Editor’s Note, Feb. 19, 2013: This past Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, driver Danica Patrick became the first woman ever to qualify in the top spot for a NASCAR Cup race. She will start in the pole position of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 24. The following profile, noted in The Best American Sports Writing series, originally appeared in the May 2006 issue of IM, a year after Patrick’s fourth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500.
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is dancing his way back to reality TV. ABC announced today that Castroneves will join the cast of Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars for the show’s 15th season. Castroneves, the season-five champion, will compete against other past celebrity favorites of various ilk and levels of fame for the chance to hoist the Mirror Ball trophy. Among his competitors: Bristol Palin, Drew Lachey, Joey Fatone, Kirstie Alley, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Pamela Anderson.
Speedway big-timers Johnny Rutherford, Helio Castrovenes, and Arie Luyendyk, Sr. came out last night for the 13th-annual Racing to Recovery Gala at the Dallara IndyCar Factory in Speedway, to help raise money for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation. If we’re honest, the term “gala” seems a little too fancy—it felt more like a friendly family reunion, as smiling Indy drivers (including Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, and Davey Hamilton) mingled easily with the avid racing fans and foundation supporters in attendance.
JR Hildebrand spotted the starter’s white flag. “Bring it home, baby, bring it home,” chirped the rookie’s support staff over the radio from their perch in the pits. Four left turns away from winning the 2011 Indianapolis 500, Hildebrand buried the rush of excitement. No one, he told himself, cares who leads lap No. 199 at Indy. In the ether, though, the announcer’s voice on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network was already rising. Here he goes, the final lap! Across the line, JR Hildebrand will see the white flag.
