The celebration was in top gear late Sunday afternoon, a few yards away from victory lane. A few dozen Colombians were waving their national flag, wildly yelling and cheering for their hero. “Pablo, Pablo, Pablo,” was the chant and Juan Pablo Montoya acknowledged his excited countrymen with a big smile and a wave.

But then he did something out of character. He ran over to the fence and started signing their programs and posing for pictures while the IndyCar folks waited to start the trophy presentations. After doing the hat dance and taking the official photos, Montoya walked back to the fence and resumed the goodwill tour with all the fans encircling his winning car. It was like he didn’t want to leave and it was damn cool.

The once-aloof young badass was enjoying the moment and sharing it with his public – something he seldom made time for in the old days. He had one reason to be at the racetrack and that was to destroy you – not to make friends or good first impressions. Tony Kanaan, who’d come into CART the same season with JPM back in 1999, grinned and pointed to his old friend: “That’s something you wouldn’t have seen 15 years ago,” said the third-place finisher in Firestone’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

No question the wins are sweeter these days than they were back in those CART and Formula 1 years. That’s probably because they’re a lot more infrequent than when he dazzled America in 1999 and 2000 before taking his massive talents and success to F1. (RIGHT, battling with one of his current teammates, Helio Castroneves, at Michigan in ’99).

A seven-year stint in NASCAR shocked and saddened many of us because we’d lost this open wheel virtuoso to the world of tin-top toilets and cringed when he said winning a fuel mileage race at Sonoma was better than victory at Monaco or Indianapolis. That wasn’t the master of oversteer we knew and loved, and you feared he’d been lobotomized like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

And his return to IndyCar last year was solid with one win, a few podiums and fourth in the point standings, just not the take-your-breath-away kind of driving we remembered.

“It was a little NASCAR rust and not getting the car the way I wanted it, especially on street courses,” said the 1999 CART champ and 2000 Indy 500 winner. “It took half the season to get confident to try some things that were automatic but I said it would take some time. But I know how good I am on street circuits and the way I ran last year was pretty embarrassing.”

The 39-year-old veteran laughed at his declaration but was being honest. His average starting spot in eight street shows in 2014 was 12th and he managed only one podium. But he spent the testing season working on making the car handle to his liking and it showed this weekend.

He qualified fourth, ran down leader Will Power on black tires, made a typical, great Montoya out-lap after  his final pit stop and snatched the win from his dominant teammate. Power put the pressure, and a wheel, on JPM in the closing laps but couldn’t get past.

“I backed off, just saving my tires and made sure I got off the corners strong,” he said, sounding a lot more like the old Montoya. “He [Power] made a pretty optimistic move and it didn’t work but it’s all good, hard racing.”

His hair is sprinkled with gray, he’s a little stouter than when he left the U.S. after 2000 and his triumph was shared Sunday by his wife Connie, two daughters (but not his son who was racing go-karts) and father Pablo. Montoya isn’t as dismissive as he was as a kid and he’s still intense, but only in the car, as his attitude is even-keeled regardless of the result. He really seems to be enjoying everything about his open wheel rebirth with Roger Penske.

“Honestly, what I like about him, I don’t think he changes his personality,” said Kanaan. “But we all grow up. We have kids. I think we kind of change a little bit in a way. I think you go through experiences in life to learn and I think he got a pretty big wake-up call in NASCAR.

“So when he came back here he was a little bit of a different person. I can still see the old Juan sometimes, which is great, and he’s always a good guy to have beside you and not against you. But I think he has a big vision now for the fans and the people that care about the sport, which I think in a way he didn’t before.”

Montoya still flashes that devilish grin and it was front and center Sunday. He was happy, of course, but it also seemed half-assed giddy. Like maybe he knew that old magic was back.