Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Castroneves aims for first IRL championship

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Helio Castroneves has Indianapolis 500 victories but has come out on the short end of two Indy Racing League championship battles in his first two seasons in the series.

In 2002, Castroneves finished 20 points behind Sam Hornish Jr. in the championship battle and last season was third in the title chase, 23 points behind Scott Dixon and five points behind Penske Racing teammate Gil de Ferran. In both cases, the championship was decided on the last day of the season.

Having already conquered the Indy 500 twice, one might assume that Castroneves is putting extra emphasis this season on winning his first open-wheel championship -- but that is not the case.

"The Indy 500 is one of the most prestigious races that everybody would like to be fortunate to win and obviously I want to keep winning and doing my best over there, but a championship is something that I always have (as) a goal in mind," Castroneves said as he prepared for Sunday's IRL season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I'm not going to choose one, but I'll choose both of them -- Indianapolis and the championship. Trust me, I'm not selfish but it's something I really wish for a long time and we just have to keep working because we know it's not going to come easy. This year, the IRL is very competitive so we need to keep working as hard as we can."

Castroneves will begin his quest for the championship on the reconfigured 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sunday's Toyota Indy 300 will mark the first IndyCar Series race on the track since the variable banking was added last summer, with 18 degrees at the bottom, 19 degrees in the middle and 20 degrees at the top of the track.

"Miami is always a very challenging racetrack and I believe with this new layout -- having 20 degrees in the banking in the corners -- no doubt about it, it's going to turn out exciting and extremely competitive for all of us drivers and teams," Castroneves said. "Definitely, the banking has turned out to be much faster ... we're going above 218 (mph) and I'm sure during the race weekend we might achieve 220.

"Again, it's one of those (tracks) that is extremely fast, flat out -- not very easy. I'm sure it's going to be a similar race as Chicagoland and Kansas City, so everybody needs to be really cautious, really careful and obviously look out because you're going to have not only one or two cars fighting for the lead, but I believe five or seven cars fighting for the lead and you just have to keep watching everyone."

Dr. Chris Pinderski will take over for Olvey as Champ Car's medical director when the series opens its season April 18 in Long Beach. Pinderski has spent the past 12 seasons working with the Champ Car Safety Team and most recently served as the series' associate medical director.

Dr. Terry Trammell, the other doctor who came to Zanardi's aid and a renowned orthopedic surgeon, will expand his role in research and development of safety equipment and procedures, the series said in a prepared statement. Trammell will continue to work closely with Champ Car technical director Lee Dykstra in safety research and will serve as an advisor and consultant.

The Champ Car Safety Team widely is regarded as the premier emergency response units in motor sports.

Kinser, who took the lead in the WoO points standings with the victory, enters Saturday's race at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway with 498 career 'A' Feature wins. He also won the World of Outlaws Down Under main event at Parramatta City Raceway in Australia in January.

The World of Outlaws returns to the half-mile dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a two-night show March 4-5.