What could've been: Castroneves misses out on rewriting Indy history
INDIANAPOLIS – Helio Castroneves is a race driver that cries when he wins and smiles when he loses.
In Sunday’s 98th Indianapolis 500 he did both.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 IndyCar Series champion that drove to victory in the 2014 Indy 500, defeating three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves by just 0.0600-seconds.
It was the second-closest Indy 500 ever, falling just short of the 1992 finish when Al Unser, Jr. defeated Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds.
Castroneves, who also finished second to Team Penske teammate Gil de Ferran in the 2003 Indy 500 by 0.2290 seconds, is only 0.272-of-a-second from being the first five-time Indy 500 winner.
After dueling with Hunter-Reay over the final stages of the race, including some daredevil moves by both drivers, Castroneves needed time to sit in the car with his head in his hands for a few moments to find serenity and shed a few tears.
“The reason that I was down there, I didn't know you were watching, to be honest, I was just trying to collect my thoughts and make sure I say the right things,” Castroneves said. “I'm glad I did that because, as I said, it's frustrating to be so close to something that only a few guys did.
“Like I said, it was a great race. I tried man, trust me. I really tried. We tried to find answers, like I said. You can't question destiny. Today I did everything; my team did everything we possibly could have done to win this race.
“So close to win four.”
Castroneves is a popular driver from Brazil who has won three Indy 500s but has never won the IndyCar Series title. Hunter-Reay has now won both the 500-Mile Race and the 2012 IndyCar Series championship.
He is the first driver from the United States to win an Indy 500 since Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2006, and even Castroneves realized the importance of having an American driver win the “World’s Biggest Race.”
“It's great because for several years the series was a foreigner up front,” Castroneves said. “It's great to see American drivers succeed. Third was Marco Andretti. You see the top two are American drivers. The IndyCar Series is showing it's the right way to go, as well. I say that in a positive way, and I mean it.”
There are three four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500. A.J. Foyt was the first with victories in 1961, ’64, ’67 and ’77. Al Unser won the 500 in 1970, ’71, ’78 and ’87. And Rick Mears was the last when he won the Indy 500 in 1979, ’84, ’88 and ’91.
Mears serves as Castroneves’ spotter in the IndyCar Series.
“Rick was very happy for me on the radio, and that is worth a lot,” Castroneves said. “Everyone was excited for a great result. They saw it. We were fighting really hard as a group, as a team, the entire race. We were driving smart, trying to make sure we put ourselves in that position.
“It's amazing, when Rick comes and says something like that, it makes you feel really good.
“Now we move on for the next one.”
Castroneves is the first driver in Indy 500 history to win in his first two Indy 500 attempts in 2001 and 2002. He delivered a third victory in the 500 in 2009 just six weeks after he was acquitted of tax evasion charges in a United States Federal Court in Miami.
“I always appreciate those wins,” Castroneves said. “I never took it for granted. Like I said, they happened at the right time, at the right moment. Rick already had those kinds of battles as well. He could have won five, but he won four.
“Right now, at this point, I feel that the team, myself, the entire group is eager to make it happen and win another as soon as possible. That's just a testament to the series the way it is, because the cars are so close, giving an opportunity for everyone.
“The Indy 500, such an important race. It hurts a little bit more than the others because it's such a big race and you want to win as bad as anybody.”
Castroneves thought he was going to pass Hunter-Reay coming out of Turn 4 with the checkered flag waving. He pulled out from behind the leader’s wake but didn’t have enough steam to make the pass at the finish line.
“I said, I'm going to get him on turn four and this is going to be great,” Castroneves said. “But suddenly my car wasn't pulling enough. Especially because I noticed the wind, I was going against it. I'm like, 'Go, go, go.' As soon as I passed the pit entrance, I'm like, ‘This is going to be close.’
“It was close.”
The margin of victory was close but Castroneves remains so far from joining Foyt, Unser and Mears on the Mount Rushmore of the Indianapolis 500 as the only four-time winners of this historic race.