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Castroneves win delights huge Indy crowd

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Helio Castroneves celebrates after winning his fourth Indianapolis 500.
Camera IconHelio Castroneves celebrates after winning his fourth Indianapolis 500. Credit: AP

The Indianapolis 500 was meant to mark the return of some sort of normalcy, at least for the marquee sporting events that Americans find so meaningful.

For Helio Castroneves, Indy provided a professional rebirth that pushed him into an elite club that last welcomed a new member 30 years ago.

He became just the fourth four-time winner of the Indy 500 when he crossed the line first on Sunday in front of 135,000 fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the largest and loudest sporting event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic early last year.

The race was postponed to August a year ago and held without spectators for the only time in its 105-year history.

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Given permission to open 40 per cent of the grandstands this year, the exuberant crowd came in droves and went wild for Castroneves' historic win for the old guys and Meyer Shank Racing.

Biding his time until the moment was right, the veteran passed 24-year-old Alex Palou with two laps remaining and the frenzied crowd roared its approval.

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When the Brazilian took the chequered flag, he rushed to the fence for his traditional 'Spiderman' climb that belied his 46 years.

Castroneves had been trying since 2009 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."

He became the fourth-oldest Indianapolis 500 winner, behind Al Unser (47, 1987), Bobby Unser (47, 1981) and Emerson Fittipaldi (46, 1993).

After climbing down the fence, Castroneves ran down the front stretch for a victory lap on foot, stopped every few feet by a flood of rivals who rushed onto the track to congratulate him.

Almost every member of Team Penske - for whom he won his previous three Indy 500s - 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?"' Australian ace Power told Castroneves in a victory hug.

"You're a legend."

Castroneves' win 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 aged 24 or younger.

Simon Pagenaud, the 2019 Indy winner, was third, followed by Pato O'Ward, the 21-year-old budding IndyCar star.

Power, the 2018 Indy 500 winner, limped home a lowly 30th after spinning late in the race while triple Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin finished 20th in his race debut.

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