Helio Castroneves
Helio Castroneves has long been considered one of the "larger than life" personalities in the Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS). Behind that dynamic and engaging persona, however, lies an ultra-talented driver who has achieved remarkable success and ranks among the legends of the sport. He will look to add to those numbers in 2017 while driving the No. 3 Hitachi/Shell-Pennzoil/AAA/Automobile Club of Southern California/ REV Dallara/Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Consistency was the name of the game for Castroneves in 2016 as it has been throughout his stellar career. Eight top-five finishes, which ranked second only to series champion Simon Pagenaud's total of 10, in 16 outings fueled a third-place finish in the championship standings. It was his fifth consecutive top-five finish in the standings and the 13th of his INDYCAR career. Castroneves also scored a pair of Verizon P1 Pole Awards to extend his streak of two or more poles won in a season to three straight years. His season-best finish of second came on two occasions - the road course at Indianapolis and on the streets of Toronto. The native of Brazil was in the championship hunt up until the season finale and recorded 14 lead-lap finishes.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Castroneves started his career in karting before moving to the Paul Stewart Racing (PSR) team to compete in the British Formula Three Championship. While with the PSR team, Castroneves finished third in the 1995 British Formula Three standings while teaming with current Team Penske teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya.
Castroneves made the move to American open-wheel racing in 1996 to compete in the Indy Lights Series for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. In those two seasons, Castroneves picked up four wins and finished second in the championship standings in 1997. He was signed to the Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. team for the 1998 CART season where he scored a second-place finish at The Milwaukee Mile. In 1999, Castroneves competed for Hogan Racing in CART. He showed great speed throughout that season - winning the pole position at The Milwaukee Mile - but his season was plagued by many reliability issues as he finished 15th in the series standings.
Roger Penske, however, took note of the Brazilian's talent and signed Castroneves to Team Penske for the 2000 CART season. The pairing of the quick driver and the superb machines of Team Penske quickly paid dividends as Castroneves scored his first series victory at the 2000 Detroit Grand Prix in his seventh start with the team. It was after this victory that Castroneves debuted his now-famous fence climb that he does to celebrate all of his wins. Two more victories that season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Laguna Seca Raceway, respectively, propelled Castroneves to a seventh-place championship finish in his first season with Team Penske.
Castroneves competed in his first Indianapolis 500 in 2001 as Team Penske ended their brief hiatus from the famous race in what would be the team's final CART season. Castroneves wasted little time in etching his name to the Borg-Warner trophy that goes to the race winner as he led 52 laps to pick up his first Indianapolis 500 Borg Warner trophy. Three CART Series wins in 2001 - including his second-consecutive wins at Detroit and Mid-Ohio - resulted in a fourth-place finish in the final standings.
In 2002, Team Penske moved to the IndyCar Series for full-time competition. That season began a streak of nine-consecutive finishes of sixth or better in the IndyCar Series point standings for Castroneves as he established himself as one of the true stars of the series. In addition, he became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in his first two starts - and the fifth driver to win consecutive Indianapolis 500s - when he took the checkered flag in the 2002 edition of the race.
Castroneves won a race in 11 consecutive seasons from 2000-2010, including his third Indianapolis 500 crown in 2009, to become just the ninth driver to accomplish that feat. His winningest single season came in 2006 as he won four of the 14 races contested that year. Following a winless season in 2011, Castroneves won at least one race in three Consecutive seasons, finishing as series runner-up in both the 2013 and 2014 final standings.
With another successful season in 2016, Castroneves has moved even higher among the greats in INDYCAR history as he ranks fourth all-time in pole positions won with 47, tied with Team Penske legend Rick Mears and current teammate Will Power for 11th in wins with 29, fifth in laps led with 5,594, sixth in podium finishes with 90 and sixth with 132 career top-five finishes.
Castroneves resides in South Florida with his fiancée Adriana and their daughter Mikaella.