Castroneves Wins 2009 Indy 500
Helio Castroneves started first and ended first at the Indianapolis 500. It is his 3rd Indy 500 victory, making him one of only 9 drivers to win the race at least 3 times. 3 drivers have won it 4 times – A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears.
It has been a good month for Castroneves and his sister as they were also acquited of federal tax charges.
Castroneves was emotional about the win, “This is incredible. I think my tears speak for everything. What a great team. I just have to thank, first of all, the Lord for giving me this opportunity, to be strong, to have a family that I have. I have to think Roger (Penske), Tim (Cindric), my guys, Phillip Morris, all the associates (sponsors), Verizon, everybody because they gave my life back. I’m here today because of those guys. And obviously the fans. You guys don’t understand. You guys kept me strong. You guys are the best. I’m honored to have fans like you. Thank you so much. Let’s celebrate now. We were having all sorts of problems with the radio since the beginning of the race. And then, we had a little issue with the gearbox on the pit stops. I was getting neutral. I had to change for a mechanical. Finally, toward the end, we were just feeling the car. I didn’t touch anything on the car at all. Basically, it was a long race. We were just taking it easy. It was good, actually, because behind I knew what I needed to do. But once I got in the front, it was never look back. What a day. This place is magical. It was beginning of the season, but things are starting to fall into place. This is the best month of May ever. Wow. Three. I can’t believe it.”
This is Castroneves’ 15th career victory in the IndyCar Series, tying Dan Wheldon for third all-time. Sam Hornish Jr. has 19 wins, and Scott Dixon has 17.
Danica Patrick finished third, her best career finish at Indianapolis and the best-ever finish for a woman. She finished fourth as a rookie in 2005. Patrick has four top-10 finishes at Indianapolis in five starts. Patrick and Tony Kanaan are the only drivers with three top-five finishes to start the 2009 season.
Patrick was gracious in losing to Castroneves, “The Boost Mobile/Motorola guys did a great job in the pits today, and we had great stops all day. I had a really strong car for the last few stints and would have loved to see the last 35 laps raced green. I know we would have had no issues making it to the end without stopping. I was happy to keep the #7 car up front toward the end of the day. It was a great race for the fans, and I’m happy for Helio (Castroneves); he was super fast all day.”
John Andretti, driving for Richard Petty/Window World/Dreyer&Reinbold, talked about bringing the “King” of stock cars to the Indy 500, “This has been a long month. Our goal was a top 10, and we were moving toward that end, running 12th in the middle of the race. But on a restart, I got pushed out to the wall and got the car in the dirt. Then everybody behind me was able to get by. It took me a few laps to clean off the tires and get going again. I got a good restart the next time and went from 22nd to 16th. At the end, we did the opposite strategy as the leaders. We took new tires and some fuel, hoping to drive through the field. But the track was just too slippery to make a move. So we probably had a better car than our finish today. But overall, it has been a good month. It was fun to bring ‘The King’ (Richard Petty) as a car owner at the Indianapolis 500.”
