Tag Archives: Michael Shank

Helio Castroneves Signs One-Year Extension with Meyer Shank Racing for Full IndyCar Season

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Helio Castroneves is extending his stay…

The 47-year-old Brazilian auto racing driver, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, has signed a one-year contract extension with Meyer Shank Racing.

Helio CastronevesThe extension will bring Castroneves back for a 26th full IndyCar season.

Castroneves won his fourth 500 in 2021 driving a part-time schedule for MSR as he was desperately fighting off a forced slide toward retirement.

Michael Shank believed in the popular facer and last year’s Indy win led to a full season at MSR’s expanded two-car organization. Despite his age, Castroneves insists he’s got plenty of gas in his tank.

Shank wholeheartedly agreed.

“I don’t want anyone else to win a fifth Indy 500,” Shank told The Associated Press. “He’s very emotional about this, he’s going down swinging. I think he’d like to do at least one more (full) year and then maybe try just Indy? And then do some other things, too. He wants to stay involved, he wants to use what he’s strong at, and we support him 100%.”

It’s hardly been the breakout season Shank had expected when Castroneves’ program was expanded into a full season and Simon Pagenaud became available at the same time Jack Harvey, the team’s first driver, left for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

 

Castroneves is 18th in the standings, has led only one lap all year and finished seventh at Indy; Pagenaud is 12th in the standings and was eighth at Indy, and Shank believes will have a strong close to his first season with MSR.

They race Saturday night at Gateway Worldwide Technology Raceway outside St. Louis, where Castroneves has an incredible record. In six career starts spanning both CART and IndyCar, Castroneves has one victory and has never finished lower than ninth. In three IndyCar races, his average finish is 2.3.

It has created hope for strong results from MSR on Saturday night at the final oval on this year’s IndyCar calendar. Castroneves has not raced Gateway since 2017.

He has admittedly struggled to adjust to the cockpit-protecting aeroscreen — which was added by IndyCar while Castroneves was competing full-time in sports cars following his nearly two decades with Team Penske — and his results this season have been inconsistent. Shank is planning personnel changes to Castroneves’ team.

“I didn’t expect how difficult it was. We are making some changes internally to make sure these last three races, we continue to improve,” Castroneves said. “This aeroscreen literally threw a curveball to find a sweet spot, taking longer than I expected for myself to adapt and to understand what the car needs. But we’re pushing. I feel like we could be better.

“But remember, it’s the first full-time season that I’m in. Certainly we’re preparing for bigger things in the future.”

Shank isn’t so much bothered by the results because of the value Castroneves brings to the team sponsors. The charismatic Brazilian is an entertainer — he won his season of “Dancing With the Stars” in 2007 — and is a hit at partner functions.

“Let’s just put the Indy 500 to the side for a minute, the relationship he’s had with our sponsors and our partners is like next-level (stuff) I’ve never seen before,” Shank told AP. “He is so good with people. Everyone wants him at their events, dinners, meet-and-greets, he’s just exceptional. And we have to deliver what our sponsors want.”

Castroneves has no idea how long he’d like to race, but he knows he has no plans to slow down. In addition to his extension with MSR, Castroneves is lobbying for a seat in the Daytona 500 with TrackHouse Racing and its Project91 program. TrackHouse wants to bring international drivers from other formulas to NASCAR and debuts Project91 this weekend with Formula One 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen.

TrackHouse team owner Justin Marks has said conversations with Castroneves are on pause until the team gets through its debut with Raikkonen. But Castroneves wants to be in the Daytona 500 and anything else he can fit into his schedule; he also participated in Tony Stewart’s all-star series for a second consecutive year this summer and his victory in the opener is what led to Daytona talks.

“You can’t put a number on it. I have the potential, the dedication, and I know I can do the results, and have the team and people behind,” Castroneves said about how long he plans to race. “The reason I’m still going for it is because I believe in all these aspects. I’m going to keep moving forward until I get the result.

“Obviously you get to a point that you’ve got to realize and as of right now, I don’t feel that in my gut. I feel I have a lot left in the tank. The number is just an age.”

Helio Castroneves Wins Record-Tying Fourth Indianapolis 500

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Make that a four for Helio Castroneves.

The 46-year-old Brazilian auto racing driver, who was considered too old to race full-time, has claimed his fourth Indianapolis 500 win.

Helio Castroneves

Castroneves has at long last joined the exclusive club in a popular victory for the old guys.

Then Castroneves scaled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway fence for his trademark victory celebration at the largest sporting event since the start of the pandemic.

Castroneves wasn’t done yet. At 46 and one of the oldest drivers in the field, he ran along the frontstretch of the speedway waving to the 135,000 fans in attendance. 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,” Castroneves 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.”

Almost every member of Team Penske rushed out to meet Castroneves, including former teammate Will Power, who saw the final scoring pylon and had no idea his longtime friend won.

“I was looking up and down, ‘Who is the 06?'” Power told Castroneves in a victory hug. “You’re a legend.”

Castroneves became the fourth-oldest winner in Indy 500 history, behind Al Unser (47, 1987), Bobby Unser (47, 1981) and Emerson Fittipaldi (46, 1993).

“It means a lot,” Castroneves said of the reception. “I’ve been in the sport for a long time, and I hope I have more friends than actual enemies. And even those who don’t like me, I hope they understand that this is a very difficult place to achieve. And that meant we did something very special.”

After more than two decades driving for Team Penske, winning three Indy 500 with them, Castroneves was eventually phased over to the sports car program, where he won the IMSA championship last season before Roger Penske shuttered the team and made the business decision to cut Castroneves loose.

Spider-Man insisted he was not done racing, and Michael Shank agreed. He hired Castroneves for the Indy 500 to complement the one-car Meyer Shank Racing team. Maybe Castroneves would have a shot to win, but he would also boost a team that needed some veteran leadership at one of the most challenging tracks in the world.

His last Indy 500 win was in 2009, and Castroneves has been trying since 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.

“I love Indianapolis! You guys don’t understand it! The fans, you give me energy,” Castroneves said.

Penske, now the owner of the speedway, embraced Castroneves in victory lane, while Foyt welcomed the new member to the four-time winners club.

“He deserved it, he worked hard to get it, and he finally got it,” said Foyt, who was celebrating the 60th anniversary of his first Indy 500 victory. “It wasn’t given to him, and when someone works as hard as he did, I’m glad it happened for him.”

Castroneves, who also won the 500 in 2001 and 2002, was part of the winning Rolex 24 Daytona sports car team in January, taking the prestigious sports car event for the first time. This was the only IndyCar race on Castroneves’ schedule this season.

“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 [PGA Championship], so here you go. The older guys are still kicking the younger guys’ butts.”

It 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 age 24 or younger.

Castroneves found himself in a closing duel with one of the young stars, 24-year-old Spaniard Alex Palou, but he passed Palou for good with two laps remaining and beat him by 0.4928 seconds for the victory.

“It hurts. It hurts a lot. I didn’t expect a second place to hurt that much,” said Palou, who took the series points lead.

Castroneves, who has three runner-up finishes at Indy, said Palou “had a great car and did everything he possibly could. Last year, he didn’t finish. This year he finished second, so that’s a big improvement.”