whilst never managing to win the World Championship, some consolation can be found in his 2003 victory at Monaco which made him only the second person in history to win both the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix.

In 2006, after another difficult year with McLaren, his announcement, with immediate effect, to switch to NASCAR was a real shock. Not only had he turned his back on Formula One (it is usually the opposite), he had made a real statement to the world of motor sport. NASCAR is the place to be. Of course there were sceptics and the risk to his career enormous. But although unusually quiet, Montoya was confident.

Watch Montoya’s first NASCAR win

NASCAR is unique in as much as the most important race of the year also happens to be the first. After making an impression during qualifying, he never had any luck. Juan Pablo led 18-laps of his qualification race before a broken wheel hub caused him to retire and as a consequence, he would start his first Daytona 500 last. His misfortune continued and gearbox problems left him with only fourth gear during the race and little hope of making history with a victory in his first Nextel Cup start

If he does manage to win the Daytona 500, and for the record I think he will, he will become the first person in history to win the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and Daytona. Following that, all he would need is a win at Le Mans. Two months ago, Montoya (together with Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran) won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, North America’s premier sports car endurance race. He almost certainly has the experience, all he needs is the opportunity and he will accomplish what is truly remarkable.

The point is, despite being just 31 years old, in my opinion, Juan Pablo Montoya is already one of the great all rounders the sport has ever seen. His enthusiasm to race is an inspiration and a welcome break from the sometimes robotic attitude of the modern Formula One driver . He was never really comfortable in a modern Formula One car and perhaps he was born in the wrong era. It did, however, make the world take him seriously and his participation was entirely necessary. Juan Pablo Montoya is a rare hero in today’s generation.

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Motor racing is a rich man’s sport. Remember that. That isn’t derogatory, it’s fact. It always has been and probably always will be. It just is not feasible any other way. Racing cars are expensive and even in the junior series of Formula Three or GP2 the cars are at the forefront of aerodynamic, composite and tyre technology. It cannot be inexpensive, there is no way.

Let’s throw down a marker. Just how expensive am I talking? Well, as you would expect there are no exact figures and a budget in any championship varies depending on whether it is with an established team or not. For argument’s sake we’ll assume you want to win. A season within the Lloyds TSB British Formula Three International Series, with an established front running team, you realistically should be expecting to raise no less than £300,000. That’s not just difficult, it’s damn near impossible.

So how is it that in Formula Three, year after year, grids are so near their capacity? I recall a conversation with Formula Two star of the past, Peter Wardle, in which he suggested that not a single driver on the current British Formula Three grid had genuinely raised their budget through sponsorship. That doesn’t mean that businesses or brands aren’t involved in their racing, because they are; what it means is that those businesses did not genuinely expect a return on their commercial investment. Usually a family member or friend has a business relationship in which this expenditure can be authorised and this expenditure justified.

Am I saying that genuine sponsorship at this level doesn’t exist? Of course not. However, what it does do is raise serious doubts as to whether even a series with as much pedigree as British Formula Three, sponsorship can achieve the sort of brand exposure necessary to justify an entire budget.

How else do young drivers raise money to race? Let’s look at Justin Wilson – star of the Champ Car World Series but a former a Grand Prix driver, International Formula 3000 champion and in 1998, he was Formula Palmer Audi champion. His career path doesn’t exactly scream wealth.

In 1998 Formula Palmer Audi was a new concept. The brainchild of Jonathan Palmer, a former Grand Prix driver himself, Formula Palmer Audi is unique in the world of motorsport. All cars are owned and maintained by the series owners and every car is prepared to an identical standard . As a result it creates as much of a level playing field as is ever possible. More importantly to us, it helps to control costs. In 1998 for just £70,000 Justin was assured a season’s racing in cars more powerful than Formula Three, for a fraction of the cost. In motorsport, that’s as good as it gets.

Then in 2001 Justin dominated International Formula 3000, the then feeder series to Formula One. How could he have raised that sort of money? Well, simple. It was his prize for winning the Formula Palmer Audi championship. There is no similar prize that exists in any series today.

Fast-forward to 2002 and Justin makes his Formula One debut with Minardi. Again, it’s another monumental change in budget because even in Formula One, generally speaking, if you’re not with a manufacturer, you have to bring money to the team – and a lot of it. However, after his success in Formula Palmer Audi and International Formula 3000, Justin was now under the management of Jonathan Palmer himself and together they had a concept which was to be revolutionary.

Justin Wilson PLC was launched in 2003 in attempt to raise £1.2 million pounds for his race seat at Minardi. The scheme offered shares in Justin, or more to the point, his future earnings and in response received huge amounts of media attention. As a result, nearly 900 shareholders each invested a minimum of £500.

Shares can no longer be purchased and after being unable to raise the finance for a race seat at Jaguar in 2004, Justin focused on the premier open-wheel championship in the US – the Champ Car World Series. After two years and three race wins he is now quite handsomely paid by his team Rusport and at the end of each year, every single one of those 900 shareholders will receive their dividend in appreciation of their faith.

So that’s two quite different approaches to raising serious budgets. The first relies almost entirely on your network of contacts and more often than not, your families. The second is ingenious – taking advantage of the free market economy which makes racing possible in the first place. However, its sustainability is limited and is therefore only effective when a racing career is relatively mature – Justin Wilson was a proven racer, he was a winner and this would see him in the pinnacle of the sport. It was fairly unlikely, for instance, that he’d fail to earn a living racing something and so it was a an investment that was not entirely without merit.

This means, unfortunately, that neither is a viable means of raising money for a young, unfunded racing driver. It’s unlikely you’ll have a friend who’s able to organise corporate patronage and it’s far too risky to start selling shares in your future earnings – as a student you may not have any significant earnings for years! Although it has been tried, albeit on a different scale and without the overwhelming success. Earlier in the year, ex-Formula BMW racer Aaron Steele sold shares in his future earnings on eBay and raised enough cash for the first half of the Formula Palmer Audi championship in 2006.

It’s easy to become cynical but in a lot of ways, the lessons it teaches you are important. Can the merits of a junior race series still be sold as commercial sponsorship? And if they can, is it enough to fulfil an entire budget or have the increases in cost finally surpassed value?

Show me another sport in which talent is useless without money. Show me another sport in which just making the entry list of a series is overcoming the greatest of hurdles. There just isn’t and this is a cruel, cruel sport but for some reason, despite all of its faults, I still love it.

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