Legends: Juan Pablo Montoya

In the amusement-park world of Formula One, IndyCar and now NASCAR, Juan Pablo Montoya has been a pint-sized pinball machine forever tilting on controversy. Off the track, he has flown with the Columbian air force (“just for roller coaster kind of fun”) and has played endless hours of racing video games at his Monaco home, memorizing tracks while mowing down the competition. Not since the late F1 champion Brazilian Ayrton Senna turned the circuit into his own personal samba nearly two decades ago did one South American fare so well so fast while captivating the interest of so many. Now in NASCAR, Montoya’s world is just as frantic as it is fanatical. From weekly tests to sponsorship appearances and driver meetings, his world moves at 200 mph and howls with the sound of American V8 muscle. His life has always been that way. By age 9, he was a national open-wheel karting champion; by 16, a two-time kart world champion. At 21, he had two wins in British Formula Three. The next year, his first in FIA’s F3000 series, he nearly won the championship. The following season, he did. A year later, he was a CART rookie and a series champion with seven wins and seven pole positions including a victory in his very first race. He became the first rookie since Graham Hill in 1966 to win the Indianapolis 500. From there it was off to F1. However, from mechanical problems, cars that seemed less than competitive and accidents often caused by too-aggressive driving, not to mention personality conflicts, victory was more elusive than controversy. “It (has) been very tough (in F1).” Moving to NASCAR from F1, he clinched the 2007 Rookie of the Year title with the help of one win. In 2008, victory has been hard to come by.