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photo: Dana Garrett

What a month it has been for 2 , make that 3 time winner Helio Castroneves.  This Sunday he joined an elite club of Indy 500 drivers such as Bobby Unser and Johnny Ruthorford that have won the greatest spectacle in racing 3 times. 

Helio’s off-season was a rough one as he was still dealing with his trial in Miami.  He missed the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and almost did not make the Grand Prix of Long Beach due to his trial and the jurors deliberating.  

Helio started off his season with a crash during the qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.  He went on and started to build momentum for that race finishing in 8th position.  He then went on to Kansas and finished 2nd and carried that momentum into the month of May by getting the pole, winning the pit stop competition, and winning the race, a feat that has not been accomplished since Buddy Rice and Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004.   Helio became emotional as he was being brought to victory circle.  He could not thank the fans enough as he tried not to completely break down.

Danica Patrick drove a strong consistant race bringing her Andretti Green car home in P3.  Danica’s crew did a phenominal job getting her in and out of the pits quickly.  Just about everytime that she pit she came out at least one position ahead. She pushed really hard during the closing laps of the race but Wheldon was able to hold her off as Helio extended his lead to more than 2 seconds by the finish. Danica stated:

I was happy to put the Boost car up there in the front of the pack. At the end of the day, I could see the fans getting excited under that second to last yellow, so it was a good day.”

The day proved to be a rough one for Danica’s Andretti Green team mates Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan.  Marco was involved in an on track incident in the short chute between turn one and two on the first lap of the race with Mario Moraes.  Moraes thinking it was Marco’s fault and wanted to confront him after leaving the infield care center.  Moraes was told it was his fault and upon reviewing the replay returned to his pit box where he appeared to become somewhat emotional.  I would’ve too.  It’s a long month of practicing and setting up to end on the first lap.  Marco later returned to to the track after his crew repaired his car.  He was able to turn in a few laps before the end of the race. 

Tony Kanaan has had nothing but bad luck at Indy.  During the race, something broke on the rear of Kanaan’s car nose diving him into the wall in the back stretch.  It was a very hard hit followed by another hard secondary hit in the turn 3 wall.  If you remember, last year he was involved in an on track incident with Sarah Fisher. 

Vitor Meira is going to be ok but will be out of the car for at least 4-6 months according to Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star.  Vitor got tangled up with Raphael Matos and went into the wall hard.  The car actually rode the wall on its side before coming to a stop.  Vitor also had a small fire in pit lane prior to this but was able to get right back on track after it was extinguished.  It is unclear at this time who will be in the #14 ABC Supply car.  My guess would be Foyt’s grandson AJ Foyt IV, or Will Power.  We still have a rather large list of drivers that are searching for a ride that had one last season.

Townsend Bell had a great drive as well for KV Racing.  Townsend worked his way up to finish  4th after starting 20th. He did have two race strategists working together on his strategy after Moraes was out.

This Sunday we are off to the Milwaukee Mile where Ryan Briscoe recorded his first IndyCar Series victory last year.  You can watch it Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.

photo: Shawn Payne

This was definitely a crazy weekend at Kansas Speedway.  The Camping World Truck Series, Firestone Indy Lights and the IndyCar Series all took to the track over the past three days.  Saturday night the track fell victim to  tornadoes.  Nobody was said to be injured but some small structures were damaged. 

The IndyCar Series Kansas Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 went the distance today despite the threat of rain all afternoon.  At first race control was concerned about the race making it to at least lap 101 where it would have been official.  With the threat of rain immenent, different strategies were tossed around in pit lane. 

Strategies did pay off for the big 3.  Andretti Green Racing, Target Chip Ganassi racing, and Penske Racing all had at least one car that finished in the top 5.  Dario Franchitti was one of a few drivers that had on track incidents that ended their race day early.  Dario locked up the brakes behind Graham Rahal on lap 153 as they were both dropping to the low side of the track to enter pit lane.  Dario went up the banking into the wall to avoid Rahal.  Raphael Matos had a rear end wiggle from dirty air that was significant enough to take him into the safer barrier towards the exit of turn 4 on lap 97. 

All of the Andretti Green cars ran well finishing in the top 10.  Kanaan finished in P3, Danica in P5, Marco in P6 and Mutoh in P8.  AGR looks to carry this momentum into the month of May. Danica qualified well in P3as well.  The team has turned it around at Long Beach and Kansas after a rough start to the season on the Streets of St. Petersburg.  Tony Kanaan is now leading the IndyCar Series championship point standings.

Helio worked his way up the field to to finish 2nd after starting in the back of the field with Franchitti due to being dis-qualified during the qualifying session on Saturday.  Helio has proved to be one of the best when it comes to improving positions.  Last year he went from last to first at Chicagoland winning the last points race of the 2008 season.

We are off to Indy!  Month of May coverage starts on Saturday May 9th at noon on Versus and Versus HD

photo: Chris Jones

The IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights were on the streets of Long Beach this previous weekend.  The Long Beach race was not the most eventful one, being that there is not much passing room on the course.  The streets of Long Beach are very narrow yet very quick.  This was evident with the on track incidents that took place over the course of the weekend.

Will Power took the pole on Saturday after being pushed into a third Penske car after Helio Castroneves was aquitted of charges of tax evasion.  Roger Penske was more than prepared for Helio’s aquittal having brought the #12 car to Long Beach.  Verizon Wireless who wasn’t a main sponsor for Penske Racing stepped up to sponsor Will Power for the Grand Prix of Long Beach.  Will, along with the rest of his crew already had firesuits that were stitched with the Verizon branding.  This was definitely a plan B that Roger Penske had thought completely through.  The only mistake that Power’s crew (Penske’s ALMS crew) seemed to have made was forgetting to reattach a wire under the sidepod for the radio.  Power ran without a radio the whole race and was able to place second.

We had no radio and no telemetry, so I was doing it off the steering wheel and off the pit board.  I’m very happy; second is very good. I feel happy for all the guys. They put a lot of effort in. I really want to thank Roger Penske and Tim Cindric for bringing this car here for me. They’ve given me a fantastic ride and I can’t thank them enough.”

Danica Patrick turned the weekend around after starting from P22 Sunday due to an on track incident during the IndyCar qualifying session.  She finished 4th right behind teammate Tony Kanaan.

It was a much better result, obviously, for us and I’m real proud of how we all kept our heads down and made a result out of it instead of getting down.  The Motorola guys did a great job and got me out quickly.”

The talk of the weekend however had to be Helio Castroneves.  Helio was aquitted Friday and arrived in Long Beach early Saturday morning.  He was very happy to be there and almost broke down in the press conference that was held by Penske racing that day.  After going into the wall attenuator first on Saturday, there was a possibility that Helio might have had a concussion and might not be cleared to drive on Sunday.  Helio was cleared Sunday morning and started 8th He finished 7th.

Team 3G had to be happy with their performance.  Stanton Barrett started 21st and stayed out of trouble the whole race to finish P17.  This is Team 3G’s first year in the IndyCar Series and Stanton Barrett’s 2nd IndyCar Series race start.  His first time ever in an IndyCar was at the Homestead Miami Speedway test this previous February and his first time on a road course was in late March at Palm Beach International Raceway where his team elected to have a private test instead of testing with the rest of the series at Barber Motorsports Park. 

Next Sunday the IndyCar Series is off to Kansas Speedway for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300.  You can watch the qualifying show Saturday at 6 p.m. ET and the race Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on VERSUS and VERSUS HD

…jurors acquitted him on all charges except for a single charge of conspiracy. The judge declared a mistrial on the count of conspiracy after jurors were unable to return a verdict… CBS4

Helio Castroneves has been acquitted after five days of deliberations.  Helio’s sister, Katiucia was also acquitted on all charges except the conspiracy charge.  His lawyer, Alan Miller, was acquitted on all charges since he had not been charged with conspiracy.  The government has not declared if it would re-file a new trial for the count of conspiracy.

“I love this country, and I love racing. I’m glad I’ll be able to do it,” he said.

“Instead of going to Disneyland, I want to go to Long Beach and race,” he said after thanking his racing sponsors for continuing to support him.

“Let’s go race,”

According to  16th and Georgetown , Curt Cavin has reported that Team Penske would have the #12 car ready for Will Power to ride in if Helio was cleared today.

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.