Heavy Danding With the Stars news.
A “Dancing With the Stars” champion is eyeing a record-breaking win, but it has nothing to do with another mirrorball trophy. On May 28, 2023, DWTS season 5 champion Helio Castroneves will race the 107th Annual Indianapolis 500 with the hope of winning it for the fifth time.
Castroneves, 48, is tied with long-retired racing legends A.J Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears with four wins at the Indy 500, per Sporting News. He now hopes to make history in 2023 with win No. 5.
According to Motorsport, the Indy 500 takes place on Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Castroneves won the 500-mile race four times between 2001 and 2021. In 2021, he ended with the fastest-ever Indy 500 time of all time when his Meyer Shank Racing Honda clocked in at 2 hours 37 minutes and 19.3846 seconds.
Helio Castroneves Said He Has No Intention of Retiring From Racing
In an interview with “The Ride With JMV” podcast, Castroneves said he is as grateful to compete in the big race in 2023 as he was when he first started more than 20 years ago. He also noted that despite having so much experience on the Indy 500 track, he learns something new every time he goes there.
“Not many people have the opportunity to be here,” he said during the interview. “I’ll tell you one thing, you always learn in this place. Every time you go out there there is always something different and always something to learn, and that’s why I enjoy the challenge of this amazing track.”
The racing legend added that he does not see himself quitting the sport any time soon. Castroneves told the podcast that even if he stops racing cars he will always be involved in racing in some capacity.
Helio Castroneves Once Said He Only Gets Recognized for ‘Dancing With the Stars’
ABCJulianne Hough and Helio Castroneves on Dancing With the Stars
In 2007, with one Indy 500 win under his belt, Castroneves won the fifth season of “Dancing With the Stars” with pro partner Julianne Hough. He fell short of a second win when he returned to the ballroom in 2015 for the “Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars” season.
In a 2019 interview on the “Bloomberg Business of Sports” podcast, Castroneves revealed that more people recognize him in public from DWTS than from racing.
“Ninety percent of the people today recognize me because of “Dancing With the Stars,’” he said. The racing pro added that it was his friend, Olympic skater Apolo Ohno, who convinced him to give DWTS a shot. Ohno had been partnered with Hough the season before and won the competition with her, but Castroneves has no such expectations. Not only did he never think he would win the ABC celebrity ballroom competition, but he only packed enough belongings for a two-week stay in Los Angeles because he was so sure he’d be sent packing early.
Not only did he win “Dancing with the Stars,” but Castroneves won a new base of fans who began tuning in for his car races. “People wanted to see what I was doing,” he said. “It was a win-win.”
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