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Liz Biro: Juan Pablo Montoya's guilty pleasure

Montoya is a monster racer, but when it comes to eating, he's hardly a champagne and caviar kind of rock star

Liz Biro
liz.biro@indystar.com
Juan Pablo Montoya, of Team Penske celebrates after winning the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500. His celebration meal? He wasn't sure. He's not one to plan ahead when it comes to food.
  • What Montoya eats on race day
  • What Montoya cooks
  • What Montoya craves

Juan Pablo Montoya's all over racing. Besides winning the Indianapolis 500 – twice -- the Colombian has won races in Formula One, CART, Grand-Am and NASCAR. Montoya is a monster racer, but when it comes to eating, he's hardly a champagne and caviar kind of rock star. I caught up with him at Indianapolis Motor Speedway days before the Indy 500 to talk about what he eats before and after a race.

Q: What do you eat for breakfast on Indy 500 race day?

A: I always tend to eat the same because I know it's OK when I drive the car, it gives me a lot of energy. It's always good. I always eat the same cereal with a banana in the morning.

Q: What kind of cereal? Fruity Pebbles?

A: No, no, no (laughs). Weetabix. You know, it's like a fiber thing. I'll eat that with a banana and milk and then I'll eat pasta and chicken before the race. I think all of the drivers, if you ask, 80 percent of them probably eat the same thing, pasta and chicken. Most of the time, or maybe (I'll have) basmati rice and chicken.

Q: Tell me about your chicken and pasta. Marinara sauce?

A: It depends. Sometimes it will be a little bit of marinara sauce or just a little bit of olive oil. It depends how close is the race, how much time do you have between eating and the race. And a lot of times it's chicken on the grill. A lot of people eat it really plain, but you cook it on the grill, it's plain, but you get a little barbecue (flavor).

Q: Do you cook for yourself?

A: I have a guy that cooks for me but I like cooking. I do a little bit of cooking myself.

Q: When you do a little bit of cooking, what's your favorite thing to cook?

A: I cook just about anything to be honest. I cook a lot, so it's not a problem. I like cooking. I've been cooking for a long time.

Q: What's your specialty?

A: I do a really good curry, but I don't do it at the track. Yellow curry with chicken. Uff! It's really, really good, but that's not for race day.

Q: Secret recipe?

A: Yeah, yeah. I learned it years ago. It comes out really good.

Q:And you don't cook it for race day. Is that because you don't want to upset your stomach during the race?

A: No, my stomach is really very good. I know a lot of guys are careful, but I think the more strict you are, the more fragile you are. So, I'll pretty much eat everything.

Q: The Indianapolis 500 is over. You've won. What are you going to eat to celebrate?

A: I don't know. I don't plan anything. I just do whatever comes. I eat a lot of Qdoba here. I've got like the munchies for pizza right now. I'm not eating it because we go (bike) pedal every morning, but, uff, pizza.

Q: Pepperoni?

A: No, Hawaiian. Ham and pineapple.

Q: When you're not racing, will you continue to stick to a stricter diet?

A: It's actually worst for breakfast. It's just a banana. And then I go for a bike ride. Then I'll eat whatever for lunch. I'm not too picky. And then dinner, a lot of times it will be fish and carrots or something. If I'm getting ready and preparing for the season, I try to eat pretty light.

Q: What's you guilty pleasure?

A: Ooh! Yeah, ice cream.

Q: Flavor?

A: Chocolate.

Q: Chocolate. You're pretty straight up, no surprises.

A: Nooo.

Q: Thanks Juan. I'll be looking for that yellow curry recipe in my inbox. Ciao.

A: (Laughs)

Call Liz Biro at (317) 444-6264. Follow her on Twitter @lizbiro, Instagram @lizbirodish and Facebook.