Driver

As race-driving becomes more and more specialized, the Colombian stands virtually alone as one who not only has competed in but triumphed in Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar and the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Winning in F1, Indy cars and NASCAR puts Montoya on a par with inductees Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney. As a non-American, only his credentials in U.S. motorsports count toward induction (i.e., ignore his F1 record), but his resume here is first-rate. He’s a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner (2000, 2015) and won 1999 CART Rookie of the Year in the most convincing way possible: by becoming by season’s end the youngest ever CART FedEx (now IndyCar) Champion. Montoya left IndyCar for NASCAR, where he won two Cup Series races in nine seasons, then returned to IndyCar for more success, including his second Indy win on his way to runner-up in the 2015 IndyCar standings. Montoya had won three Rolex 24s at Daytona (2007-8, 2013) when he returned to sportscar racing full-time in 2018, capturing the 2019 WeatherTech Sportscar Championship for Acura Team Penske.