Last Chance 500

Two races ago, Juan Montoya had a 28-point lead in the CART FedEx championship series and Target team owner Chip Ganassi was being congratulated for having won an unprecedented fourth consecutive champ car crown.

“Wait a minute, it’s not over yet. There are still three races to run,” Ganassi protested. “This is racing, a lot of things can happen.”

Surely he was jesting.

Montoya, a precocious 23-year-old rookie from Colombia, had taken CART by storm, winning seven races, sitting on the pole seven times and astounding champ car followers by outdoing his predecessor, two-time champion Alex Zanardi. No one else had won more than twice.

Then Ganassi’s fears came to bear.

Dario Franchitti, a Scotsman who is in his second year with Team Kool Green, had been doggedly chasing Montoya and was 28 points behind going to Houston, race No. 18 of a 20-race season.

Franchitti finished second there, behind teammate Paul Tracy. Montoya crashed after 12 laps.

Australia was next. Franchitti won, Montoya crashed again with 17 laps remaining and as Ganassi had feared, his driver had lost the lead after being on top for 13 races.

“I made a simple mistake and it cost us,” Montoya said. “We had a winning car and I just locked the rear brakes, turned around and tagged the wall. Very stupid.”

Franchitti holds a nine-point advantage, 209-200, with only Sunday’s Marlboro 500 at California Speedway (noon, ESPN) remaining to determine who wins the PPG Cup and its $1-million bonus.

Both drive Honda-powered Reynards with Firestone tires.

Another $1 million will go to the race winner Sunday.

“Obviously, we’re not where we wanted to be, we had some problems in the last few races, but we’re comfortable with the last race being on a big oval,” Montoya said. “We ran well at Michigan, and if we can still be hanging around the leaders after 450 miles Sunday we’ll have a chance at the championship.”

In the U.S. 500 at Michigan, CART’s only other 500-mile race, Montoya finished second, Franchitti fifth.

“This is what we worked hard for, to have a shot at the title,” Franchitti said. “We had a perfect weekend in Australia. We hope for a similar result in Fontana.

“When [team manager] Kim Green came on the radio [in Australia] and said Juan was out, all I thought was ‘Don’t make a mistake. This is what we’ve been waiting for.’ Even when Juan was ahead in midseason [in points], we never gave up the thought of winning. We knew the only way back was to keep working, and that’s what we’ll be doing until Sunday night, working, working, working.”

Franchitti has three wins this year, all on temporary street courses, in Toronto, Detroit and Australia. He has never won on an oval.

“Five hundred miles always makes for an interesting race,” said Franchitti, who began his career racing karts near his home in Edinburgh. “It takes different tactics. You must hang around, then go for it at the end. It’s the kind of a race where you can be leading going into the last lap and finish 10th. Or the other way around.”

Both Franchitti and Montoya have front-running teammates to help them stay close to the lead, Tracy for Franchitti and Jimmy Vasser for Montoya. Tracy appeared to have the race at Fontana won with four laps remaining last year when he spun into the wall, enabling Vasser to win the $1-million prize.

Vasser, the 1996 CART champion and winner of two 500-mile races, has been impressed by Montoya.

“The kid has nerves of steel,” said Vasser, who is winless this year for the first time since 1995. “Maybe someone should remind him that he’s 23 and on the brink of winning the championship. He really has the right attitude. I’m proud to be his teammate, but that doesn’t mean I don’t plan on cruising by him Sunday. I’m still going to win a race this year, and it’s my last chance.”

Sunday’s race, 250 laps around a two-mile oval, will start at noon with more than 85,000 expected. One of the biggest surprises in Montoya’s success has been his record on ovals. Coming from a road racing background, he was not expected to make much of a stir on left-turn-only tracks. Especially for a rookie who had never driven on one before coming to CART this season.

However, three of his seven wins have been on oval tracks, at Nazareth (Pa.), Rio de Janeiro and Chicago, the first race at Ganassi’s new track.

“Each track is a challenge, each one, even the ovals, is unique and I like that,” Montoya said. “I’m very proud of my win at Nazareth. That was my first real oval win and no one expected me to race very well there. It was right after the win in Long Beach, so it really gave me and the team confidence and made people realize that I did belong in the CART series.”

Ganassi said that what most impresses him about the young Colombian is his ability to adapt.

“You’ve got to remember that he’s never even seen each track we visit,” he said. “Most of the new drivers have raced in Indy Lights and have at least seen them.

“Michigan is the race that sticks in my mind. He only got second, but it was a great drive. It’s hard to explain how you have to temper your enthusiasm as a driver in these 500-mile races because they’re so much longer than anything else. To accomplish what Juan did was just one great drive.”

California Speedway won’t be new to Montoya, however. He tested there recently.

“First I tested and then Jimmy tested,” Montoya said. “We work separately so we will have open minds, but after the tests we compare notes. I ask questions and he asks questions, then we give each other the answers.

“Fontana was the first superspeedway I ever saw. I came for last year’s race to watch and when I went out to the first turn, on the outside, and saw those cars coming at me, my eyes really got wide.

“I like the ovals. They are much different from road races or street circuits, which I ran in Europe. I like them because of the speed, they are so much faster, and because of the handling. It is so important to have the car set up right.

“When I came here, I expected to do well on the road and in the street, but I admit I was surprised how quickly I became comfortable on the ovals.”

Having walls all around the ovals has frightened away many road racing drivers. Alan Jones, for instance, took a crack at Ontario Motor Speedway with the intent of driving in the Indianapolis 500 while he was the world Formula One champion, but after being told he should be no more than a foot from the wall while running 220 mph, he said no thanks and went home to Australia.

Montoya has no such problem.

“The walls are no big deal,” he said. “Street courses have walls. That’s not the big difference. Ovals are just not forgiving. On the road, if you make a little mistake, you can powerslide out of trouble. Not on the ovals. You powerslide and you’re in the wall. Not good.”

Montoya’s accomplishments have become big news in his troubled homeland. “The whole country has gone crazy,” he said. “I can’t go to a restaurant or take a girl to the movies without getting mobbed. I feel like a rock star.”

He hopes they have reason to celebrate Sunday night.