Montoya's win stirs vivid memories for Earl Ross

In the sun soaked hills of California's wine country Juan Montoya was basking in the glory of his remarkable breakthrough win. Buzzing with the taste of victory, a celebration took place for Montoya and many who've become fans of the aggressive and confident Colombian-born driver.

Beau Estes co-hosts the Jack Daniel's Post-Race Show with Nikki Alexander. It can be seen following every Nextel Cup race live on NASCAR.COM.

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At the same time, in a remote corner of North America -- world's away, on 50 acres of quiet rolling countryside in Ailsa Craig, Ontario, Canada, a wizened 66-year-old watched on his television set, keen with interest. Blessed to have his family sitting alongside him, the man had a unique perspective on the events unfolding on the screen. Indeed, there is a personal connection.

"This might happen ... how do you feel?" asked his son-in-law Trevor Moore. "It's about bloody time," he roared. And as the laps wound down and the remaining uncertainty became certain he yelled at his set "Finally!" In the world of racing, 33 years is an eternity.

The man is Earl Ross. Prior to Sunday's road course victory for Montoya, Ross was the most recent non-American born driver to win on NASCAR's highest circuit.

The year was 1974 and Martinsville, Va., was the site. "I won that race in Martinsville and it was an experience I certainly won't forget," Ross said. And who could blame him? "The truth is I ran the last 100 laps with no brakes. I told my crew chief Gord McKichan and he hopped in the car to move it then hopped right back out and said, 'You aren't kidding.'"

Ahhh, those were the days in NASCAR. Back when men with names like Petty and Pearson ruled the roost -- and the venerable veteran from Canada raced them all. He's got a few good stories to tell too. "I can remember at Charlotte there was a

caution one day and I pulled up alongside of David Pearson and he was just sitting in his car smoking a cigarette," Ross said. "He was a pretty cool customer in those situations."

Then there was the time at Michigan when he finished second to King Richard and just behind Ross was Pearson -- no doubt already drawing on a smoke.

Before jumping into the big league of NASCAR, Ross turned laps mainly in Ontario, but he also ran his car in places like Delaware and Fort Wayne. However, like his successor Montoya, Ross had a dream. "The first time I ever saw a superspeedway was in 1971," he said. "The guy that helped me out said, 'Let's go to Daytona.' When I first saw the place I thought, 'Oh man is that unbelievable.' And just a few years later I was there. It was a dream."

In fact, Ross is right, it was more likely a pipedream before the now defunct Canadian company Carling Breweries stepped in. "In 1974 they wanted me to run a few races down there and it was a pretty good experience for us," Ross said. "Before Daytona the biggest track I had ever raced on was five-eighths of a mile."

Welcome to The Great American Race.

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The experience didn't last long though. Carling Breweries decided that its money was better spent funding Ross's all-Canadian team on the Canadian circuit and just as fast as the dream began, it was over.

"I had a chance to stay in NASCAR with five different teams, but in those days drivers were a little more loyal," Ross said. "I had a good time down there but I don't have any regrets."

It's a Catch 22 that still exists today, according to the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Famer. "It's very few non-Americans that get in," Ross said. "American companies do the sponsoring so they want American drivers. It's one of those things, but it makes sense."

However, according to Ross, there are some Canadians that could make some noise on the Nextel Cup circuit. "D.J. Kennington for one -- if he had a good ride down there he could do it," he said. "He is a driver that could get the job done if he had the right team."

Following his cameo south of his Canadian border, Ross ran regularly until the late '70s then, just when he thought his racing career was over, Ford of Canada came calling and lured him back behind the wheel for a run again in the mid '90s.

In 1999, on the 25th anniversary of his win in NASCAR the organizers at Martinsville brought him down to meet some of the drivers from the modern era in celebration of his landmark win. That's when Ross noticed another change in the sport.

"The new drivers seem to be smaller in stature," he said. "Back in my days there was no power steering. In the old days it was arm-strong steering." But he quickly adds that "the drivers today are very talented."

He still watches the races these days when his schedule permits. His life is busied by the recent sale of his metal and aluminum construction company but the end of his working days is in site.

"I'm helping with the transition but after six months to a year I'll just fade off into the sunset," he said.

Still though, perhaps more important endeavors lie ahead.

"I'll probably work on an old '52 Ford Victoria that I've got and a '35 Ford pickup," he said.

And if the Canadian champ met the champ from Colombia what would he say? "I'd tell him congratulations and I hope he wins more," a proud Ross said. "He's pretty darn good at those road races. I think he's still learning on the ovals but he's already doing pretty good on those too."

Ovals like the one Earl Ross made history on 33 years ago.

Question of the Week
OK, before I get to the QOW I have to take off my journalism hat (they gave us that instead of a degree when I graduated college) and say what a pleasure it was to watch someone's dream come true on Sunday. After the race Montoya -- a champion the world over -- said, "It's the biggest thing I've done. It's unbelievable."

No matter where you stand on Montoya and his driving you have to like the respect he has for NASCAR by saying the above.

Now, after the preamble it's time for the QOW. This week I want to know whether you think the result at Sonoma was a fluke or a trend so I'm going to give you three choices from which to select.

How many wins do you think Juan Montoya will tally in his entire NASCAR career?

A. 1-5
B. 6-10
C. More than 10

I'll hold off my comments on this one so I don't influence the voting, but I will remind you once again that if you read the column last week I went out on an island and picked JPM in Sonoma (breaking my arm patting myself on the back) so perhaps that gives you an indication of the esteem I hold the driver of the 42 car in.

Last Week's Question of the Week
Pandora's Box has nothing on the can of worms I opened up last week. Remember, I asked you to tell me who you thought was the most naturally talented driver on the Nextel Cup circuit and also to explain to me how you determine the talent of a driver. The results were both surprising and overwhelming.

First I'll deal with the poll results. I'm only going to name the top five because there were several drivers that wouldn't have made more than 1 percentage point in the poll.

For instance, of the hundreds of votes I received, Ward Burton was selected once and the person actually made a very compelling argument regarding Ward's skills.

The envelope please ... (the ellipsis in this case indicates a drum roll)

1. Jeff Gordon 45.8%
2. Tony Stewart 40%
3. Jimmie Johnson 5.5%
4. Matt Kenseth 4.7%
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3.6%

First let me say that I am stunned by the great disparity between the numbers of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart versus the rest of the drivers in NASCAR. I can't tell you how many e-mails I received that said roughly, "You can't tell anyone I said this because I'm a huge Junior fan, but I must admit the argument comes down to Tony and Jeff."

Moreover, I had several votes that had to be thrown out because the respondent couldn't decide between Jeff and Tony.

One thing is now clear to me: If the people that read and respond to my column are in any way representative of NASCAR, then NASCAR Nation clearly believes that the men manning the controls of the 20 and 24 cars bring way more to the table than anyone else. This caught me completely off guard.

Also, this week I really had to eliminate some compelling and rich arguments regarding the determining factors in driver talent. So, here now are this week's e-mail champions ...

Regarding talent ... Talent should be based on the following:

1. The ability to race numerous venues and classes of auto racing
2. The ability to avoid wrecks
3. The ability to perform "saves" when the car is seemingly out of control
4. Can take risks on the track that other drivers would not try
5. Operating efficiently on pit road (not wrecking or speeding)
6. The ability to communicate correctly the symptoms when his car is not operating properly to his crew chief
7. The ability to drive from the rear of the field to the front during a race

My vote for the most talented is Tony Stewart.
-- Alan from Blaine, Minn.

This was the most clear and concise explanation that I received. I really like the inclusion of Nos. 4 and 7.

When you throw the word NATURALLY into the most talented driver I believe that limits your options to two drivers, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart -- two dichotomies when it comes to personality, but cut from the same driver cloth. I give the slight edge to Jeff Gordon.

The real tiebreaker for me was watching Jeff Gordon tool around the Indy F1 track in Juan Montoya's car, and in what was nothing more than a few hot laps, turned in a lap time that would have qualified for the previous year's F1 race.
-- Kevin from Carmel, Ind.

This is a great example of how these two guys seem to have separated themselves in the eyes of the fans.

I don't think there's much of a choice but to say Jeff Gordon. He certainly has the most impressive record of any of the current drivers and won a championship after only two years in the Cup Series. And at almost 36 years old he's still got another 15 years (at least) of racing in him. I don't see him going anywhere for a long while, perhaps to the dismay of many Cup fans!
-- Heidi from Ontario, Canada

In honor of Earl Ross I finished with thoughts from the land of the Maple Leaf. By the way, if Jeff Gordon races for 15 more years only Richard Petty's records will be safe.

Chat Room Chatter
I couldn't go back through and read the chat room because some of the disgusting comments by what I hope is a small minority of the participants. Therefore, I peeled these directly off the Jack Daniel's Post-Race Show crawl at the bottom of the screen. As NASCAR fans we're better than what I saw and we need to show it. In the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I've got to say about that."

I know it is tough, but how can a pit boss let someone run out of the liquid gold?
-- Jackie from Oklahoma

It's a strategy I actually like. Basically these people that went for it were putting their chips on the table and saying that the only reason they had shown up in Sonoma was to win. For the 10,000th time -- these are races and races are meant to be won. I'm not nearly as interested in a points champion as I am a race winner.

The 24 and 48 car should be made an example of.
-- Rich from West Palm Beach

I must disagree on this one. NASCAR should punish teams for their infractions, but to make an example of a person or team would imply "over-punishment" and therefore would mean that others were getting off lightly for similar infractions.

Juan Montoya finally got the win.
-- James from Richmond, Va.

Finally? Halfway into his rookie season he gets the first Dodge win of the year and the first win by a rookie. I'd say he's doing just fine thank you very much.

As we head into New Hampshire, I can think of nothing better than Robby Gordon leading with Montoya roaring up on the 7 car as the race winds down.

Perhaps JPM's crew chief Donnie Wingo can just read Gordon's post-Sonoma comments to Montoya over and over to him on the radio just to fire the 42 team up. Gordon said the teams that beat him were "nowhere all day long."

In some respects I agree with him. Fuel mileage races are about as fun as a live shark sandwich, but the remarks will certainly, shall we say, be inspiring to Chip Ganassi's men.

In any case, this week I'm going with Smoke.

Enjoy the race everyone.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.