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In what NASCAR President Mike Helton called ‘a historic moment’ for his league, Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya said that he would move to NASCAR full time next year. ‘There’s not a car owner on this planet who wouldn’t want this guy in their cars,’ said a very happy Chip Ganassi, the team owner who signed Montoya for NASCAR.

‘I’d rather race here and work with Chip and have fun than be [on the global F1 tour] and not enjoying it,’ Montoya said. Ganassi will have a vacancy on his three-car NASCAR team when Casey Mears leaves to join Hendrick Motorsports at the end of this season. Montoya heard about the opening at last week’s U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis. He’d already grown fascinated with NASCAR by watching it on television and playing video games.

‘He called me up a few days ago and said, `Hey, you looking for a driver?” Ganassi said. ‘He said, `I want to drive that car.’ I said, `Do you know which car I’m talking about?’ He said, `Yeah, the 42 [being vacated by Mears].’ I said, `OK, fine.” Said Montoya: ‘It took us an hour to close everything. It was that simple. I’m straight with Chip, he’s straight with me, and things just worked out great.’ Switching from 1,200-pound F1 cars to 3,400-pound stock cars will require vastly different driving styles. Ganassi is not worried.

‘I’ve seen this guy adapt to cars and adapt to tracks like no other driver I’ve ever seen,’ he said. ‘I don’t have any question that he’ll be able to adapt to a Cup car and a Busch car. He’ll be doing Cup and Busch. ‘It’s not going to be a walk in the park. It’s going to be a lot of work over the winter. It’s going to be a work in progress in 2007. It’s a great challenge. What better opportunity than to have someone like this in your car and take on that challenge together?

Said Helton: ‘He’s an international name, a successful open-wheel driver in multiple series, and so it’s just a historic moment.’ NASCAR has been heavily courting Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and Mexico, and Montoya’s huge following is centered in South America. Montoya hinted he had grown bored with Formula One, which is ultra-high tech but has precious little passing or side-by-side competition. ‘Anyone who watches their races knows it’s not the most exciting thing you can watch,’ Montoya said.

In NASCAR, slam-banging is standard procedure. Montoya will leave an estimated $14 million annual salary with the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team to drive a Dodge for Ganassi, who fielded IndyCars for Montoya in the U.S. in 1999 and 2000. Montoya’s salary from Ganassi was not disclosed, but top NASCAR drivers average about $5 million a year in base salary and up to $10 million in endorsements.

Driving for Ganassi, Montoya won the CART championship in ‘99 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, his only try. Driving first for Williams-BMW and the last two seasons for McLaren-Mercedes, Montoya has won seven F1 races and 13 poles since 2001. But that amounted to disappointment and frustration for the 30-year-old Colombian, whom some have projected as the next Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher.