Montoya: Why is He in NASCAR?
On a personnel level Juan “Don’t Call me Pablo” Montoya made the move into NASCAR for the challenge of something new.
The fact compensation received from Ganassi Racing for doing so matches, and may exceed, the reported $3 million a year A.J. Allmendinger is being paid by Red Bull shouldn’t be dismissed either, although he does dismiss the money when comparing NASCAR to F1. It’s all about “fun.”
I say good luck to him, his F1 career was dead in the water. He will clean up on the merchandise & the Hispanic advertising market seems limitless. Chip has made a very smart move in grabbing JPM, I would have preferred to have seen him in OW, but where Tony’s vision or back to CC?
I suffered through the last CC round on the Gold Coast & I’m meant to be a OW fanatic who can watch anything.God, when will this spilt come to an end!
And when Busch gets to Montreal how soon before we recieve translations of Canadian broadcasts, eh?
Just kidding my Canadian brothers and sisters, just kidding!
Couple of things on my mind…
1. I don’t believe any of the estimates about JPM’s salary. He will receive a mammoth sum of money for driving Cup. It’s not just the hombres who will be watching him. It’s me, too. I’m thrilled. He’s the first F1 driver to defect to NASCAR (I think), and he wasn’t a backmarker in F1. He never came close to a championship, but with several wins and lots of podium finishes, he did well.
2. JPM’s attitude is well suited to NASCAR. In F1 circles he has always been known as brash, sort of a cowboy.
3. I think he made the move for several reasons: He gets to race in a fun, competitive series with tons of the richest fans anywhere. He’s going to make a fortune - all the top NASCAR drivers own jets, helicopters, Lamborghinis, and other wildly expensive things.
And, he’s much closer to his homes in Miami and Columbia. Even though there are many more races in a Cup season than F1, he will be able to spend a lot more time with his family and friends.
He
Don,
Make no mistake about it, JPM is out of F1 for one reason only, he had no viable alternative. If Ferrari or Renault had offered him a competitive contract, we would not be discussing any of this.
No doubt he will be competitive and have “fun” in NASCAR and fall into a lot of loot, more than he would have made in F1. He will be interesting to watch next year.
Ah… yea, what George said.
Or, and even with recent Mclaren hard times, JPM would have strapped on a new “Merc.”
I believe top F1 drivers make more than NASCAR drivers. But if NASCAR wasn’t highly lucrative, he wouldn’t bother. How do these guys actually make?
Marc — do you know?
I’ve heard Gordon hits $50 million per year, which seems too high. I’ve heard Schumacher makes $50 million, which seems low.
Schui was believed to be on $80 mil, but that’s salary & endorsements combined. Somebody worked out that his Ferrari salary this year equated to $50,000 per lap!