Juan Pablo Montoya shows reluctance before dominating 2000 Indy 500 debut

Juan Pablo Montoya's win in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 is still one of the most legendary debuts in the history of the Brickyard but the Colombian recently admitted he never wanted to be in the race.

Speaking on the BBC Chequered Flag Podcast with 1996 Formula 1 champion Damon Hill the two time Indy 500 winner reminisced over the circumstances that led to him becoming a rookie winner of the iconic event. Hill: I’m impressed with the Indy 500 That's pretty cool.

Montoya responded: Yeah Indy honestly the first one was really funny because I really didn’t want to do it I had to do it.

At the time Montoya was more focused on his CART championship campaign.

Asked if it was through fear the seven-time F1 grand prix winner said: “No. Remember, at that time the championships were separated, so I was defending the CART championship, and the car was breaking down every week, and then they said, ‘Oh, we’re going to do this.

And I was like, ‘Why are we taking focus with that [Indy 500], to run that?’ And so it was kind of strange. "I was supposed to be taking the rookie test. “You have to run 190 miles an hour and then 195 and then 200, we just came from Japan and they said ‘OK, just go out, do a few warm-up laps before that.

And so I went out, I was wide open by lap two. I was running 220 and I was the second fastest of the day. It was like 'Oh OK, you're OK.

Montoya would go on to lead a total of 167 of the 200 laps at the 2000 Indy 500, becoming the first rookie driver to win since Damon’s father Graham Hill in 1966. He went on to claim his second win of the event in 2015.