[vincesanity82]

Juan Pablo Montoya has one hand on the steering wheel as he speaks rapid-fire Spanish into his cell phone, taking a brief break from the bump-drafting demonstration he's conducting down the middle of Michigan Avenue. Montoya and his teammates, David Stremme and Reed Sorenson, have been turned loose on the streets of downtown Chicago on Monday afternoon, driving streetgoing replicas of their NASCAR cars.


They're driving to Wrigley Field, where Sorenson will throw out the first pitch and all three drivers will sing ``Take Me Out to the Ballgame'' during the seventh-inning stretch. It's part of an appearance for chewing gum manufacturer Wrigley, one of the Ganassi team's sponsors. The ride's not quite as wild as the rental-car scene in the movie ``Days of Thunder,'' but the three cars do have a few scratches by the time they reach the ballpark.
The afternoon begins with Stremme ramming his front bumper into the rear of Montoya's car, jolting Montoya and his passengers. Montoya -- who seems to be the responsible adult of this bunch -- knows how to get his teammate back but restrains himself.

``I could put it in reverse and pop their air bags,'' Montoya says with a mischievous grin. ``That would be funny!''
The three cars head north past the high-end shops of the ``Magnificent Mile'' as Montoya does a show-and-tell to explain what it's like to bump-draft down the straightaway at Daytona International Speedway. At speeds of more than 180 mph at Daytona, a driver will give the car in front of him a push by plowing his front bumper into the leading car's rear bumper, allowing both cars to go faster.
Montoya is only doing about 35 mph as he explains you don't even back off the gas to bump-draft at Daytona -- then he gives Stremme's bumper a little nudge for emphasis.

``It's pretty cool,'' Montoya says.
Later in the drive, Sorenson pulls even with Montoya and swerves hard to the left, scraping fenders with Montoya and hitting the gas to pull in front.
Stremme pulls up to Montoya and yells out the window: ``I can't believe you let him lay a fender to you!''
Montoya rolls his eyes at his younger teammates' antics.
Besides, Montoya has something more important on his mind: singing the seventh-inning stretch without subjecting himself to national ridicule as Jeff Gordon did when he called it ``Wrigley Stadium'' and sang horribly off-key a few years ago.
All three Ganassi drivers were given lyrics sheets and have been practicing. Montoya sings a flawless (well, almost) rendition song as he parks his car in front of the ballpark.
Sponsorship appearances are part of the job for drivers, and this one is more fun than most of them. Montoya says his all-time favorite sponsorship event came a few years ago when he was driving in Formula One and was invited aboard the America's Cup yacht Alinghi for a practice session.

``I was driving it,'' Montoya said. ``That was a really cool experience.''
Montoya isn't a huge baseball fan -- after winning the 2000 Indianapolis 500, he was invited to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, and he air-mailed it to the backstop -- but he has been to Wrigley Field before and enjoys the festive atmosphere.
Sorenson later threw out the first pitch without bouncing it in the dirt, and all three drivers are cheered after getting through the seventh-inning stretch without a Jeff Gordon moment.

Montoya answered a few questions during the drive up to the ballpark:
Q: What are you usually like as a driver when you're on the road, away from the track?
JPM: ``I used to be really bad when I was younger. I'm honest. I think like any driver, I was pretty irresponsible before. But now I'm pretty calm about it. From time to time, there's a nice onramp, and you just haul (butt) through it. But now I am pretty good.''
Q: But you have two kids. You must have a minivan, right?
JPM: ``My wife's car is the Hummer, and she's got a (Porsche) Cayenne.''
Q: What do you drive?
A: ``I have a pickup truck, the Dodge Ram with the Viper engine in it. That's a lot of fun. And I have an Audi.''
Q: So did you practice singing ``Take Me Out to the Ballgame?''
JPM: ``I did play it a couple times. I kind of know it a little bit.''
Q: OK, complete the following phrase: ``So let's root, root, root for the ...''
JPM: ``Cub-bies! But the sheet they gave me said the words were, 'Let me root, root, root for the Cubbies.'''
Q: I think that's actually correct.
JPM: ``You see how I know it? You've got to be pretty impressed with that.''
Q: What other sports did you watch growing up in Colombia? Did you like soccer?
JPM: ``Oh, no. What's to like about it? I never liked it.''
Q: There has been a lot of talk about teammates not getting along in NASCAR this week. How are teammate relationships different in NASCAR then they are in Formula One?
JPM: ``You actually talk to them. In F1, you hardly talk to your teammates.''
(As if on cue, Sorenson pulls aside and slams his fender into Montoya's.)
JPM: ``Such a moron.''


So let's root, root, root for ... Montoya? - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

[Quality88]

Bet they get booed then again, it would be funny as hell if they did better than Gordon, of course, that wouldn't be hard.