Hélio Castroneves

Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Carb Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	May 10, 1975 (1975-05-10) São Paulo, Brazil
2012 IndyCar Series
Debut season	2001
Current team	Penske Racing
Car no.	3
Starts	139
Wins	19
Poles	32
Best finish	2nd in 2003 & 2008
Previous series
1996-1997 1998-2001	Indy Lights CART
Awards
2001 2002 2009	Indianapolis 500 Winner Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Indianapolis 500 Winner Indianapolis 500 Winner

Hélio Castroneves (born Hélio Castro Neves; May 10, 1975 in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) is a Brazilian auto racing driver currently competing in the North American IndyCar Series. In IndyCar competition, Castroneves has 14 wins and 28 poles, and has never placed lower than sixth in the standings in a complete season of racing till 2011, where he placed eleventh. Prior to IndyCar, Castroneves competed in the CART championship with a highest championship points finish of fourth.

Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 in 2001, 2002 and 2009, making him one of only nine drivers to date to have won at least three. He finished second to teammate and countryman Gil de Ferran in 2003. Castroneves has won four pole positions for the Indy 500, including back-to-back poles in 2009 and 2010 for the first time since Scott Brayton.

Racing career

Starting his career in karting, Castroneves later raced in the Paul Stewart Racing team, and finished third in the 1995 British Formula Three Championship. [1]

Castroneves driving for Paul Stewart Racing at Silverstone during the 1995 British Formula Three Championship season.

Hélio Castroneves during a practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

After being occasionally misidentified by U.S. media as "Helio Neves" he at first changed the spelling to Helio Castro-Neves and then to the current spelling. He has one sister, Katiucia. Castroneves was first recognized while driving for Steve Horne's Tasman Racing team in Indy Lights, interestingly as teammate to fellow Brazilian and future IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan.

After showing potential but lacking reliability while with the Bettenhausen and Hogan teams, Helio was signed by Penske Racing in CART in 2000 following the deaths of Greg Moore and Gonzalo Rodríguez during the last races of the 1999 season. Moore had signed on with Penske but never had the opportunity to race with the team. Castroneves immediately became a regular front-runner winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2001, the first of three wins where he again performed the crowd pleasing act of climbing the fence at the start finish line in celebration, something he would continue to do after winning races. He switched with the team to the rival IRL for 2002, and remained with Penske, teamed with Gil de Ferran, Sam Hornish, Jr., and Ryan Briscoe during his tenure through the 2008 season. In January 2009, Team Penske temporarily replaced him with Will Power, citing the difficulties of remaining competitive while Castroneves prepared for trial on federal tax evasion charges. Castroneves missed the first race of the 2009 season while the trial was ongoing, but returned to racing at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Racing fans have given Castroneves the nickname "Spider-Man" because of his victory celebration, in which he climbs the trackside debris fence.

On May 24, 2009, Castroneves became Indy's 9th (and first foreign-born) three-time winner, by taking the checkered flag for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

Records

Castroneves currently holds IRL IndyCar Series records for most top-ten finishes (93); Poles (30); and most consecutive seasons with a race win (10). In 2009 he reset the all-time record for most wins (22) and starts (209) by a driver who has not won the National Championship, taking these records from Bill Holland at Indy and compatriot Raul Boesel at Richmond respectively. His 23rd career win, at Barber Motorsports Park in 2010, broke a tie with his former manager Emerson Fittipaldi for most IndyCar wins by a Brazilian driver.

Other appearances

Aside from success in racing, Castroneves won the fifth season of the American reality TV show Dancing with the Stars with partner Julianne Hough. He has also appeared on truTV's The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... as a frequent commentator—mainly on episodes that feature the "World's Dumbest Drivers". He currently lives in Ft. Lauderdale.

Personal life

Castroneves and his girlfriend, Adriana Henao, welcomed a daughter, Mikaella, on December 28, 2009, at 4:15 pm EST. She was due January 6, 2010.

Legal issues

On October 2, 2008, Castroneves was charged with conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion by a grand jury for purportedly failing to report to the IRS about $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004, according to court documents. Each count carries a maximum five-year prison sentence. His business manager and sister Kati, and his lawyer Alan Miller were charged with assisting Castroneves in the supposed scheme. All three defendants surrendered to authorities in Florida on Friday, October 3, 2008. Castroneves pled not guilty to these charges on October 3, and was ordered released on $10 million bail. Castroneves was replaced by Will Power during the duration of his tax evasion court case. The IRS claimed that Castroneves owes $2.3 million in taxes. A guilty verdict would have likely ended Castroneves' racing career.

This issue was related to the initial contract signed by Castroneves with Penske Racing after Greg Moore's death at the California Speedway during the Marlboro 500 on October 31, 1999. In the trial, it was reported that Castroneves' first contract with Penske (2000–04) was signed with Moore's contract with the names changed in ink to reflect the replacement driver. The deal was signed by Moore's agent, Alan Miller, who signed Castroneves' deal days after Moore's funeral as pressure from Penske sponsors forced a quick resolution to finding a replacement.

Central to the case was the ownership of a Panamanian company called Seven Promotions. Prosecutors called it a shell corporation set up primarily so Castroneves could dodge U.S. income taxes, but Castroneves' father testified he created Seven to boost his son's image in Brazil. The elder Castroneves said his son never owned it. Prosecutors called that a lie, showing jurors numerous documents in which Castroneves claimed Seven as his own. If it was, an Internal Revenue Service agent testified that Castroneves owed U.S. taxes on the full $5 million from Penske even though he has never actually received the money. Instead, the Penske payments were eventually invested in a deferred compensation deal with the Dutch firm Fintage Licensing B.V. Castroneves' attorney Roy Black told jurors in closing arguments that such deals are common—and perfectly legal—for athletes who have relatively short careers and face injury or worse at any moment.

The trial ended on April 10, 2009, with closing arguments and the jury deliberated until April 17, when it acquitted Castroneves of all six counts of tax evasion but hung on a count of conspiracy. On May 22, 2009, prosecutors dropped the remaining conspiracy charge.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1998	Bettenhausen Racing	MIA Ret	MOT 11	LBH 9	NZR Ret	RIO Ret	STL 7	MIL 2	DET 12	POR 13	CLE Ret	TOR 10	MIS 12	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LS Ret	HOU Ret	SRF Ret	FON 10			17th	36
1999	Hogan Racing	MIA Ret	MOT 9	LBH 19	NZR Ret	RIO Ret	STL 2	MIL Ret	POR Ret	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	DET 7	MDO 7	CHI 5	VAN 8	LS Ret	HOU Ret	SRF Ret	FON Ret		15th	48
2000	Team Penske	MIA Ret	LBH 2	RIO Ret	MOT 13	NZR Ret	MIL 16	DET 1	POR 7	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS 5	CHI Ret	MDO 1	ROA 9	VAN Ret	LS 1	STL 9	HOU 5	SRF 6	FON Ret		7th	129
2001	Team Penske	MTY 8	LBH 1	TXS C	NZR 11	MOT 2	MIL Ret	DET 1	POR 17	CLE 12	TOR Ret	MIS 8	CHI 7	MDO 1	ROA 7	VAN 18	LAU 12	ROC 4	HOU 5	LS 6	SRF 20	FON Ret	4th	141

CART career summary

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
1998	Bettenhausen Racing	0	36	17th
1999	Hogan Racing	0	48	15th
2000	Penske Racing	3	129	7th
2001	Penske Racing	3	141	4th

IndyCar Series

Castroneves in May 2010.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2001	Team Penske	PHX 18	HMS	ATL	INDY 1	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2							24th	64
2002	Team Penske	HMS 3	PHX 1	FON 5	NZR 5	INDY 1	TXS 4	PPIR 2	RIR 17	KAN 3	NSH 9	MIS 6	KTY 5	STL 2	CHI 4	TX2 2					2nd	511
2003	Team Penske	HMS 3	PHX 2	MOT 22	INDY 2	TXS 7	PPIR 12	RIR 2	KAN 2	NSH 3	MIS 17	STL 1	KTY 5	NZR 1	CHI 20	FON 6	TX2 13				3rd	484
2004	Team Penske	HMS 2	PHX 6	MOT 3	INDY 9	TXS 12	RIR 3	KAN 7	NSH 3	MIL 12	MIS 10	KTY 12	PPIR 6	NZR 5	CHI 10	FON 7	TX2 1				4th	446
2005	Team Penske	HMS 5	PHX 2	STP 20	MOT 11	INDY 9	TXS 5	RIR 1	KAN 8	NSH 5	MIL 16	MIS 21	KTY 5	PPIR 4	SNM 21	CHI 2	WGL 12	FON 9			6th	440
2006	Team Penske	HMS 2	STP 1	MOT 1	INDY 25	WGL 7	TXS 1	RIR 10	KAN 6	NSH 5	MIL 14	MIS 1	KTY 3	SNM 5	CHI 4						3rd	473
2007	Team Penske	HMS 9	STP 1	MOT 7	KAN 3	INDY 3	MIL 16	TXS 16	IOW 8	RIR 11	'WGL 18	NSH 6	MDO 3	MIS 17	KTY 9	SNM 2	DET 14	CHI 4			6th	446
2008	Team Penske	HMS 4	STP 2	MOT1 2	LBH1 DNP	KAN 4	INDY 4	MIL 5	TXS 2	IOW 14	RIR 2	WGL 16	NSH 3	MDO 2	EDM 2	KTY 2	SNM 1	DET 2	CHI 1	SRF2 7	2nd	629
2009	Team Penske	STP3 DNP	LBH 7	KAN 2	INDY 1	MIL 11	TXS 1	IOW 7	RIR 17	WGL 4	TOR 18	EDM 2	KTY 4	MDO 12	SNM 18	CHI 20	MOT 10	HMS 5			4th	433
2010	Team Penske	SAO 9	STP 4	ALA 1	LBH 7	KAN 4	INDY 9	TXS 20	IOW 2	WGL 9	TOR 24	EDM 10	MDO 3	SNM 5	CHI 6	KTY 1	MOT 1	HMS 5			4th	531
2011	Team Penske	STP 20	ALA 7	LBH 12	SAO 21	INDY 17	TXS1 10	TXS2 4	MIL 9	IOW 7	TOR 17	EDM 2	MDO 19	NHM 17	SNM 2	BAL 17	MOT 22	KTY 29	LVS *		11th	312

* Incomplete Race

¹ Because of Champ Car/IRL Reunification in 2008, a compromise was set up where former Champ Car teams raced at Long Beach with the old formula, while IRL teams raced at Motegi that weekend. The Penske team raced at Motegi.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race because of Reunification

³ Missed race due to his then-ongoing tax evasion trial. Will Power drove #3 entry in place of Castroneves.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
11	1	155	32	19	36	63	3 (2001, 2002, and 2009)	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	11	1	Penske
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	13	1	Penske
2003	Dallara	Toyota	1	2	Penske
2004	Dallara	Toyota	8	9	Penske
2005	Dallara	Toyota	5	9	Penske
2006	Dallara	Honda	2	25	Penske
2007	Dallara	Honda	1	3	Penske
2008	Dallara	Honda	4	4	Penske
2009	Dallara	Honda	1	1	Penske
2010	Dallara	Honda	1	9	Penske
2011	Dallara	Honda	16	17	Penske

Castroneves's finishes for 2001 to 2003 is currently the best 3 race finishing streak in Indianapolis history. It is equal to the streak posted by Al Unser from 1970 through 1972.

Touring/Sports Cars

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2007	Penske Racing	LMP2	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	Porsche MR6 3.4L V8	M	SEB 5/3	STP	LNB	TEX	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET	MON	23rd	19
2008	Penske Motorsports, Inc.	LMP2	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	Porsche MR6 3.4L V8	M	SEB	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET 4/1	MON 6/4		19th	45

V8 Supercar results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	Final Pos	Points
2010	Wilson Security Racing	YMC R1	YMC R2	BHR R3	BHR R4	ADE R5	ADE R6	HAM R7	HAM R8	QLD R9	QLD R10	WIN R11	WIN R12	HDV R13	HDV R14	TOW R15	TOW R16	PHI R17	BAT R18	SUR R19 18	SUR R20 19	SYM R21	SYM R22	SAN R23	SAN R24	SYD R25	SYD R26			NC	0 +
2011	Lucky 7 Racing	YMC R1	YMC R2	ADE R3	ADE R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	PER R7	PER R8	PER R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HDV R12	HDV R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	QLD R18	PHI R19	BAT R20	SUR R21 12	SUR R22 10	SYM R23	SYM R24	SAN R25	SAN R26	SYD R27	SYD R28	63rd	147

+ Not Eligible for points

External links

• Hélio Castroneves Official Website
• IndyCar Driver Page
• Hélio Castroneves Official MySpace Profile Updated by Helio and CastronevesRacing
• Hélio Castroneves Official Facebook Page Updated by Helio and CastronevesRacing
• Hélio Castroneves Official Twitter Profile Updated by Helio and CastronevesRacing
• Photos
• The Greatest 33
• IndyCar 11 in '11 video

Sporting positions
Preceded by Juan Pablo Montoya	Indianapolis 500 Winner 2001-2002	Succeeded by Gil de Ferran
Preceded by Scott Dixon	Indianapolis 500 Winner 2009	Succeeded by Dario Franchitti
Preceded by Juan Pablo Montoya	Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Alex Barron Tomas Scheckter
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Buddy Lazier	Scott Brayton Award 2004	Succeeded by Kenny Bräck
Preceded by Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough	Dancing with the Stars (US) winner Season 5 (Fall 2007 with Julianne Hough)	Succeeded by Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas