Helio Castroneves has known only success in pretty much everything he's ever attempted, whether it be open-wheel racing or his fancy footwork on Dancing with the Stars. But the Brazilian-born driver is going to need more than quick feet and a knack for racing to get the Internal Revenue Service off his back. The two-time Indy 500 champ, along with his sister/business manager and lawyer, is in a world of legal hurt after being indicted by the IRS on six counts of tax evasion, which could send the talented driver to prison for up to 35 years. Castroneves was allegedly using an offshore bank account to hide millions of dollars from the U.S. government, which is a really bad idea, especially if you get caught. He received a $1 million driver agreement and $5 million licensing agreement from Penske racing for 2000-2002, and he allegedly stuffed the $5 million into an offshore account via a deferred royalty plan for which he wasn't eligible. For its part, the IRS seems intent on making an example out of Castroneves, saying "This case sends a clear message that the IRS is committed to vigorously enforcing the lax laws and stopping offshore tax evasion."
Motor racing is, of course, highly competitive, and the logistics highly complicated. The higher the level of racing, the more competitive and the more complicated. But racing fans expect to see it duked out on the track, not on the way there. That's why it was so disappointing when the transporter carrying Penske's Indy racing team to Infineon (formerly known as Sears Point) in Sonoma, California, went up in flames on the interstate. For any other team, even a lesser incident would have called the curtain on their race weekend. But as we reported on Thursday, Penske has a history of turning adverse circumstances like these into victory. Was the team able to perpetuate the legacy, or did it succumb to the circumstances? For the sake of those who have this past weekend's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County cued up on TiVo.
American open-wheel racing just had a pretty big weekend, in case you missed it. While one era was beginning in Japan, another was ending at America's Monte Carlo. With reunification finally about to commence, the last Champ Car (nee CART) race ever was held at the street course in downtown Long Beach. While we've already told you the outcome, we also wanted to share some more photos. Although the race should be back on the schedule for '09, this weekend's race was truly the end of an era.
After 25 years of Champ Cars and their predecessors, next year's race will bring us a series that has a female driver who is an honest-to-goodness winner. And not only is she a winner (and a part-time swimsuit model), but she is pretty hardy too. After winning the race at Motegi, she and unfortunate runner-up Helio "Dancing with the Stars" Castroneves hopped on a plane and made it back to LAX and the LBGP by the time things wrapped up on Sunday afternoon.
While we didn't get any pics of Danica or Helio, we did manage to capture a few dozen shots of some of the drivers (mostly ALMS and Champ Car), and a few of the models too. Click below to check out some of the people that made this race weekend a memorable one.
