Boys From Brazil Drive Point Home

Roger Penske, Brazilian drivers and CART made statements Sunday in the Indy Racing League-sanctioned 85th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Penske, humiliated six years ago when his two drivers failed to qualify for the 500, gained retribution when Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran finished one-two in red-and-white Penske cars.

Brazilian drivers finished first, second and fifth and two of them, Castroneves and Bruno Junqueira, were Indianapolis Motor Speedway rookies.

CART drivers--Castroneves, De Ferran, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Junqueira--took the first five places, with Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart sixth. The first IRL driver was Eliseo Salazar--a Chilean veteran driving for A.J. Foyt--who was seventh.

“This kind of eases the pain from 1995,” said Penske, whose team won its record 11th 500. “I’ve had a lot of time to get over that failure, but I still remember taking that long walk back to the garage with Al [Unser Jr.] and Emmo [Fittipaldi]. It was a terrible feeling.”

Penske’s team was part of a CART presence in a race that the rival organization boycotted the last five years. CART team owner Chip Ganassi started the movement last year and won with Juan Pablo Montoya, a rookie from Colombia. This year Ganassi brought four drivers, and they finished 4-5-6.

Andretti was the other CART driver. He led 16 laps, adding to his frustration record of having led more laps (398) than any other driver without winning.

Cold tires, on a cold day, contributed to the early departure of several IRL favorites, including pole-sitter Scott Sharp, who spun out on the first turn of the first lap after leading Greg Ray and Robby Gordon across the starting line.

“It looked to me like it was a matter of cold tires, and he got too low and just lost it,” team owner Tom Kelley said.

It was only the second time the pole-sitter failed to finish a lap. Roberto Guerrero spun out on the parade lap in 1992.

Seven laps later, Sarah Fisher met the same fate, doing a half-spin before hitting the outside retaining wall. Scott Goodyear, with no place to go, was caught by Fisher’s car.

“It was really, really slick out there,” said Fisher, at age 20 the youngest in the race. “I was hanging on for dear life. There was absolutely no grip.”

Sam Hornish Jr., winner of two of three IRL races this year, was next. He spun on a restart on lap 18 and although he returned to the race, he finished 14th, four laps down. Two-time winner Al Unser Jr., the IRL’s most recognizable driver, slammed into the wall trying to avoid Hornish.

Hornish had the fastest lap in the race, 219.830 mph.

Robbie Buhl was the last serious IRL driver to challenge the Penske duo, and it proved to be his downfall. After running a lap at 218.4, he tried to pass Castroneves for the lead on lap 166, but spun into the inside wall.

“We were running second at the time, and we didn’t want to run second,” Buhl said. “We wanted to lead. There was some traffic in front of us, and I thought Castroneves might get held up by a slower car. When I spun out, I didn’t spin trying to hold on. I spun trying to go for the lead. I don’t have any regrets. That’s why we were there, to get in the lead and win the 500.”

Billy Boat had the day’s biggest gain, moving from 32nd to finish ninth.

Penske’s cars had an unusually austere look, with no sponsor’s name on the white sides. The federal government ruled Thursday that the team could not use “Marlboro” on its cars or its drivers’ uniforms because it was in violation of the tobacco advertising agreement.

The race, halted at one point for 16 minutes by rain, was a throwback to races of a few decades ago when drivers from different backgrounds battled to get the winner’s portrait embossed on the Borg-Warner trophy and take a swig of milk in Victory Circle.

Castroneves, when handed the traditional bottle of milk, shouted, “Look at this, guys. I’ve been dreaming of this.” Then he took a short swallow and poured the rest over his head.

The exuberant Brazilian delighted a portion of the 400,000 spectators along the front straightaway by making his trademark climb of the catch fence to celebrate winning. This time, he not only climbed up himself but called for the Penske crew to join him.

Castroneves joined the Penske team last year after the death of Greg Moore at California Speedway in 1999. He drove for Carl Hogan in 1999, and when Hogan decided to disband his team, Penske picked up Castroneves.

Although Castroneves led for only one stint, it came during the final 52 laps, the longest any driver held the lead.

“First off, this victory will have to be in memory of Paul Morgan, who prepared our engines, and unfortunately he passed away a couple of weeks ago,” said Castroneves. “And Carl Hogan too. We had in our car his name. He gave me opportunity to my career.

“It was a fantastic day for Team Penske and I have to thank Roger, no doubt about it, priceless. He gave me a fantastic car today. My car wasn’t the best one by itself but was fantastic in traffic.”

His victory was helped by two pit stops late in the race. On each occasion, he, De Ferran and Stewart pitted at the same time and both times Castroneves came out first.

The drag race between the Penske drivers caused trouble at one point. Both left their pit stall and crossed the pit lane to the outside. That caused Stewart and Andretti to slam on the brakes, but not before Andretti stuck his nose cone into the rear of Stewart’s car.

IRL officials ruled that Stewart, who came out third, was entitled to be the leader, moving Penske’s drivers back one position. When a yellow caution flag came out a few laps later, Stewart pitted and Castroneves took the lead for good.

The bad luck in the pit mix-up cost Andretti most. He had to make an unscheduled stop for a new front-wing assembly.

“Unfortunately, I got the worst of it,” Andretti said. “All of a sudden, two red-and-white cars pulled out in front of us. It was a bit disappointing [to finish third], but I expect to be back again next year.”

Andretti, a longtime critic of the IRL and its drivers, said he didn’t believe the results meant much in the IRL vs. CART argument.

“We had to race everybody,” he said. “It just seemed like the bad luck went to the IRL drivers. That deal when Sam [Hornish] spun in front of me in turn 4, I went low and Little Al [Unser] went high. I thought he was going to hit me, but he hit Al instead. Obviously, I think the CART teams are very good, but this race was incredibly competitive.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE FINISH

1. (11) Helio Castroneves: No. 68, Dallara-Oldsmobile

2. (5) Gil de Ferran: No. 66, Dallara-Oldsmobile

3. (21) Michael Andretti: No. 39, Dallara-Oldsmobile

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RACE STATISTICS

Winner’s average 153.601 mph

Margin of victory 1.737 seconds

Lead changes 13 among 8 drivers

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