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and it couldn’t be at a worse time, one month before the 2009 season debuts on the Streets of St. Petersburg.  According to the Associated Press, Castroneves will stand trial in March in Miami federal court on tax evasion charges.

U.S. District Judge Donald Graham set the March 2 trial date for Castroneves, his sister and a Michigan lawyer. Prosecutors say Castroneves and the others tried to hide $5.5 million in income from the IRS… He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $10 million bail.

We’ve created a countdown on the site for you to keep track of the date.

Helio Castroneves, who is coming off a great season in which he placed second in the championship standings, is going to face a tough off season. Helio has been indicted for tax evasion. He is being accused of failing to pay taxes over a five year period for a total of over 5 Million dollars. A relative and his attorney are being charged as well.

This is big news seeing that it will most likely affect next season. We have seen how government charges can affect athletes. Kobe Bryant who was charged with rape several years ago played basketball significantly well but dropped up to 15-20 pounds by traveling for court appearnances, not to mention with his future of not only being able to play in the NBA in the balance but the chance of being in prison for years to come as well.  

Castroneves is not a basketball player obviously. With that said it won’t be safe for him to go behind the wheel of race car with mental stress that will drain him physically without question. It could affect his well being as well as others on track when traveling over 200 mph. As we know mental and physical strength is something that is a necessity to drive a race car.

Now the topic is what will Roger Penske choose to do with his driver. Granted Castroneves is a great driver, but with the Government hovering over him he won’t be able to perform and the last thing the boss wants is a distraction and having to answer questions day in and day out.

Given what Brendon wrote about in this post and that Chris commented that:

Seems kind of weird that he will get no penalties for that transponder not being in the right place? If that had happened to another team in a different race I feel the league would have penalized the driver. Just my 2 cents.

I have to say that while I don’t want to play tin-foil hat conspiracy theorist I can’t help but think that something is most definitely afoot.   (more…)

… is definitly what Helio Castroneves should have said when finding out that he would be standing over Scott Dixon on the podium at Chicagoland for placing first at the Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300.   The IRL stated that a faulty transponder in Scott Dixon’s #10 TCGR car was to blame for the erroneous finish at this season’s finale at Chicagoland this past Sunday. Helio Castroneves, although falling short from winning the IndyCar Series Championship by 17 points beat out Scott Dixon by less than 12 inches of asphalt. Scott Dixon was surprised as well as he was climbing out of his car in victory lane to receive his $1 million check and championship trophy. Thank goodness for slow motion replay.

Well, not exactly.  Helio Castroneves started last but proved to drive like a champion as he made quick work of the other 27 cars in the field improving 20 positions in less than 40 laps and leading by lap 76.  He went on to lead the most laps and win the Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.  Although he does not have a trophy, or a million dollar check showing that he is an IndyCar Series champion, he sure showed that he has what it takes to be one.  Not to mention that he is a two time Indy 500 winner.  However, in the end the better driver came out on top and that was Scott Dixon with 6 wins including this years Indy 500.  What a close to the 2008 IndyCar season.