■ Helio (Spider-Man) Castroneves won his fourth Indy 500 at age 46, before a crowd of about 135,000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the largest sports crowd of the pandemic.
INDIANAPOLIS—The Indianapolis 500 was meant to mark the return of some sort of normalcy, at least for the marquee sporting events that Americans find so meaningful.
For Helio Castroneves, Indy provided a professional rebirth that pushed him into an elite club that last welcomed a new member 30 years ago. He became just the fourth four-time winner of the Indy 500 on Sunday in front of 135,000 fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, easily the largest and loudest sporting event since the start of the pandemic.
The race was postponed to August a year ago and held without spectators for the only time in its 105-year history. Given permission to open 40 per cent of the grandstands this year, the exuberant crowd came in droves and went wild for Castroneves’ historic win for the old guys.
Biding his time until the moment was right, the veteran passed 24-year-old Alex Palou with two laps remaining and the frenzied crowd roared its approval. When the Brazilian took the checkered flag, he rushed to the fence for his traditional “Spider-Man” climb that belied his 46 years.
Castroneves had been trying since 2009 to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, his former mentor at Team Penske, as the only four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Mears was the last driver to join the club in 1991.
Castroneves became the fourth-oldest winner in Indianapolis 500 history, behind Al Unser (47, 1987), Bobby Unser (47, 1981) and Emerson Fittipaldi (46, 1993).
After climbing down the fence, Castroneves ran nearly a mile down the front stretch for a victory lap on foot. He pumped his arms in the air and waved to the ecstatic crowd, his explosion of emotional energy stopped every few feet by a flood of rivals who rushed onto the track to congratulate him.
“I was drawn by the positive energy of everyone. For a long time these people want to see a four-time winner,” he said. “I say that because they tell me. Every time we sign the autographs, they are like, ‘I’ve never seen a four-time winner. I want to see it.’ That’s what probably made me thank all of them because they made this place special.”
Castroneves was also part of the winning Rolex 24 Daytona sports car team in January, taking the prestigious sports car event for the first time.
“I’ve run two races this year and won two races, I’d say that’s pretty good,” said Castroneves, who noted this might be the year for aging veterans.
“I don’t know if this is a good comparison, but Tom Brady won the Super Bowl and Phil Mickelson won the golf so here you go. The older guys are still kicking the younger guys’ butts.”
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, capped his first season with Tampa Bay by leading the Bucs to their first championship in 18 years at 43 years old. Mickelson at 50 became the oldest major winner last week.
Castroneves’s win was a stark contrast to the recent theme of young drivers taking over IndyCar, which now has six different winners through six races this season. Three of them have been first-time winners and four are drivers aged 24 or younger.
Castroneves found himself in a closing duel with one of the young stars, but he passed Palou for good with two laps remaining and beat him by 0.4928 seconds for the victory.