Hélio Castroneves

Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Carb Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1975-05-10) May 10, 1975 São Paulo, Brazil
2013 IndyCar Series
Debut season	2001
Current team	Penske Racing
Car no.	3
Starts	182
Wins	21
Poles	33
Fastest laps	10
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 (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛlju ˈkastɾu ˈnɛvis]; born Hélio Castro Neves; May 10, 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver currently competing in the North American IndyCar Series. In IndyCar competition, Castroneves has 21 wins and 32 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

Born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, South America, Castroneves started his career in karting, and later raced in the Paul Stewart Racing team, and finished third in the 1995 British Formula Three Championship.

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 (which stemmed in part from Greg Moore's death as Moore's contract was rewritten for Castroneves). 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. Castroneves returned to Dancing with the Stars for its 15th season for a chance to win another mirrorball trophy. This time he was be partnered with Chelsie Hightower. They were voted off in the third week of the competition during a double elimination.

Personal life

Castroneves and his girlfriend, Adriana Henao, welcomed a daughter, Mikaella, on December 28, 2009, at 4:15 pm (16:15) EST. She had been due January 6, 2010.

Castroneves is 1.73 meters (5 ft 8 in) tall and weighs 67 kg (147 lbs).

Legal issues

Castroneves in May 2010.

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)

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
1996	Tasman Motorsports	MIA DNS	LBH 4	NAZ 17	MIS 5	MIL 11	DET 17	POR 8	CLE 3	TOR 23	TRO 1	VAN 10	LS 2		7th	84
1997	Tasman Motorsports	MIA 14	LBH 1	NAZ 4	SAV 1	STL 3	MIL 12	DET 2	POR 2	TOR 1	TRO 20	VAN 19	LS 3	FON 5	2nd	152

CART results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Rank	Points
1998	Bettenhausen Racing	MIA 24	MOT 11	LBH 9	NAZ 23	RIO 23	GAT 7	MIL 2	DET 12	POR 13	CLE 27	TOR 10	MCH 12	MDO 17	ROA 26	VAN 24	LAG 23	HOU 24	SRF 21	FON 10		17th	36
1999	Hogan Racing	MIA 17	MOT 9	LBH 19	NAZ 21	RIO 25	GAT 2	MIL 26	POR 26	CLE 26	ROA 16	TOR 27	MCH 25	DET 7	MDO 7	CHI 5	VAN 8	LAG 26	HOU 26	SRF 21	FON 20	15th	48
2000	Team Penske	MIA 25	LBH 2	RIO 24	MOT 13	NAZ 16	MIL 16	DET 1	POR 7	CLE 21	TOR 16	MCH 5	CHI 21	MDO 1	ROA 9	VAN 20	LAG 1	GAT 9	HOU 5	SRF 6	FON 9	7th	129
2001	Team Penske	MTY 8	LBH 1	NAZ 11	MOT 2	MIL 26	DET 1	POR 17	CLE 12	TOR 19	MCH 8	CHI 7	MDO 1	ROA 7	VAN 18	LAU 12	ROC 4	HOU 5	LAG 6	SRF 20	FON 22	4th	141

IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2001	Team Penske	Dallara	Oldsmobile	PHX 18	HMS	ATL	INDY 1	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	GAT	CHI	TXS							24th	64
2002	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	HMS 3	PHX 1	FON 5	NAZ 5	INDY 1	TXS 4	PPIR 2	RIR 17	KAN 3	NSH 9	MCH 6	KTY 5	GAT 2	CHI 4	TXS 2					2nd	511
2003	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	HMS 3	PHX 2	MOT 22	INDY 2	TXS 7	PPIR 12	RIR 2	KAN 2	NSH 3	MCH 17	GAT 1	KTY 5	NAZ 1	CHI 20	FON 6	TXS 13				3rd	484
2004	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	HMS 2	PHX 6	MOT 3	INDY 9	TXS 12	RIR 3	KAN 7	NSH 3	MIL 12	MCH 10	KTY 12	PPIR 6	NAZ 5	CHI 10	FON 7	TXS 1				4th	446
2005	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	HMS 5	PHX 2	STP 20	MOT 11	INDY 9	TXS 5	RIR 1	KAN 8	NSH 5	MIL 16	MCH 21	KTY 5	PPIR 4	SNM 21	CHI 2	WGL 12	FON 9			6th	440
2006	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	HMS 2	STP 1	MOT 1	INDY 25	WGL 7	TXS 1	RIR 10	KAN 6	NSH 5	MIL 14	MCH 1	KTY 3	SNM 5	CHI 4						3rd	473
2007	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	HMS 9	STP 1	MOT 7	KAN 3	INDY 3	MIL 16	TXS 16	IOW 8	RIR 11	WGL 18	NSH 6	MDO 3	MCH 17	KTY 9	SNM 2	DET 14	CHI 4			6th	446
2008	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	HMS 4	STP 2	MOT 2	LBH	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		2nd	629
2009	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	STP	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	Dallara	Honda	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	Dallara	Honda	STP 20	ALA 7	LBH 12	SAO 21	INDY 17	TXS 10	TXS 4	MIL 9	IOW 7	TOR 17	EDM 2	MDO 19	NHM 17	SNM 2	BAL 17	MOT 22	KTY 29	LVS1 C		11th	312
2012	Team Penske	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet	STP 1	ALA 3	LBH 13	SAO 4	INDY 10	DET 17	TXS 7	MIL 6	IOW 6	TOR 6	EDM 1	MDO 16	SNM 6	BAL 10	FON 5					4th	431
2013	Team Penske	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet	STP 2	ALA 3	LBH 10	SAO 13	INDY	DET1	DET2	TXS	MIL	IOW	PEN	TOR1	TOR2	MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU1	HOU2	FON	3rd*	123*

* Season still in progress

¹ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
13	1	181	30	21	40	65	3 (2001, 2002, 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	Team Penske
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	13	1	Team Penske
2003	Dallara	Toyota	1	2	Team Penske
2004	Dallara	Toyota	8	9	Team Penske
2005	Dallara	Toyota	5	9	Team Penske
2006	Dallara	Honda	2	25	Team Penske
2007	Dallara	Honda	1	3	Team Penske
2008	Dallara	Honda	4	4	Team Penske
2009	Dallara	Honda	1	1	Team Penske
2010	Dallara	Honda	1	9	Team Penske
2011	Dallara	Honda	16	17	Team Penske
2012	Dallara	Chevrolet	6	10	Team Penske
2013	Dallara	Chevrolet	8		Team 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

• Official website
• Hélio Castroneves on Twitter
• Hélio Castroneves on Facebook
• Hélio Castroneves on Myspace
• IndyCar Driver Page

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
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Juan Pablo Montoya	Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Alex Barron Tomas Scheckter
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