CELEBRITY JONES

Dancing With the Stars revitalized Helio Castroneves' career and amped up his star power. But only one encore will keep him in the spotlight: winning his third Indy 500.

Large, fairy-tale-size front doors open outward at Helio Castroneves' Spanish-villa-style mansion near Miami, and within moments, visitors are whisked deep into the racer's career. The marble-floored hall is framed by six white pillars and a massive mantel that showcases an array of trophies, cups and signed checkered flags. Elsewhere are glass and wooden plaques, two samurai helmet trophies, six enormous piston-shaped awards—all tastefully displayed. And just as he promised in innumerable interviews, Helio's Dancing With the Stars mirror ball sits on its own black-marble podium, right between two Indy 500 trophies.

Few people could take such open delight in their own accomplishments without seeming full of themselves. But Castroneves comes across as genuine when he talks about his sense of decor: "I look at pictures and say, 'Man, that was hard,' or, 'That was a great day.' I remember it like it was yesterday, and I'm proud I was in those places. It's fun to see. And it keeps me grounded."

After 12 years of racing cars in the States, the 33-year-old Brazilian has memories and honors galore, and he'd very much like more, please. He clearly loves to be adored, but when it comes to achieving superstardom, even winning two Indy 500s hasn't taken him much further than Victory Lane. That's what made him take on a challenge from hell like DWTS and why the disco ball sits where it does. Ballroom dancing? On live, national television? Against household names like Marie Osmond? "That trophy between the two Indys reminds me I can do anything," Helio says. "I can be at a desk one day and become a great businessman—just put my heart and soul into it. But right now I'm choosing to be the next Indy 500 champion, the next IndyCar Series champion."

Chris Floyd

Helio looking for the hat trick at this years Indianapolis 500.

The timing couldn't be better for him to stay in the spotlight. For the first time in more than a decade, IndyCar has been generating buzz well before the month of May. In January, the IRL and Champ Car Series announced they were finally merging after 12 years of separation. In the season's second race, 19-year-old Graham Rahal became the youngest open-wheel winner ever, and a week later, Danica Patrick made headlines as the first female IndyCar winner. Not to be outdone, or outshone, Castroneves heads into Indy on top of the points standings.

Just off his living room, Helio's office displays more mementos, including a blown-up picture from ESPN The Magazine's 2000 NEXT issue. It's a tight shot of Helio in street clothes, behind the wheel of a personal car, gazing away from the camera. He's 25, hasn't won Indy yet and isn't well-known even back home in Brazil. He looks so young and green. Sitting at his desk now, Helio furrows his brow as he talks about the era just before success found him, before his effervescent personality had blossomed, before he became a positive thinker. "Coming to America in 1996 and living in Columbus, Ohio, was tough," he says, leaning forward in his chair. "That was the hardest cold I'd been through and the first time I'd ever seen snow. Everything went downhill that year. I was crashing a lot, I hurt my ribs, and when they took forever to heal, I hit bottom. I called my parents and said, 'That's it. I don't think racing is for me, because everything I do is wrong.'"

But before he could pack his bags for São Paulo, he came across a self-help program, Human Performance International, that put him and his bummer attitude back on track. "It gave me tools to compensate for it," he says. "For instance, I'd wear an elastic band, and every time I had the thought, It's not going to work, I'd snap the band. It hurts. After a while, it was automatic to start thinking the right way."

Castroneves joined open-wheel juggernaut Team Penske in 1999, but he still struggled to keep his negative and overly aggressive energies in check. "Helio is very emotional," says crew chief Rick Rinaman. "Early on, he was really hard to control. All he wanted to do was leave the gate and get out front." And even after years of more ups than downs, those who work with Helio still see the two sides of him that most people never will. "In the morning when he comes into the garage, it just brightens up the room," Rinaman says. "He goes up to everyone and says, 'Hey, how you doing?' But if he's uncomfortable or moody, then everybody gets that way. His low is a bad feeling."

Patrick, IndyCar's biggest star, is a friendly foe of Castroneves'. She says his positivity is for real, but there's more to him. "Ninety-five percent of the time he is a smiley, happy-go-lucky guy," Danica says. "The other 5 is when things don't go his way on the track. He does get angry. But I think anybody who could be happy under all circumstances on the track is weird. Like, where's your emotion, man?"

Chris Floyd

Fans have always felt comfortable saying hello to Helio.

When Castroneves finished a respectable but disappointing sixth in the IndyCar standings last season, he chose to blow off steam by immersing himself in a totally different world. Some people pooh-poohed his spin on Dancing With the Stars, saying it was a vehicle for B-listers and has-beens that everyone's mom watched. But 25 million viewers trumped the critics, and it's hard to argue that Helio's off-season pursuit was a distraction when he's starting on the inside of the second row at the Indy 500 on May 25. "We haven't seen any evidence on the racetrack that it's been anything but a positive," says Team Penske president Tim Cindric. "It's put him in the right frame of mind and taken some of the frustration away from, How do I get to break out and take advantage of being successful in racing? He's finally living that dream. He knows that people know who he is. Winning two Indy 500s didn't get him that."

Castroneves' appearance on DWTS last fall both underscored open-wheel racing's obscurity problem and served as a small bridge over it. "Every week people were talking about Helio and going, 'What does he do?'" says his older sister, Kati, who attended every taping. "They'd say, 'He's a race car driver. He races IndyCar.' 'What is IndyCar? Is it NASCAR?' 'No, it's IndyCar.' So it helped."

Helio's star turn came at a perfect time for IndyCar. In the past year, the biggest stories coming out of the sport were the high-profile defections of Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr. to stock cars. Castroneves changed the conversation just as people were speculating about whether he or Patrick would be the next star NASCAR would red-rover to its side. IndyCar has fired up marketing tie-ins for Helio, with ads beckoning fans who liked seeing him dance to come see him race and by having his DWTS partner, Julianne Hough, sing the national anthem at this year's race. Says Terry Angstadt, commercial division president for the Indy Racing League: "Will more people watch because of Helio or because of the unification? We don't care—as long as they're watching."

Adds team founder and chairman Roger Penske: "We're looking for diversity, more fans. Helio's kind of fame allows viewers to see the drivers as real people and not just people who drive cars fast."

Even with his DWTS win six months behind him, Castroneves needs little prodding to chat about the experience: the eight-hour-a-day workouts, the soreness, the wardrobe, the fake-tan makeup, the thrilling praise, the depressing critiques, the wacky cue cards. "I would read something like, 'I'm working in the dancing,'" he says. "The producers would say, 'Oh, your English. No, no, no. You need to put "on" or "at."' 'All right, listen, it's my accent. It's my way to speak. I can't speak the other way.' Then I'd finally get it right, and they'd say, 'Okay, now with more enthusiasm!'"

"Being able to captivate older people and younger kids showed that I was having fun," Helio continues. "What they saw was someone working hard, going from one territory to an extremely different one. People recognize me on the street more now. They don't always remember my name, but they say, 'Hey, you're that driver who was on Dancing With the Stars. You were great.'"

Chris Floyd

Helio leads IndyCar in points and hasn't finished worse than fourth this season.

The uglier side of Castroneves' growing fame came in the form of weekly questions about his engagement to Miami business executive Aliette Vazquez, with whom he had a six-year relationship. Throughout his run on DWTS, he maintained that their impending nuptials were still on, but the day after he won, he and Vazquez each issued statements about their mutual breakup. Tabloids mucked around for a romance between Castroneves and Hough, both of whom have repeatedly denied being involved—even if Helio admits he has at least thought about it. "I would love to have something, don't get me wrong," he says with a laugh. "It just didn't happen."

Castroneves is a make-it-happen, can't-sit-still kind of guy. He doesn't even like being on vacation for very long. "I prefer to be busy," he says. The one place he doesn't mind being stationary for long periods of time is in his race car. After he slides down into the cockpit, he is virtually immobile, with only his helmet visible to anyone else. "It's comfortable for me," he says, "because there, I like to be still."

It's mid-March, just before the IRL season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Castroneves is once again holding court, this time at the track. The press conferences no longer produce questions about how to pronounce his first name ("EH-lio") and whether being Brazilian means he's a natural dancer. Instead, he talks stoically about aspirated engines and paddle-shifting. The only time he cracks a smile is for questions about life after Dancing With the Stars. "He can turn that on and off," says Cindric, who's known Castroneves for nine years. "He's not clowning around. He's as competitive as anybody." Perhaps this drive that pushed him to win the mirror ball is also what compels Castroneves to be popular. It's not enough to be faster than everyone else if anyone else gets louder applause.

After addressing the media, Castroneves tries to warm up on an unseasonably cool spring day. He jogs around the infield walkway, wearing a black Team Penske fleece jacket over his red fire suit. His headphones pump out a steady rhythm, but his face is expressionless behind black Oakleys; he's nearly unrecognizable from the guy who grinned his way around the dance floor. But just when it seems that he's totally transformed into Mr. Serious, he spies a group of fans and interrupts his run.

And then Helio busts into a cha-cha, drawing attention and laughs … and a crowd.

THREE WIDE
By David Higdon

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Is it too late to switch teams?

Three teams have dominated at Indy this decade, winning all but one Borg-Warner trophy. Expect more of the same on May 25, when they'll fill the front two rows in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING
In his five races at the Brickyard, pole-sitter Scott Dixon (above, right) has never started from the front row. But he posted the most consistent qualifying run in Indy history (his four laps were all within .0049 second of one another), so maybe last year's runner-up will get it right this time, as teammate Dan Wheldon did when he won
in 2005. Both Ganassi drivers will set a fast pace from the 1-2 front-row positions.

TEAM PENSKE
Helio Castroneves keeps his team loose, but when the Brazilian "gets down to business, he's very focused and pays attention to detail," says teammate Ryan Briscoe. While he doesn't yet have Helio's chops, Briscoe did qualify third this year, one spot ahead of Castroneves (above, left), proving he's an able replacement for 2006 winner Sam Hornish Jr. Penske won the 2008 Daytona 500 with Ryan Newman, and a twofer is possible with Castroneves or Briscoe, assuming the aggressive Aussie avoids mistakes.

ANDRETTI GREEN RACING
The only four-car garage in IndyCar placed all of its drivers in the first three rows: Danica Patrick (above, center), Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Hideki Mutoh. But it's the side-by-side duo in Row 2—Patrick and Kanaan—who are sentimental and legitimate favorites. "Somebody told me the other day, 'This place owes you something,' " says Kanaan, who has two podium finishes in six tries. "This place doesn't owe me anything. It's up to me to do my job."

THIS IS HOW THE ROOKIES CRUMBLE
By David Higdon

Robert Laberge/ Getty Images

Listen to this advice grasshopper.

The last racer to win his INDY 500 debut? Helio Castroneves, in 2001. And if Graham Rahal or any of the other 11 first-timers in this year's field want to duplicate Helio's success, they'll need to avoid these common rookie mistakes.

BREAKING LINE
Turn 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most daunting high-speed corner in open-wheel racing. Drivers occasionally try to pinch the corner—going in low, coming out high—a move best left for road courses with low-gear, lower-speed turns.

TWISTED TURNS
The Brickyard is a rounded rectangle with four distinct turns, unlike most swooping ovals, so passing in the corners requires an expert touch. "You can pass there," says four-time Indy 500 champ Rick Mears, "but you'd better know who you're passing and their tendencies."

RUNNING DIRTY
Long but not very wide, the Speedway offers limited line choices, which means newcomers should be wary of passing in turbulent air. "It's very difficult to judge closing speeds and lines when you're running in dirty air," says 2003 Indy champ Gil de Ferran.

CLOUDED JUDGMENT
Though May weather in Indy is fickle, eager drivers are likely to ignore flags that monitor wind direction and intensity. "You're sometimes dictated by where the wind goes," says Tomas Scheckter, a veteran of six Indy 500s. "Even going down the straight, the car will shove left and right."

ROUGH RIDING
Rookies will be driving up to 90 minutes longer than in a usual IndyCar race, which might lead to impatience. "The biggest mistake drivers make here," says team owner Roger Penske, "is they think they can go faster by driving harder."

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