For the third IndyCar offseason, we will look at a series of drivers through a Career Retrospective, taking into consideration how their careers and IndyCar changed from their first start to their last. We will look at where these drivers came from and what impression they have left on the North American based open-wheel series.
Part two of this year's series takes us to one of the most recognizable names in IndyCar ever. Forget the 21st century, forget the last five years, this name will be said for decades, perhaps for centuries to come. Success on many different levels has raised this driver above most, but for all of his success, there will always be that one missing part to his career, as unfathomable as it is to think about.
It is Hélio Castroneves.
Where was Castroneves coming from?
A successful kart driver in his native Brazil, Castroneves moved up to Brazilian Formula Three in 1994 where he was second in the championship to Cristiano da Matta. These results led to Castroneves moving to the United Kingdom to run in the British Formula Three championship with Paul Stewart Racing.
Paul Stewart Racing had produced the likes of David Coutlhad and Gil de Ferran up to that point and the team had won three consecutive British Formula Three titles with de Ferran, Kelvin Burt and Jan Magnussen entering 1995. Magnussen won the title with Dario Franchitti as his teammate and finishing fourth in the championship.
Castroneves was paired with Ralph Firman at Paul Stewart Racing. Da Matta also made the move and was racing with West Surrey Racing. Castroneves won his fifth race at Donington Park. Consistency earned him third in the championship, only 15 points off champion Oliver Gavin and only seven points off Firman, who won six of 18 races. Castroneves was third in the Masters of Formula Three race held at Zandvoort behind Norberto Fontana and Ralf Schumacher.
Phillip Morris brought Castroneves to the United States to run in Indy Lights with Tasman Racing to join Tony Kanaan and José Luis Di Palma. Castroneves had spotty results in 1996, but eh ended up on the podium three times, including a victory at Trois-Rivières. Castroneves and Kanaan returned to Tasman for the 1997 season. Castroneves won two of the first four races, but Kanaan had better consistency over the second half of the season, going on a seven-race podium streak while castroneves finished 12th or worse in three of those seven races. Kanaan took the title by four points.
Despite falling short of the championship, Castroneves drew some attention after his two Indy Lights seasons.
What did IndyCar look like when Castroneves started in the series?
Entering his first CART season, Chip Ganassi Racing had just won its first two championships. In 1996, it was with the experienced Jimmy Vasser. In 1997, it was the sophomore Alex Zanardi. Reynard was the dominant chassis while Honda battled Mercedes-Benz with Ford-Cosworth and Toyota hanging in the background.
Though Ganassi had won two consecutive championships, five different teams had won the CART championship in six seasons.
Team Penske was a few seasons removed from its immaculate PC-23 chassis, which ran the show and won the championship in 1994. The team had gone winless in 1996 and had a slightly better 1997 as Paul Tracy won three consecutive races, but Al Unser, Jr. ended up 13th in the championship. Walker Racing was winning races. PacWest Racing was leading the fray. Forsythe Racing had a young hotshot named Greg Moore. Dario Franchitti was entering his sophomore season. Patrick Carpentier was the reigning rookie of the year.
The Bettenhausen name was still on the grid as was Patrick Racing, All American Racing and Walter Payton was still a part-owner in Dale Coyne Racing.
At that time, we were only seven years removed from Rick Mears' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. We were 32 years removed from the most recent rookie winner at Indianapolis, Graham Hill. Team Penske was the all-time leader in Indianapolis 500 victories with ten while no other team had won more than five.
The only driver in IndyCar history with ten victories or more and no championship was Paul Tracy, who had 13 career victories at that time.
How does IndyCar look now?
We are coming off Chip Ganassi Racing's 15th championship and third in four seasons. Ganassi's last two titles have come at the hands of a Catalan driver named Álex Palou, who completed his fourth IndyCar season this September.
Chevrolet somehow won the manufacturers' championship over Honda despite Honda winning 12 of 17 races. Dallara has been the only chassis on the IndyCar grid since the start of the 2008 season.
Ganassi and Team Penske have combined to win 11 consecutive championships. The two teams have combined to win 15 of 16 championships since reunification.
The Andretti name is now on the grid in an ownership role. McLaren is on the IndyCar grid. There is an owner-driver in Ed Carpenter, though part-time on the driving part while full-time on the ownership side. IndyCar has a foreign-born owner in Ricardo Juncos. One of IMSA's best teams for last decade, Meyer Shank Racing runs a two-car IndyCar program, and Dale Coyne Racing is still around, but runs one car in partnership with Rick Ware Racing.
It has only been a little more than two years since we had our fourth four-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Sadly, Al Unser and Bobby Unser have passed away. It has been seven years since a rookie winner. Team Penske has won 19 Indianapolis 500s. Still, no other team has won more than five.
Castroneves is all the all-time leader in victories without a championship, having won 31 times. The only other driver with at least ten victories and no championships is Adrián Fernández with 11 victories.
What did Castroneves do in-between?
Before marking his spot in IndyCar history, Castroneves got his break with Bettenhausen Motorsports, replacing the 1997 rookie of the year Patrick Carpentier. Compared to Carpentier and previous Bettenhausen drivers, Castroneves ran on par with them, making the most of mid-pack equipment. He found early success on ovals, finishing seventh at Gateway and a second at Milwaukee. His rookie season ended on a rough patch of retirements, but he moved to Hogan Racing for the 1999 season.
Reliability was Castroneves' downfall in 1999. He showed great speed, qualifying fourth at Homestead and second at Nazareth, but mechanical issues he could not escape. Everything held together at Gateway. After qualifying third, Castroneves ran most of the race in the top five and had a shot at victory before Michael Andretti held on for the victory, leaving Castroneves second.
After Gateway, he finished outside the top twenty in eight of the final 14 races. He retired ten times, nine of which were down to mechanical issues. Off the track, Castroneves was having funding issues as he was working with Emerson Fittipaldi to raise sponsorship. However, the two-time world champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was falling short fundraising and this led to a breakdown between him and Castroneves. Castroneves was left attempting to negotiation his own ride for the 2000 season, but continuing his career proved difficult. Many top tier riders were taken at the time Castroneves and Fittipaldi ended their partnership.
Greg Moore lost his life in the 1999 season finale at Fontana. Moore had signed to drive with Team Penske starting in the 2000 season. Due to sponsorship pressure, which would lead to legal trouble for Castroneves almost a decade later, Penske hired Castroneves less than a week after Moore's passing.
Joining Gil de Ferran at Team Penske, Castroneves' arrival also coincided with Penske adopting the Reynard chassis, abandoning building its own cars for over 20 years. Penske had gone winless in the two previous seasons and failed to have a top ten championship finisher in either as well.
The 21st century started on a bright note. De Ferran won twice and the championship, but Castroneves won three times, his firstvictory coing at Belle Isle in his seventh race with the team. He would win at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca as well. And so started the rise of Penske and Castroneves. The following year saw Penske return to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 1995. The De Ferran-Castroneves duo were more than up for the occasion, and though the speed was not shown in qualifying, Penske had the pace in the race. In his first visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Castroneves proved to be the car to beat and led a Penske 1-2.
In CART that year, Castroneves again won three races, but he could not match de Ferran's consistency as he won a second consecutive championship. After the 2001 season, Penske switched to the Indy Racing League, and the team immediately went to the front. Castroneves won the second race of the season at Phoenix. The two drivers finished in the top five in each of the first four races. Castroneves won his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 in controversial fashion as race control ruled he was leading when the final caution came out though Paul Tracy was slightly ahead.
Castroneves had seven consecutive top five to open the season, but a 17th at Richmond set him back in the championship against Sam Hornish, Jr. Castroneves ended the season on strong form and took the championship after a runner-up result at Gateway, being him a point ahead of Hornish, Jr. with two races to go. However, Hornish, Jr. won the final two races to snatch the title for Panther Racing over the mighty Team Penske.
Over the following seasons, Castroneves remained a championship contender. Outside of 2004 and 2005 where Penske made the most of a substandard Toyota engine, Castroneves was in the mix. He led the championship into the final race in 2006, only to finish fourth in the race and drop to third in the final championship standings, two points off the Hornish, Jr.-Dan Wheldon draw with Hornish, Jr. winning on count back.
Castroneves continued to be a regular race winner. In 2008, he had eight runner-up finishes, the second-most all-time. He became the sixth driver with at least 15 top five finishes in a season, and yet, Castroneves fell short in the championship to Scott Dixon, who won six times.
As Castroneves was winding down his glorious championship effort, the Internal Revenue Service charged Castroneves with tax evasions relating to income earned from his first contract with Team Penske signed in wake of Greg Moore's death. The trial forced Castroneves out of the car for the start of the 2009 season with Will Power hired to substitute for the Brazilian.
Castroneves was acquitted in April, and a little over a month later, he won his third Indianapolis 500, but his absence for only one race opened the door for increased competition at Team Penske. Power became a full-time driver in 2010 and immediate was fighting for championships. Castroneves struggled for a few years as Power took over the spot as team leader. Castroneves rebounded in 2013, keeping up consistency though not winning an abundance of races. It left him with the championship lead with three races remaining, but a disastrous Houston doubleheader cost him the lead to Dixon. In the finale, Castroneves could not overtake the New Zealander.
Though he finished second in the championship in 2014, form started to drop off for Castroneves. He went winless in 2015 and 2016 while Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud were two of the top drivers in each of those seasons. Josef Newgarden joined Team Penske in 2017. Castroneves continued to rattle off top ten finishes, and he even won at Iowa, his first victory in over three years, but he was third-best in the team as Newgarden took the title.
Penske created a succession plan and announced Castroneves would move to the organization's IMSA sports car program with Acura starting in 2018, reducing his IndyCar appearances to Indianapolis one-offs.
In IMSA, Castroneves, paired with Ricky Taylor, took a season to work out the bugs though they won at Mid-Ohio. Year two saw consistent finishes but no victories. Year three started poorly with three consecutive retirements. Castroneves and Taylor then went on a tear winning four of five races with a second mixed in. Despite another last place finish in the 12 Hours of Sebring finale, the Brazilian-American duo won the 2020 IMSA Daytona Prototype international championship by one points.
While succeeding in sports cars, Castroneves still had a fondness to be in IndyCar. He had a few good days in his cameo appearances at Indianapolis, but it wasn't enough. After 21 years together, Penske granted Castroneves a release and the Brazilian moved to Meyer Shank Racing, starting out as a part-time driver in 2021 before a full-time role beginning in 2022.
The MSR-Castroneves partnership would begin at Indianapolis with about 135,000 spectators allowed into the facility during the pandemic. Qualifying eighth, Castroneves quietly hung in the background in the top five. He slowly picked off the positions one at a time and after the final round of pit stop he was running in the top two with Álex Palou. Castroneves remained on Palou's backside and on the penultimate lap, Castroneves took the lead into turn one. He was able to hold off Palou and became the fourth driver to win four Indianapolis 500, the fastest Indianapolis 500 at an average of 190.690 mph.
It started well, and Castroneves was confirmed for full-time in 2022. The magic did not continue beyond Indianapolis. In two seasons, his best finish was seventh and he finished outside in 30 of 34 races, including 15 consecutive finishes worse than tenth to close out his full-time career.
What impression did Castroneves leave on IndyCar?
Castroneves is the last IndyCar superstar. He is the last driver the causal viewer could pick out if they saw him on television. Times have changed and television viewership habits have changed, but Castroneves being invited to participate on Dancing with the Stars meant something in 2007. No driver in 2023 is getting on the current equivalent. Castroneves had that pull.
It wasn't revolutionary. Castroneves wasn't on billboards all across the country and on every other commercials. Castroneves wasn't bringing two million additional viewers to each race and when he stepped away from full-time competition the viewership dropped off. That did not happen, but he had some standing beyond the IndyCar bubble, something no current driver could pull off.
That is beyond the racetrack. On the racetrack, Castroneves amassed a terrific career, and yet something is lacking.
Four Indianapolis 500 victories will never be denied. That milestone is the dream for every driver. Joining the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears is company no one would turn down. Castroneves did it and then some with 31 victories, one of 12 drivers to break 30 career victories, and yet Castroneves never won a championship.
The careers of Hélio Castroneves and Denny Hamlin in NASCAR are rather identical. Both drivers won each series' most historic race at a historic level. In the overall victory totals, they are at the top, but a championship has not quite gone their way.
It wasn't for a lack of trying. Castroneves as championship runner-up four times. He lost a toe-to-toe battle with Sam Hornish, Jr., ran a historically good season concurrently with Scott Dixon running a historically good season and then threw a championship away in 2013 before being a distant second to his teammate Will Power in 2014.
Though a championship is missing, Castroneves had 14 top five championship finishes in 22 seasons. He was in the top ten of the championship 18 times. The only time he wasn't in the top ten were his first two seasons as a full-time driver and his final two seasons as a full-time driver. It was rather remarkable his level of consistency for two decades.
A lack of a championship hurts him in the overall discussion of drivers, especially when teammates were beating him. During his time at Team Penske, five teammates won a championship. After reunification, his winning percentage dropped off, from 11.578% from 2002 to 2007 to 7.05% from 2008 through 2017. The only season he won multiples time after the introduction of the DW12 chassis was 2012, the first season of the chassis. He had a pair of winless seasons in 2015 and 2016.
Compared to contemporaries like Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Will Power and even Josef Newgarden, and Juan Pablo Montoya, and perhaps soon even Álex Palou, it is hard to make an argument Castroneves is ahead of any of them. Indianapolis 500s alone cannot solve all problems. Yet, when he stepped away from IndyCar, Castroneves still was on the top of his game. The IMSA title and subsequent sports car success confirms that. The man won four Indianapolis 500s and three 24 Hours of Daytona. The only other drivers to win each race multiple times are Montoya, A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, Jr.
Considering his consistency and that consistency occurring at the highest level, one cannot help but imagine what Castroneves' career was like if the funding was there to remain in Europe after the 1995 season. Perhaps he was good enough to make it to Formula One. There was stiff competition on the rise in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but everywhere Castroneves has gone he has made a living at the front and his speed has been undeniable.
What ifs aside, Castroneves had a wonderful career, and no one would turn down four Indianapolis 500 victories if offered, but it is rather perplexing puzzle of blemished greatness.
