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After seeing Juan Montoya racing for Team Penske in last weekend’s Rolex 24, it bothered me that we wouldn’t see him in this year’s Indianapolis 500. Although Montoya has raced at IMS many times at other parts of the year; he has only raced in the Indianapolis 500 five times – and he won two of those times.

Montoya drove in the Brickyard 400 seven times, the Formula One US Grand Prix six times and the Indianapolis 500 five times. He won the “500” as a rookie with Chip Ganassi in 2000; then didn’t return again until 2014 while driving for Roger Penske, when he finished fifth. He won again in 2015, giving him two wins in his first three tries. 2016 was his last year to drive in IndyCar fulltime for Team Penske. He crashed out early that year, giving him a disappointing last-place finish.

Josef Newgarden replaced Montoya for 2017, as Montoya was told he would be headed to Penske’s new sports car team. But he drove both races in the Month of May for Penske, earning him a sixth-place finish in last year’s “500”.

Helio Castroneves was given a similar opportunity in Penske’s sports car program for 2018. Helio went quietly, but reluctantly. He could have left Penske and would probably end up with a third tier ride in IndyCar. But Penske made the same offer for Helio for this year that he made for Montoya last year – both races in May.

The problem is, the offer no longer applies to Montoya.

Roger Penske raised eyebrows last fall when he said that Juan Montoya would be free to pursue another ride in the Indianapolis 500, since he was not in Team Penske’s plans for May. Most people scoffed and said there was no way that that was going to happen. As it turns out, they were right.

In Robin Miller’s mailbag at Racer.com this week, Roger Penske is quoted as saying “He’s under contract to Team Penske and he’s not driving for anyone else”. There are no lines to read between there. That’s about as black & white as it gets. Robin Miller summed up his own comments with “It sucks he’s not going to be running, but Penske isn’t going to compete against one of his own drivers…especially one as formidable as (Montoya)”

I don’t really understand that logic; especially when you consider that Graham Rahal is driving some selected races for Penske’s IMSA program – including last weekend at the Rolex 24. Some will say that I’m comparing apples and oranges, but I don’t think so. Rahal is now being exposed first-hand to the Penske way of doing things. Do you not think he may be picking up a few little nuggets to take back to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan shop?

Perhaps Penske doesn’t consider Rahal to be as formidable a driver as Montoya. Whether or not that’s the case, I’d take it as a slap in the face if I were Graham Rahal. He is in his prime, while Montoya is just a little long in the tooth.

Longtime readers of this site know what a life-long fan I am of Team Penske and how much I have always respected Roger Penske. But on this particular topic I think The Captain is wrong.

I think he should let Juan Montoya race for another team if he can’t supply a car for him. It seems that Roger Penske should have enough faith in his own team to not feel threatened by anyone driving for another team. The legendary Bear Bryant is alleged to have said something along the lines of “I can take my players and beat you, or I can take your players and beat you”. Now, that’s confidence.

Who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2015? Was it Juan Montoya, or was it Team Penske? Well, the answer is they both did. This is a team sport. It takes a very well prepared car, a thought-out game plan heading into the race, pit-stops that are executed flawlessly and a driver that can perform in a clutch-situation. Without even just one of those items in place, winning the Indianapolis 500 becomes a very difficult task.

Is Penske afraid that his team cannot beat Montoya? I doubt it. But if that’s not the case, then I think he should let him run for another team. Perhaps he’s afraid that he’ll run for Chip Ganassi, the team he won with as a rookie in 2000, and beat his established team of full-timers and Helio Castroneves. Now, that would be embarrassing It’s not that to lose to Montoya would be a shocker under normal circumstances – but with Montoya as a one-off for Ganassi (Penske’s arch-nemesis) – his chances would not be that good.

One-offs have a tough time winning at Indianapolis. Sure it’s possible – Dan Wheldon did it in 2011, while driving for Bryan Herta. Can you name the last one prior to Wheldon? That would be Al Unser driving for Roger Penske in 1987 (I don’t count Helio in 2001). The thing about one-offs is that not only is the driver a little on the rusty side – so is the crew. For example; if Ed Carpenter decided to run a third car at Indianapolis this year – it’s not as if he has crew guys hanging around the shop. He would have to go hire them. Some might be quite competent, while the others…well, there might be a reason why they are unemployed headed into May.

Even if they are all quite competent, they more than likely never worked together – with the driver or with each other. Chemistry takes time to build. Some teams never find it though a whole season, much less in four practice days in May. So to think anyone, even of Montoya’s caliber, is going to be successful in a one-off – well, they would have their work cut out for them and Roger Penske knows it.

Now if he wanted to hold Montoya to his contract due to the fact that he might get injured, I would buy that. But I think it rings hollow to fans to not allow Montoya to run just because he’s under contract. I remember during the unification days of 2008, when Gerry Forsythe would not allow Paul Tracy to run in the newly united series simply out of spite. Fans were furious that an owner would enforce a contract, when he never intended to run Tracy. He just didn’t want the IndyCar Series to benefit from his former champion’s presence.

Last year, Spencer Pigot was driving the non-ovals for Ed Carpenter Racing. When May rolled around, ECR had already made the decision to run only two cars in the Indianapolis 500 – one for Carpenter and one for JR Hildebrand. Pigot was relegated to the role of cheerleader. But when an opportunity arose at Juncos Racing for Pigot, Ed Carpenter gave Pigot his blessing to drive for a competitor in the Indianapolis 500 before rejoining the team the following weekend at Belle Isle. As far as I know there were no ill-effects from either side, but it was a very nice gesture on Carpenter’s part to not deny Pigot a chance to drive in the “500”.

Fans want to see a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner get a chance to run, while he still has his skills. Montoya will be only three years removed from his last “500” win. The Indianapolis 500 would benefit from his presence and the talent level of the field would be raised. I personally don’t think he could win a one-off, even in a Ganassi car; but it would be nice to get to see him try. It seems like Roger Penske could extend the same courtesy toward Montoya that Ed Carpenter did for Spencer Pigot.

Unfortunately, it looks as if a two-time Indianapolis 500 champion will be on the sidelines this May. I know he’s happy to have full-time employment driving in Team Penske’s IMSA program, but if Juan Montoya has the desire to drive in this year’s Indianapolis 500; he should be allowed to. He’s earned that right.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on February 2, 2018 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.