Hélio Castroneves

Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Carb Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	Brazilian
Date of birth	May 10, 1975 (1975-05-10) (age 34)
Place of birth	São Paulo, Brazil
2009 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2001
Current team	Penske Racing
Car no.	3
Starts	116
Wins	16
Poles	28
Best finish	2nd in 2002 & 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. 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 three pole positions for the Indy 500, including the most recent in 2009.

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. 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.^[1] 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 "Spiderman" 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.^{[2] [3]}

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 currently resides in Miami, Florida. 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".

Personal Life

Castroneves and his girlfriend, Adriana Henao, are expecting a baby girl, the first child for the couple, according to People. The couple will name their baby girl Mikaella, after deciding their original choice, Indy, was "a little too much." ^[4]

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Champ Car

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2001	Penske	PHX Ret	HMS	ATL	INDY 1	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2							24th	64
2002	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	Penske	HMS 3	PHX 2	MOT Ret	INDY 2	TXS 7	PPIR 12	RIR 2	KAN 2	NSH 3	MIS Ret	STL 1	KTY 5	NZR 1	CHI Ret	FON 6	TX2 13				3rd	484
2004	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	Penske	HMS 5	PHX 2	STP Ret	MOT Ret	INDY 9	TXS 5	RIR 1	KAN 8	NSH 5	MIL 16	MIS Ret	KTY 5	PPIR 4	SNM Ret	CHI 2	WGL Ret	FON 9			6th	440
2006	Penske	HMS 2	STP 1	MOT 1	INDY Ret	WGL 7	TXS 1	RIR 10	KAN 6	NSH 5	MIL 14	MIS 1	KTY 3	SNM 5	CHI 4						3rd	473
2007	Penske	HMS 9	STP 1	MOT 7	KAN 3	INDY 3	MIL Ret	TXS Ret	IOW 8	RIR 11	WGL Ret	NSH 6	MDO 3	MIS Ret	KTY 9	SNM 2	DET Ret	CHI 4			6th	446
2008	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	Penske	STP3 DNP	LBH 7	KAN 2	INDY 1	MIL 11	TXS 1	IOW 7	RIR Ret	WGL 4	TOR Ret	EDM 2	KTY 4	MDO 12	SNM Ret	CHI Ret	MOT 10	HMS 5			4th	433

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 car.

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

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

Indianapolis 500 results

Practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

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.

Dancing With the Stars appearance

In Fall 2007, Castroneves became a contestant on ABC's Dancing With the Stars television program in the United States, paired with season 4 champion, Julianne Hough. On a show based on judges scores and fan votes, he was announced the season 5 winner on November 27, 2007, beating out Spice Girl Melanie Brown and Marie Osmond.^[5]

Performance

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.^[6][7] Castroneves was replaced by Will Power during the duration of his tax evasion court case.^[8] The IRS claimed that Castroneves owes $2.3 million in taxes.^[9] 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.^[10]

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. ^[11]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hélio Castroneves

• Hélio Castroneves Official Website
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• Hélio Castroneves Official Facebook Profile
• Hélio Castroneves Official Twitter Profile
• Photos