CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 27, 1999

Juan Pablo Montoya

JUAN MONTOYA: Thank you very much. I think -- I like the way you are saying, I think it is pretty good we done -- the team has done a great job for me and I think we are working together and I think it is pretty good.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think it is very difficult to compare. I think both teams are really good. They work -- I am sure both teams do a really good job; both have been champions more than once or twice, you know. At the moment, when I was with William, I was a test driver. I never went to races with them. I went to watch some races but never raced with them so it is difficult to compare. But what I saw from the outside, I think both teams are great, you know, everyone works together, and everyone in the team wants to win. So that just makes it so much easier because you know they are not just there for a job or to enjoy themselves. They are hungry for winning. When you are hungry for something, you fight for it until you get it. It is unbelievable, like in Target they don't stop. They want to just keep winning and keep beating the rest of the people.

JUAN MONTOYA: I don't think so. With the top drivers, I am sure all the top drivers they will all get used to the cars straight-a-way. They have been testing there, you know, so -- but in my opinion, I am in a good position, of course, we test there and we are pretty quick. So that helps a lot. But I am sure like Dario, Jimmy, you know, all the top drivers there, they are going to pick it up pretty easy.

JUAN MONTOYA: Well, I started in go-karts. I did about 14 years of go-karts. That, I think, gave me a lot of basics of what I know now. I think I learned a lot from my father especially and that was pretty good. Then when we start racing cars in Columbia, it was -- the level of motor sport in Columbia is quite low because financially it is not very good, Columbia, at the moment. So that was pretty tough. But the thing with all the experience we got and all the -- you know, it is a small series, but they had plenty of series so I was racing like three at the same time. So it gave me a lot of experience so when I came to America in 1994, I came to the first race in Miami when they were in the streets and I won the race. That was a big surprise for me - I said Jesus, I couldn't believe it. It was like, "Ooh."

JUAN MONTOYA: Well, it was a big surprise because you imagine you are in Columbia, small country and everything and you are coming to America and the motor sports here is huge, you know, they have so much races and so many things and so many drivers that I never expect that we were going to do so well.

JUAN MONTOYA: Well, you know, at the beginning I wanted to get to run in the front with the guys in the ovals and get up to speed, but I don't know, I don't like to go to a track and say, okay, we are going to -- you know, going to qualify 20; finish 15, that will be, okay, get to the finish, I don't know, my mentality, I wanted to win, I wanted to run in the front. And, if someone else can do it, you know, we can do it. I think Jimmy has been a big help for me in that way because he has helped me a lot in the ovals. I think if you look at Japan, you can look at the results, we are running up there and we are very quick. If we didn't have problem with the fuel, I think we could have actually won the race.

JUAN MONTOYA: Not really. I think Morris has done a great job for me, Morris Nunn. He always gave me a really good car. I think Homestead, at the beginning of the race, we struggled a bit. But apart from that, everywhere I have been, we managed to work together and get to a point that the car is very good, you know, to get the speed out, it is easy. That is the secret of the ovals. I think the driver could make a little bit of difference in how much he can approach the limit of the car, but the basics to go quick in the oval, I think, like everyone knows, most of the job is done by the car.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, I think, you know, after the incident I spoke with Michael and everything was settled. I don't see any problems. Of course, I want to go there and beat him like I want to beat him anywhere else and I am sure he wants to beat me the same way and we want to beat, not only with Michael, with everyone else. Everyone wants to win and the only way to win you have to beat the rest of the people. So I don't know, I don't see any weird circumstances in Nazareth. I know Michael is very quick around there. I watched the race last year and if he wouldn't have made that mistake, I think he had the speed to win that race. Hopefully this year it will be different. We went and tested there. I think we tested, we got a really good car, so we got the weekend and we got the same car I am sure we are going to run in front.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, I don't think so. I got a one problem in the slow session for what happened in the qualifying in Motegi, so -- and I am not with all the quick drivers, so that is going to be -- maybe it is going to be even better because it is going to be so much traffic and it is only 45 minutes, so much traffic and so much red lights that I don't think we are going to run a lot. Still if we got a good car, I still should be able to run quicker like anybody else in my group. That will help because I am going to run with a lot of traffic.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think it is more of a relationship. It is not just -- you can't look at the engineer as an engineer because you have to become a friend of him to understand the way he works. I think to understand each other, you have to spend some time together; enjoy what you are doing and I think we have done that with Morris. We have done a great job. When I got with him we go for dinner, we spend some time together and we talk about everything. That just makes the things so much easier because I think he believes what I say and I believe what he is going to do in the car. I got 100% trust. I believe in him 100%; that anything he is going to do, he is going to do, you know, to improve the car.

JUAN MONTOYA: (laughs) I didn't know that. I don't know, I am sure -- he gets very stressed sometimes because -- I don't know, I come from Europe and in Europe we are very, I think, the way we drive and everything with the way the race has been done is very aggressive racing. So he panics sometimes but it is a lot of fun.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think is he getting there. He is tough because you know, we want to beat each other, but at the same time, we want to beat the rest. I think we got a good relationship. I have got to say thank you to Jimmy because he has helped me a lot so far. Every time I got near the track, he said, hey, be careful here; these are the key points, you don't want to do -- the car do this, you don't want to go over this, you know, when you get there, you know that you shouldn't do that already, so you can get to speed a lot easier.

JUAN MONTOYA: (laughs) I don't know, I have been racing since I was five years old. I did 14 years of karting; then I did one or two years of racing in Columbia, about two years of racing in Columbia. Then I did one Barber-Saab; then I went to Europe, I did Formula Vauxhall; then Formula 3. I did two years of Formula 3000 and I worked with Williams last year. So I drove all kinds of cars. I did outrace -- one race where I race against Dario but we were kind of teammates, so I did a lot of racing with different cars. So I think -- it is funny when -- for the series, I am a rookie, but it is not my first race ever in history.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, I haven't.

JUAN MONTOYA: Yes, I am going next week.

JUAN MONTOYA: Okay.

JUAN MONTOYA: I don't know, I think part of it is I did quite a lot of testing before the beginning of the season but I did the same testing as everyone else. I could be confident because the car was good. We always play with little changes and I could start feeling the car and get up to speed. I had Jimmy there all the time helping me. I think the first initial test, the first test I did, Alex was there and I think that was a big help. He just said to me, the first thing you are going to do, you don't have to do -- you know, this that, that, that, that, don't do that. Just relax and enjoy the ride. I did that and it worked. And it still works.

JUAN MONTOYA: I met him there and then I saw him at Fontana. That was about it. I know is he having some hard times in Europe, but I spoken with Frank and a lot of people and I am sure is he going to do well. I saw him race last year and I know he has what it takes to do it.

JUAN MONTOYA: Maybe racing in the ovals, especially in Homestead. It is not racing because you can go around with all the cars; it is how you can get the advantage; how you can get to overtake the other cars without making a mistake because in an oval, you make a mistake and 80% of the chances you are in the wall.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think I will have to answer you that after the race. It is my first short oval race. I can tell you that one of the things we got so far are a really open mind, get there and learn and I think that helps a lot. Everywhere I have been I want to learn something new and I think that is making a big difference.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, they haven't. They said every time going to go out like on new tires they just take it easy, let it come with the car, the car has to do the job and all that. I think they, you know, they trust me. I got a good relationship with the mechanics, with everyone in the team. It is great. It is like a family.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think it has been growing and growing and growing. I hope it doesn't stop because it just gets better and better all the time.

JUAN MONTOYA: I watched some in road courses, especially, never saw an oval race. Like Fontana was my first super speedway and that was unbelievable. But in 1994 when I race here a couple of times with them in road courses and street courses.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, I came here because I was racing here. But last year I used to watch 90% of the races because it is run. It is fun to watch. I think if you ask any of the young drivers in Europe or here and everything, they like to watch this because it is a lot of overtaking; a lot of things going on, a lot of strategy playing and that just makes racing so much fun. Last year I could watch the races and I couldn't believe, this year, we got to spring training and everyone was there. I knew Dario before, you know, but still it is one race, Greg Moore, Jimmy, everything, it is like: Wow.

JUAN MONTOYA: No. No, I don't think so. I want to have an image of myself. Dario was a big fan of Alex because the things he did with his car was unbelievable, you know, it was something incredible. But -- I don't know, I think everyone -- I think outside everyone thinks it is a lot of pressure because I am replacing Alex, but inside the team, I think Alex is history now.

JUAN MONTOYA: I don't think -- you know, it is difficult to have like a goal for this season. I would love to win the Championship and the rookie and everything. But you never know what is going to happen. You just have to get through each of the event and get the best out of each, out of each of the races. It was a bit of a surprise how quick we were, you know, but I am happy.

JUAN MONTOYA: Well, there were some offers around. But when I saw Chip Ganassi's offer, and all that could happen, it was a long-term deal and everything and, you know, it is the best team, it is the most successful CART team. I had the opportunity to join them. Really, I didn't think it twice. I come here, you have a chance -- a real chance of winning races. You could go to Formula 1 maybe in a medium team and you are going to qualify in 10th - if you do a really good job you will qualify in 7th, but you don't have a real chance of winning races or anything. So I thought that would be better to come here and try to win here.

JUAN MONTOYA: No, there is a lot of people, you know, I think Greg is going to be very strong there. They are always very strong in qualifying more than in the race. But if they get it right, you know, I am sure they are going to be up there. You cannot say that Greg and Patrick are not going to be the top 8 or 5, or whatever, fighting for the race the same way we expect it to be.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think it is difficult to say if I got a big shot at the Championship or shot. Every time I am going to go to a track it is going to be a new track. I get used to the tracks quite easy, so I don't think I am in a big disadvantage. I know I have got a great car everywhere I am going to go like 80% of the time I know it is really going to be a really good car, so I am pretty confident that we can get some really good points and fight and be up there at the end of the year to fight for the Championship.

JUAN MONTOYA: I think it is going to be very important to work -- do a really good job with the engineer because the race car is going to be very important because the -- what you said the level of grip is a lot lower so it is a lot easier to kill the tires, you know, and you can run for the good pace, you have got to do 80 laps on the tires; you can do maybe 40 laps in a good pace, but if you are trying too hard with the tire you are going to kill them. As soon as you kill the tires, then you are going to start going backwards. And I am sure there is going to be a lot of passing.

JUAN MONTOYA: Barber-Saab Championship.

JUAN MONTOYA: Yeah.

JUAN MONTOYA: Yeah.

JUAN MONTOYA: I will agree with what Alex said. They don't treat you like the new boy or anything. They try to make you really as that you are a friend to them, you know, you can be a friend; you can trust them and they want the best for you. And they want to win as bad as you want. So it is great. It gives you a lot of confidence.

JUAN MONTOYA: Well, I couldn't believe it. It got to a point I was like, whoa; came into the last corner, start shifting up to the start/finish line, I said Jesus, I won. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it, you know. We did -- I think, that race was really good for me. We used the head and I think we had a really good car and we used it the way it had to be use.

JUAN MONTOYA: It is difficult to tell.

T.E. McHALE: We are going to open it up for a couple general questions for Juan before we call it a day.

JUAN MONTOYA: Don't know. I got -- so far I got three years signed here. I want to concentrate on these three years. After these three years we have to wait and see where are we at that moment. I am sure sometime in the future I would like to go back. I am sure Dario and -- everyone, when they have done what they plan to do here, they want to try something else, you know, but I think that is too far away to think about.

JUAN MONTOYA: Yeah, it is surprising. It could have been even quicker if we would have won Japan. But I won in the street course. I was very concerned about the road courses, when I arrived to Long Beach because everything was going too well in the ovals. I think people were expecting a lot in the road courses and hopefully -- it was good that everything went the right way.

JUAN MONTOYA: The cars are quite different. These cars are a bit heavier. The steering is a lot heavier than the Formula 1. The gears, of course, in the Formula I is in the steering; here you got a sequential gearbox. I think you have a bit more power here, but at the same time say it is a bit heavier. So the cars are, you know, they accelerate quite similar. I think these cars have a bit more top speed. But in braking, Formula 1 stops quicker because it is lighter. But I think around the corners, like in the really quick corners no big difference. In the medium corners, Formula 1 is a bit quicker because it react quicker, but there is not that much difference.

JUAN MONTOYA: Oh, yeah, it was -- I was very, very nervous when I went to meet them because it was kind of -- my future was in play there and I wanted the job, you know, so got there, I met Chip, I met Morris, I met Alex and then we start to run through all the race. I was trying really hard because, you know, I wanted to get the job. The first impression when I met Alex, I was a bit worried because he is like -- he was like a lot more mature than me, I would think because I am just like a kid, I am 23, but I think they took me -- all of them all three took me in a nice way and you know, I am very, very pleased that Chip took me to the job and I am trying to do the best I can because I don't want to let him down.

JUAN MONTOYA: Yeah, you know, I was trying pretty hard. He said that sometimes it looked a bit scary and everything, but I just wanted the job so badly I was doing the best I could.

JUAN MONTOYA: A name like, I don't know, there is not like a simple name because I think the general level of the drivers is a lot higher than what the people think it is. In Europe they think, you know, they have good drivers, but they are not that good. But when you get to race against them, they are all good racers.

JUAN MONTOYA: Thank you very much.