Juan Pablo Montoya achieved the rare honour of winning the Indianapolis 500 at the very first attempt. It was a race he was “forced” to do, however.

Montoya opened up on why he had little interest in taking on the 2000 Indy 500. Damon Hill, meanwhile, reflected on the achievement of his father Graham Hill, who also won the Indy 500 as a rookie, and, as it turns out, revolutionised the on-site toilet facilities.

Juan Pablo Montoya was ‘forced’ into 2000 Indy 500

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At that point in time, CART, and the Indy Racing League – the latter holding the iconic Indianapolis 500 – were separate championships.

After winning the 1999 CART title with Chip Ganassi Racing, Montoya remained with the team for 2000, and also that year made his Indy 500 debut.

Montoya won the Indy 500 on debut. Not bad for a driver in a race which he had wanted no part of.

Appearing on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast, Montoya was introduced as the seven-time grand prix, and two-time Indy 500 winner. He won the event for a second time in 2015.

“I am impressed by the Indy 500,” said podcast co-star, the 1996 world champion Damon Hill. “That’s very cool.”

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

“I was forced to do it.”

Montoya clarified that this was not due to a fear of the daunting oval spectacle, but rather, he was “not into it.”

He continued: “Remember, at that time, the championships were split, so I was defending the CART championship, and the car was breaking down every week, and then they said, ‘Oh, we’re going to run this’. And I was like, ‘Why are we taking focus with that [Indy 500], to run that?’ And so it was kind of weird.

“I was supposed to do the rookie test. You’ve got to do 190 miles an hour, then 195, then 200, we just came from Japan, and they said, ‘Okay, just go out, do a few warm-up laps before that.’

“And so I went out, and by lap two, I was wide open. I was doing 220 and I was second fast of the day. It was like, ‘Oh okay, you’re okay.'”

Graham Hill, the two-time world champion and father of Damon, also won the Indy 500 as a rookie back in 1966.

It turns out that his achievements stretched beyond the oval.

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“My dad said – because he was given a briefing beforehand – A. J. Foyt came out and said, ‘Nobody wins Indy first time out,'” Damon stated.

“So my dad won it first time out.

“But he said the next best thing he ever did was he got them to put doors on the toilets.

“Apparently, up until then, you had to go to the men’s room, and there were no toilet doors. So he had a word with them, and apparently they then, after that, had doors on the toilets.”

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