Hélio Castroneves

Infobox racing driver
name = Hélio Castroneves

---

pixels =
caption = Helio at the 2006 Firestone Indy 200
nationality = BRA
date of birth = Birth date and age|1975|5|10
place of birth = São Paulo
related to =
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2001
current team = Penske Racing
car number = 3
former teams =
starts = 115
wins = 14
poles = 28
fastest laps =
best finish = 2nd
year = 2002 & 2008
prev series = Indy Lights
CART
prev series years = 1996-1997
1998-2001
titles =
title years =
awards = Indianapolis 500 Winner
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
Indianapolis 500 Winner
award years = 2001
2001
2002

Hélio Castroneves (born Hélio Castro Neves on May 10, 1975 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian auto racing driver currently competing in the North American IndyCar Series. In IndyCar competition, Castroneves has 12 wins and 25 poles, and has championship point finishes ranging from second to sixth in a complete season of racing. Prior to IndyCar, Castroneves competed in Champ Car racing with a highest championship points finish of fourth.

Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 in both 2001 and 2002, becoming the fifth driver to do so in consecutive years, and the first since Al Unser in 1971. He finished second to teammate and countryman Gil de Ferran in 2003. Castroneves has won two pole positions for the Indy 500, including one in 2007.

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.

Recognition

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 death 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 has remained there ever since, now teamed with Ryan Briscoe.

Racing fans have given Castroneves the nickname "Spider-Man" because of the form of victory celebration he introduced, in which he climbs the track-side debris fence, a practice since adopted by Tony Stewart in the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Champ Car

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.: *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500 results

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. [cite web |url=http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index|title=Dancing With The Stars - Home - ABC.com |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format= |work= ]

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 are charged with assisting Castroneves in the supposed scheme. All three defendants surrendered to authorities in Florida on Friday, October 3, 2008. Castroneves plead not guilty to these charges on October 3, and was ordered released on $10 million bail. [cite web |url=http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=txcastronevesindictment&prov=st&type=lgns|title=Yahoo News Story] [http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-irl-castroneves-taxcharges&prov=ap&type=lgns]

References

External links

* [http://www.heliocastroneves.com/ Hélio Castroneves Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/heliocastroneves Hélio Castroneves Official MySpace Profile] Updated by Helio and CastronevesRacing
* [http://www.motorsport.com/photos/drivere.asp?D=Helio_Castroneves Photos]