That Castroneves could go on to become the redundant man at Team Penske after a two-decade affiliation should not have come as a shock. It was this happy-go-lucky boy from Brazil – not some kid from central Indiana or northern California or even Patrick, a phenomenon entirely onto herself – †who’d emerge as the face of American open-wheel racing after a 14-year civil war that threatened to sink the sport entirely. The last time I saw him in person, while tracking Fernando Alonso’s maiden Indy voyage in 2017, Castroneves was pogoing on the balls of his feet outside the drivers’ green room before the race after finishing 0.2 seconds behind Takuma Sato, he wasn’t too deflated, either. ![]() Never mind if the idea of anyone doubting one of the most successful drivers in American open-wheel racing at any age seemed more than a little off track.īut then again I’m totally biased. That he’s sitting here now at age 46, in his race-worn, magenta-accented Meyers Shank team fire suit, with a sparkling Indy 500 championship ring on his finger, is as much a testament to Castroneves’s undying perseverance as the “great group of people” in his corner who “make you believe in yourself”, he says. Which is to say Castroneves was written off by same blinkered logic that kills off most athletes after the age of 30 and buries most people post 40.
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