Celebrity Drive: IndyCar Driver Helio Castroneves

Quick Stats:Helio Castroneves, IndyCar racer, Team Penske

Daily driver: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS (Helio's rating: 11 on a scale of 1 to 10)

Other cars:see below

Favorite drive:San Francisco to Laguna Seca

Car he learned to drive in:1986 Chevrolet Opala

First car bought:1978 Toyota Cressida Deluxe

When he's home, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves' favorite car to drive is his prized 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS. But it's not just any Camaro.

"When you win a race in Indy 500 they give you the pace car and (2009 was his) third Indy 500 win, so it was pretty cool," says the Team Penske IndyCar racer and former "Dancing With the Stars" champion.

He rates the Camaro an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 because it's so special to him. "The reason this is of value is because it's a trophy," he says, but adds that if he were to rate it on a more technical scale, he'd still give it high marks.

"For me, Chevy does a great job in any type of car, but this is the difference -- that people can have a lot of fun with the car without breaking the bank. And in my case, this is special because it's kind of like a trophy," he says. "I've got to take care of it. It's the same thing with the actual trophy when you have to polish it, make sure that it's shiny. You've got to drive the car. You've got to make sure that it's running; you just don't let it sit in the corner. It's pretty cool to have that kind of trophy that you can do that."

It's the car he cherishes most in his garage. "Every time I look at it, it brings me great memories," he says. "I don't drive it a lot because it's very special. I don't want it to get dirty or scratched. So I always try to keep it clean, but like I said it's a trophy for me."

Since Castroneves is in that rare group that has won the prestigious race three times, he has three pace cars, from the 2001, 2002 and the 2009 (2010 model year) races. That means he has two more pace cars at home that he drives on any given day.

"I do have the Corvette, also very cool, and the Bravada, that's an Oldsmobile 2001 and actually I drive that one most," he says. "But I drive all three because like I said, you've got to keep it nice and neat and I enjoy very much those cars."

He uses the Bravada to haul things when he moves. "That one takes a beating. I really push it to the limit and it's still going. Nice and smooth," he says. "When I move houses and I move office, I use that car to actually move my trophies when I was moving around, because it's so comfortable and it's big."

The Corvette he won at the 2002 Indy 500 is a fun ride. "I go with my daughter and have fun because it's kind of noisy and she likes it," he says.

Around Fort Lauderdale, his off-track home, Castroneves mainly drives nearby. "Normally it's over the weekend when there's not many people around," he says. "It's not so busy like a normal week. I go to friends' houses and things like that and I take a very nice route. My wife says that all my short cuts are always not short. Sometimes I do make some wrong turns."

Car he learned to drive in

In what was perhaps an indicator of his bright future, a precocious Castroneves learned to drive when he was 10 in his dad's 1986 Chevy Opala. He honed his skills by watching his parents drive and began by learning to park the car.

"That was a cool car back then, and I parked the car. It's already parked, but I just go back and forward," he says. "For me it was cool when I learned that with the clutch and that's the way I learned how to drive."

He would ask his dad to look on as he learned step by step. "I was doing it by myself and I turned on the car and turn on the air conditioner and I stalled it, I was like, 'Ah, this is the way it works,' he says, describing that first time. "Slowly, slowly and then I said, 'Dad, can I turn it around so I know how to do it?' And he saw me doing it and was like, 'Oh, cool, but just stay here, stay here.' So that's how I started and then one thing started leading to another and then boom, I started driving one day."

He eventually drove the length of the driveway from their home to the street

"It was on the street, because he parked on the street. So I was going back and forth, back and forth. But we're talking about 10 feet," he says. "And then I started racing in 1987, then obviously I started driving go karts and the car was actually a piece of cake because I was already driving go karts."

Castroneves drove his dad's company car in Brazil so he didn't have to buy a car until he moved to America at the start of his racing career in 1996, when he raced for Tasman Motorsports in the Indy Lights Series.

He lived in Dublin, Ohio, but his first ride was actually the two-wheeled kind. "I was here in America, so I started with a bicycle and then I was like, 'OK, I cannot go on the highway with a bicycle, which I learned the hard way," he says.

He bought a 1978 Toyota Cressida Deluxe for $1300. "I changed the brakes myself, which I can't believe that I did that - the pads," he says with a laugh. "And I didn't know you've got to change the tag, the paper tag. I didn't know."

Castroneves didn't have far to go, so the utilitarian ride was fine. "It was just a form of going from point A to point B. The only luxury that it had was the name -- Deluxe. The rest of it, it wasn't," he says with a laugh. "So that's why the bicycle was safer than the car. When I changed my own brakes on the car, yes, it was safer."

He didn't need to go far, so that's why he initially thought a bike was enough. "I was going to the shop and to the one-bedroom apartment and doing exercises in the complex that they had, going to the gym," he recalls. "There was a cinema very close by and I would go there too and the supermarket. Everything was always super close, nothing like a big trip to downtown or the highway."

He sold the Cressida for $300 a year later because he was moving. "One of the mechanics said, 'I'll take it, I'll give you $300.' I was like, 'Sold!'"

Castroneves bought another bicycle with that money. "I said, 'Where am I going to invest my 300 bucks? So I was like, 'OK, instead of losing, it I'll just invest it in a bicycle' and I ended up losing anyway, because it was stolen. The funny thing is I was going back to Brazil and it got stolen," he says. "I was like, 'Come on!' It was a Cannondale mountain bike and it was pretty nice. I was proud of my bike."

Changing the brake pads on the Cressida was the last time he worked on a car himself. "Then I moved to IndyCar and then I got a Mercedes. From then I didn't have to do anything else, but to this day, people still call me to try to fix their car and I say, 'Guys, I'm a driver, I'm not a mechanic. So please don't call me and say, 'Hey my car broke!' Call AAA, don't call me!''' he says with a laugh. "I say, 'If you ask to see the car, check the car to see how it drives, that's different! But don't ask me to park the car either because I'm not a valet, I'm a driver.' So, it's funny, I joke with my friends."

Castroneves' favorite road trip was the last time he drove down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to (what is now called) Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 1997.

"To drive along the coast and the cliffs, that was pretty cool," he says. "I remember sightseeing and it was really cool. I was with a PR friend and they just said 'Let's go drive.' I was by myself and that was the only time I did that. Today, with kids, and you're so busy that you want to get from point A to point B as quick as possible and it changed my priorities."

Even though he drives for a living, Castroneves said he doesn't mind driving, except that life is so busy now and there are always things to get done. "Today you have a cellphone; sometimes I prefer someone to drive so I can get some work done. Back then you didn't have all the computers that we have today, and that's why we want to get from point A to B as soon as possible."

At the 98th Indianapolis 500 this Sunday, the honorary pace car driver will be fellow three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, now retired. Also a former Celeb Drive, Franchitti had to hang up his helmet late last year after he was injured in a crash at an IndyCar race in October.

That leaves Castroneves as the one person left on the 33-car field this weekend who can still hope to become part of the most rare group of men who've won at the Brickyard four times - Al Unser Sr., A.J. Foyt, and Rick Mears.

While it's been five years since his last win, being handed the Borg-Warner trophy never gets old. "No. They change our name after they introduce you. You become the 'three-time Indy 500 champion.' That's awesome," he says. "We've got to keep going, we've got another chance to be in an amazing group of drivers."

When he isn't racing, Castroneves spends as much time as he can at home. "I try to play as much as I can with my daughter. Being a good dad, trying to learn how to be a good dad," he says with a laugh. "She's 4. She's something."

For more information, please visit www.TeamPenske.com and www.IndyCar.com

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