Yes, but that was years ago, and he did not have the reputation as a Cup driver then as he does as a road course specialist now. My point was that Montoya has still done basically squat in a stock car. Granted, he’s only 3 starts into his Nextel Cup career, but all this talk of how many championships he’ll win can simmer down until he gets a few wins and some experience under his belt. It’s way too early for that right now. It’s not even that compelling of a story anymore, really, the way it’s rammed down our throats. Watching that race Sunday was like watching McCarver fawning over Jeter during the summer. :dryheave:
The first thing you learn about passing at any race school is that whoever’s front wheel is ahead at the normal turn in point has the corner. If you dive inside, get your front wheel ahead, and the other driver cannot begin his turn in, you get the corner. You might lose it when you have to roll out of the throttle at the exit to stay on track and the other driver, now making a late apex, might take it back, but you do not get to dive in after the turn in point and pray that somehow the other guy makes room for you or your car performs better this ONE time on this turn than it has the whole race and somehow you get inside and make it stick.
If you are first to the turn in point, you have no obligation to the overtaking car. The car that is overtaking is 100% responsible for making a safe pass. Does anyone really expect a racer taking a corner at 98-99% of a car’s potential to also be looking in his mirrors through the turn?
I’ve attended a qualifying school, and earned, my CCS amateur road racing motorcycle license. I’ve also read most of the major auto road racing schools books, and all of them say the above.
It was Montoya’s fault, 100%, and he knows it.
FWIW I’m a Montoya supporter, I guess, although I don’t care for NASCAR in general.
What are the rules about cutting corners in NASCAR? In F1 it’s basically that you can’t gain or maintain a position by cutting a corner, I think. (Am I wrong?) You have to give up a spot if you pass someone that way, but you aren’t penalized if you go off when you’re by yourself. I don’t know exactly how they decide if you’ve maintained a spot by going off, and also I’ve wondered what would happen if someone repeatedly cut a corner when they weren’t in traffic. Anyway, I wonder whether, after that collision, he would have been able to maintain the lead if he hadn’t cut so far across the dirt there.
I’m not a NASCAR expert, but I don’t think the rules about cutting a corner apply once contact sends cars off track. He spun Pruett around, so even if neither of them had gone off track, he would have been way ahead of Pruett. He clearly didn’t go off track intentionally to gain an advantage, and I think that’s all the rules (if there are any about corner cutting) would prohibit.
Just a little background…Pruett’s “full time” job is driving for Ganassi’s Grand-Am team. Grand-Am is a road racing series that is basically owned and operated by the same folks as NASCAR. Their signature event is the 24 Hours of Daytona, which is run two weeks before the Daytona 500, and they had a 3 hour race on Saturday in Mexico. Pruett & Montoya won the 24 Hours together this year.
Pruett made his name in the CART series, and had a long and decent career there, even if he never seriously challenged for the championship (which Montoya won in his rookie season there). In 2000, when Pruett’s Champ Car owner started a NASCAR team (memorably stealing the Tide sponsorship from Ricky Rudd), Pruett became his lead driver and had a mediocre season. Though he was smart enough not to complain publicly, he was not treated very well by the other NASCAR guys on the track (Rudd being a popular fellow). He was a frequent “oops, tapped 'ya into the wall” target.
After 2000, he became a part-time racer and full-time broadcaster, doing the occasional sports car race and showing up as a “ringer” at NASCAR’s road course events. In 2004, Ganassi started his Grand-Am team and made Pruett his lead driver and together they’ve won a bunch of races and series championships.