Castroneves as Hungry as Ever to End Drought, Bag Elusive Fourth Indy 500 Win
May 25, 2016 | By Phillip B. Wilson
Because Helio Castroneves is typically in contention on Race Day, it’s easy to overlook the reality that the Team Penske driver from Brazil hasn’t won in a while.
It’s been a long while, actually, a 32-race winless drought that’s the longest of his Verizon IndyCar Series career. That’s quite a stretch, considering Castroneves’ 29 career wins are tied for 11th with his driver coach, Rick Mears, on the series all-time list.
Known for keeping his cool when he drove, Mears assures Castroneves won’t be distracted by the outside noise entering Sunday’s 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
“Everybody else makes more out of it than you do yourself,” Mears said Wednesday. “The hard part is everybody else making more of it than you do yourself. I (used to) go into every race trying to win it. That’s what you do. It’s a new day. It’s a new race. All of your focus is on that race. I’m speaking for me, and I think he’s the same way, which is one thing that’s always helped him around here, it’s just another race on another track. That’s the way you try to keep it and not let the pressure get to you.
“Believe me when you’re out there, you aren’t thinking, ‘I haven’t won in a while.’ You’re focused on your job. You’re out there to try to win that race.”
Castroneves, 41, last celebrated a win in the second Belle Isle (Detroit) race in 2014. Since that time, he’s finished second six times and third three times. He’s coming off a runner-up finish in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The three-time Indy 500 winner qualified ninth, on the outside of Row 3, for Sunday in his No. 3 Shell V-Power Nitro+ Team Penske Chevrolet. Castroneves might be keeping his cool, as Mears says, but he admits he’s hungry for victory, too.
“Super hungry,” he said. “I have to say we’ve been close, we’ve been fast, we’ve been competitive, but there’s the ‘but,’ and I don’t want that.”
He laughs a bit nervously. Drivers often say the close calls are remembered more than the wins.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway typically brings out the best in Castroneves. In addition to his three “500” wins, he has finished second twice including two years ago, as well as third and fourth. He’s finished in the top 10 in 13 of his 15 Indy 500 starts.
“The whole thing is you want to be knocking on the door,” said Mears, one of just three drivers to win the Indy 500 four times. “If you aren’t knocking on the door, you aren’t going to win. You can’t. As long as you’re knocking on the door, you know that the opportunity is there, there’s a possibility of it.
“Then it’s a matter of, will the cars fall your way or not? You’ve got to have a little lady luck involved, I don’t care who you are, the team or anybody else. That’s what makes this race so difficult.”
Mears recalled his first series win at Milwaukee in 1978. He was closing in on the leader, Al Unser, and confident he could overtake him when Unser ran out of fuel. Mears felt cheated out of his victory because he didn’t get to pass for the lead. He recalled sharing that thought with A.J. Foyt.
“He started laughing at me and said, ‘Are you kidding? You’ll lose more that way than you win,’” Mears said. “What goes around comes around. It evens out. And he was right.”
Castroneves knows how everything can change quickly. He mentions the significance of momentum and brings up his teammate and points leader Simon Pagenaud, who has won three consecutive races after two runner-up finishes to start the year.
“Look at Simon,” Castroneves said. “It just proves that all of a sudden, when you have good momentum, it’s difficult to stop.”
Being back at IMS also means the same old questions return about possibly winning a fourth Indy 500 race and joining the elite company of Mears, Foyt and Unser. Mears knows a lot about that pressure, too. He used to hear the same questions.
“Once you get three wins, you’re going to be asked about four every year,” Mears said. “Once you get two, you’re asked about three every year. That’s a normal deal. And the answer is always the same. Your focus is on winning this race.”