ESPN ESPN

When I first met Helio Castroneves, he was driving for Indy Lights, a developmental racing circuit. At that time, he was too young to wear a patch on his race suit for his main sponsor, Marlboro.

Since then, he's won two Indianapolis 500 titles.

But not many people who surround me knew who he was or really cared ... that is, until I told my mother-in-law earlier this month that I would be talking to him on the phone for an interview.

"You mean the guy who won 'Dancing with the Stars?'" she asked. "The guy who wore a yellow suit? He was wonderful."

Only now have I earned street cred in the family. Thank you, "Dancing with the Stars."

When I relayed the story to Castroneves, he laughed. I reminded him that I knew him before he was a dancer.

"People come up to me and have said, 'I never knew you were a driver,'" Castroneves said. "When I go to airports, people will come up to me and say, 'You really look like that I driver I saw dancing on TV.' I look at them and tell them that I look like him because I am him. People seem to recognize me everywhere now. They recognized me at Mardi Gras, at restaurants, everywhere. The show is a huge success and it opened a whole new audience to me."

These days, Castroneves has been busy tuning things up for his actual profession -- racing cars. The IndyCar series opens March 29 in Miami. He will, however, make a pit stop Monday for the season premiere of "Dancing with the Stars."

Not many in my business speak regularly with race car drivers and figure skaters, but "Dancing with the Stars" offered a rare opportunity: I could interview Castroneves to offer some dancing advice to Olympic gold-medalist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

Recently, I spoke to him (much to my mother-in-law's delight), and here are some pointers he offered to Yamaguchi for the show:

[+] Enlarge

Joey Foley/FilmMagicHelio Castroneves says he worked on voters as much as he worked on the dance floor to win the "Stars" crown.

Question from Amy Rosewater: A lot of contestants from the show say that dancing is a lot more work than they ever expected. Is that true?

Answer from Helio Castroneves: Oh my God, yes. When Apolo [Anton Ohno, winner of the fourth season of the show] told me he was practicing 10, 12 hours a day, I was like, "C'mon." But he was definitely right. If you want to do well, you have to work hard. I started out practicing six hours a day. My partner, Julianne [Hough], told me, "Don't try too hard at the beginning because you'll wear yourself out."

Q: A lot of athletes have done well on the show. You won, so did Apolo Anton Ohno, the Olympic gold medalist speedskater, and so did NFL star Emmitt Smith. Do you think Yamaguchi has an edge on the competition as a former athlete? [Note: Tennis star Monica Seles and Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins are also competing this season.]

A: I think that because we're athletes, we're able to stay and work six, eight, 10 hours a day. Our bodies are used to this kind of training. We've already been in this kind of experience before. What I also found out is that we don't have any habits. You have to learn from scratch and start really simple. I think Kristi will do well, because obviously, she's going to get the steps right and she's going to know how to put her arms and pay attention to details. She's very graceful. It's funny, because when I was learning some of the movements, Julianne would say, "Slide your feet forward like you're skating." I think Kristi will know how to do that.

Q: Do you think that being a competitor and having that drive to win helps out, too?

A: Well, I wasn't trying to win when I first started. I didn't want to be voted off the first show -- that was my biggest fear. After I got past the first round, I was just trying to have fun and learn something. People would tell me, "Oh, you learned the mambo, so you can do the samba," but it wasn't that easy. I only got really competitive at the end, with the last dance. Then, I wanted to win.

Q: How different is it to compete at the highest level of your sport, say, at the Indy 500, versus something like this?

A: It's hard to compare. The Indy 500 was something I was working for all my life. "Dancing with the Stars" was totally unexpected. For me, what can I say? I learned a great lesson from the show: If I put hard work into something, I can do it.

Q: How much time did you spend trying to get out the vote?

A: I did work on the vote, especially in Indianapolis. The IndyCar series really helped me out and my sponsors helped, too. I would tell Kristi to remember this: It's not only about getting good scores, you need the votes, too -- 50 percent is scores, 50 percent is the public. She better work on that vote system. Every Monday morning, I would wake up and do interviews starting at 5 a.m. Sometimes, I'd do interviews for two-and-a-half hours. I did an interview with a radio station in Miami [where he makes his home] every week. My parents and family even voted from Brazil.

Q: Your yellow suit made quite a splash. What would you recommend as far as outfits go?

A: Use a lot of colorful clothes. People recognized me because of that suit. I even wore it when we did the "Dancing with the Stars" tour.

Q: One last question. Do you think Kristi should kiss her partner, Mark Ballas, just as you did with Julianne in the season finale?

A: [Laughs] That depends. It worked for me. Like I said, you have to be colorful.

Amy Rosewater, a freelance writer based in Baltimore, is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.