Saturday, May 25, 2002
Defending champion on quest to climb
Castroneves wants to bring Penske with him this time
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Spiderman wants another climbing companion.
Last May, in the jubilation following his victory in the Indianapolis 500, Helio Castroneves had asked team owner Roger Penske to join him in scaling the catch fence at the side of the track.
“C,mon, Roger, you gotta climb with me this time,” a grinning Castroneves implored his boss.
The irrepressible Brazilian had the huge race day crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway roaring as he followed his winning tradition of stopping on the front straightaway, scrambling from the cockpit and dashing to the nearest fence for a little vertical assault.
Most of his Penske Racing crew joined Castroneves on the steel mesh barrier, but not the boss.
“I'll do it if you win again,” Penske promised.
Castroneves has a lot of motivation to win the 500-mile race on Sunday, and the opportunity to make his 64-year-old car owner scale the heights with him is not the least of them.
Penske, whose elite Indy-car team has won a record 11 Indianapolis 500s and 111 total races, winced a little when his somewhat rash promise was recently raised.
“If it does happen, I hope I don't fall on my rear end,” he said. “That wouldn't be very dignified. But, if he wins, I'll do it.”
Castroneves, hoping to become the first driver to win consecutive Indy 500s since Al Unser in 1970-71, has no qualms about dignity.
“I am an excitable person,” Castroneves said, flashing an impish grin. “You know my mother has always told me, "Helio, you have to love life and enjoy life and live life.' I take her advice.”
He celebrated his 27th birthday at the speedway on May 10 by walking into his team's garage and announcing: “It's my birthday. Give me presents.”
He spent the day repeating that announcement to just about anybody who would listen, laughing each time like it was a new line.
“If you can't have fun when you're his age and one of the best race drivers in the world — ” teammate Gil de Ferran said, letting the thought hang in the air.
De Ferran, the champion of the CART series each of the past two years, has been somewhat upstaged by his exuberant countryman.
On Thursday, when Castroneves' team won the annual pit stop contest at the speedway, he led the crew of his No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet to the fence.
“The Indy 500 is the best race in the world,” he said excitedly. “For these guys here, winning Indy is tops. They're the ones doing everything; I'm just pushing the brakes and leaving the pits.”
De Ferran, who is also among the favorites Sunday after following followed his teammate across the finish line last year in second, isn't fooled by Castroneves' bubbly personality.
“He has a good time and he's Spiderman sometimes. But, when he's in the race car, he's all business,” de Ferran said.
Castroneves will start 13th in Sunday's 33-car field. Asked if he is superstition about the number 13, Castroneves looked startled and said, “No. The only number I wouldn't want to be in No. 34 in a 33-car race.”
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Defending champion on quest to climb
