Why Roger Penske wants Juan Pablo Montoya on his IndyCar team

If you’re a race-car driver in search of a job, it helps to know a billionaire.

Racing mogul Roger Penske hired Juan Pablo Montoya to join his IndyCar team next year even though Penske doesn’t yet have a single sponsor to help finance Montoya’s car for even one race.

No matter. Penske is willing to take a chance on Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000 with owner Chip Ganassi but hasn’t raced Indy-style cars since then.

“The bottom line for us is that Juan has been a winner,” Penske President Tim Cindric told reporters Monday.

Montoya raced in the Formula One series from 2001 to 2006, where he won seven times, before migrating to stock-car racing in 2007 with Ganassi’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, where he’s had considerably less success.

In fact, Ganassi declined to re-sign Montoya for next year, leaving the Colombian free to accept the offer from Penske, 76, whose team has a record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories.

Montoya turns 38 on Friday, and Cindric was asked whether Montoya’s age -- combined with being out of an IndyCar race car for 13 years -- was a liability heading into next year.

Cindric discounted the suggestion, noting that Penske driver Helio Castroneves, at 38, currently leads the IndyCar point standings and four-time champion Dario Franchitti of Ganassi’s team is 40. (Penske’s other IndyCar driver is Australian Will Power, who’s 32.)

“I look at Helio, I look at Dario, I look at the fact that Juan as been a winner in everything he’s been in,” Cindric said. “What convinced us was really, you know, [Montoya’s] overall dedication to this program.

“Helio is sitting there leading the points and he’s not a young pup either,” Cindric said. “Time will tell how all that plays out.”

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