Written off as too outdated to race full time, too outdated for a fourth Indianapolis 500 win, Helio Castroneves in the end joined that unique membership in a preferred victory for the outdated guys.

Then Spider-Man scaled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway fence for his trademark victory celebration on the largest sporting occasion for the reason that begin of the pandemic.

Castroneves wasn’t executed but. At 46 and one of many oldest drivers within the area, he ran alongside the frontstretch of the speedway waving to the 135,000 followers in attendance. He pumped his arms within the air and waved to the ecstatic crowd, his explosion of emotional vitality stopped each few ft by a flood of rivals who rushed onto the monitor to congratulate Castroneves.

Nearly each member of Crew Penske rushed out to satisfy Castroneves, together with former teammate Will Power, who noticed the ultimate scoring pylon and had no concept his longtime buddy gained.

“I used to be wanting up and down, ‘Who’s the 06?'” Energy informed Castroneves in a victory hug. “You are a legend.”

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Castroneves turned the fourth-oldest winner in Indianapolis 500 historical past, behind Al Unser (47, 1987), Bobby Unser (47, 1981) and Emerson Fittipaldi (46, 1993).

After greater than twenty years driving for Crew Penske, together with three Indy 500 wins, Castroneves was ultimately phased over to the sports activities automobile program, the place he gained the IMSA championship final season earlier than Roger Penske shuttered the workforce and made the enterprise resolution to chop Castroneves unfastened.

Spiderman insisted he was not executed racing, and Michael Shank agreed. He employed Castroneves for the Indy 500 to enhance the one-car Meyer Shank Racing workforce. Possibly Castroneves would have a shot to win, however he would additionally enhance a workforce that wanted some veteran management at some of the difficult tracks on the planet.

His final Indy 500 win was in 2009, and Castroneves has been attempting since to affix A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, his former mentor at Crew Penske, as the one four-time winners of “The Best Spectacle in Racing.” Mears was the final driver to affix the membership in 1991.

“I really like Indianapolis! You guys do not perceive it! The followers, you give me vitality,” Castroneves stated.

Castroneves, who additionally gained the five hundred in 2001 and 2002, was a part of the successful Rolex 24 Daytona sports activities automobile workforce in January, taking the distinguished sports activities automobile occasion for the primary time. This was the one IndyCar race on Castroneves’ schedule this season.

“I’ve run two races this yr and gained two races, I would say that is fairly good,” stated Castroneves, who famous this is perhaps the yr for getting older veterans. “I do not know if this can be a good comparability, however Tom Brady gained the Tremendous Bowl and Phil Mickelson gained the golf [PGA Championship], so right here you go. The older guys are nonetheless kicking the youthful guys’ butts.”

It was a stark distinction to the latest theme of younger drivers taking on IndyCar, which now has six totally different winners by six races this season. Three of them have been first-time winners, and 4 are drivers age 24 or youthful.

Castroneves discovered himself in a closing duel with one of many younger stars, 24-year-old Spaniard Alex Palou, however he handed Palou for good with two laps remaining and beat him by 0.4928 seconds for the victory.

“It hurts. It hurts loads. I did not anticipate a second place to harm that a lot,” stated Palou, who took the collection factors lead.

When he lastly made it to victory lane — after a kiss from Mario Andretti, a hug from Johnny Rutherford, effectively needs from nearly each Indy 500 nice — Castroneves sipped from his bottle of two% milk after which dumped the remainder over his head.

As he climbed into the again of a convertible for his true victory lap across the 2.5-mile speedway, a lot of the followers have been nonetheless within the stands cheering Castroneves.

Former Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, the 2019 Indy winner, was third, adopted by Pato O’Ward, the 21-year-old budding IndyCar star.

“I felt like we had a really aggressive automobile, a automobile that for certain might have gained the race,” O’Ward stated. “I did not have sufficient for them. I did not have sufficient pace.”

A yr in the past, no followers have been allowed for the race that was delayed from Could to August. This yr, celebrities have been again and followers have been in all places, and so they have been handled to a win by some of the fashionable drivers in Indy 500 historical past.

The Related Press contributed to this report.