[AP photo]
Car owner Roger Penske, right, signals his 11th win at the Indianapolis 500 as driver Helio Castroneves salutes the crowd of about 400,000.

By KEVIN KELLY

INDIANAPOLIS -- The race car, painted a generic red and white, stopped short of the yard-wide swath of bricks.

Helio Castroneves would get back to that piece of Indianapolis Motor Speedway history later.

This was celebration time.

The 26-year-old Miami resident popped out of his Indianapolis 500-winning car, jogged to the catch fence and ascended it with the ease of a rock climber. Known as Spiderman for similar victory gestures, Castroneves held onto the fence with one arm while the other pumped in jubilation.

"I'm just so happy to win it," he said.

In his first try, Castroneves led car owner Roger Penske to his 11th Indianapolis 500 victory and CART to its second straight humiliation of the IRL in the latter series' marquee event before an estimated 400,000 Sunday.

"Look at this, guys." Castroneves screamed when handed the traditional bottle of milk in Victory Circle. "I've been dreamin' of this."

So had the silver-haired Penske, who won in his first time back since 1995, when Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi failed to qualify. CART's boycott since 1996 had kept Penske and others away.

"Obviously, when I think about today's race and to finish one-two, it kind of takes away the pain that we had in 1995," said Penske, who owned the second-place car driven by defending CART champion Gil de Ferran. "Walking back to the garage with Al and Emerson after we didn't make the field and coming up to Victory Circle today is a big difference."

Castroneves joins Mark Donohue, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Unser Jr. and Fittipaldi as drivers who have won the 500 for Penske.

"I tell you what, this is a fantastic team effort," said Castroneves, who started 11th in the No. 68 Dallara-Oldsmobile. "Roger, thank you very much."

CART drivers swept the top five positions. Sixth place went to Tony Stewart, who drove for Chip Ganassi and was attempting the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 double for the second time.

The six CART drivers in the race was up from two last year, when Juan Montoya won for Ganassi.

"I hope that this helps us get back together," Penske said.

Both Penske cars were without logos of their primary sponsor, Marlboro. The state Attorneys General notified Phillip Morris last week that because of a stipulation in the 1998 national tobacco settlement, the logos had to be removed before the race.

Castroneves took the lead on Lap 149 -- six laps before rain caused the race to be stopped for more than 16 minutes -- and held on the rest of the race.

IRL regular Greg Ray was second to Castroneves on the restart after the rain delay. Thirty-four laps from the finish, he lost control of his car in Turn 2 and backed it into the inside wall.

"I've got mixed emotions," Ray said.

From there it was all CART and Team Penske.

Castroneves beat de Ferran off pit road during the caution period for Ray's wreck and held off de Ferran's challenge on the restart 19 laps from the finish.

De Ferran finished 1.74 seconds behind his teammate.

"We really couldn't have hoped for a better result," he said. "When you step back for a moment and think about what this means for the team, it's just incredible."

Andretti, making his 12th career Indy 500 start and first since 1995, finished third. He led 16 laps, pushing his total in the 500 to 398, the most for a non-winner.

"What I want to know is, why did Penske come back the same time I did? That's what I want to know," he said. "Yeah, I'm disappointed. Third is nice and great and stuff, but it's not why we were here."

If Andretti was disheartened, the IRL contingent was worse.

The series suffered a major blow when pole-sitter Scott Sharp and three other IRL drivers took themselves out of contention by the 15th lap.

The field had not even crossed the starting line when Sharp drove below the white line on the apron in Turn 1, lost control and crashed into the outside wall on Lap 1.

Sharp, who has failed to finish five of the seven career 500s he has started, offered little explanation as his No. 8 Dallara-Oldsmobile skidded to a stop in Turn 2.

"I don't know what happened," he radioed.

Sarah Fisher made a similar mistake seven laps later and collected Scott Goodyear in the process. Goodyear was airlifted to Methodist Hospital with a broken lower back.

"I was hanging on for dear life," Fisher said.

Unser Jr., a two-time 500 winner, wrecked as he tried to avoid Sam Hornish Jr.'s spinning car on the restart for Fisher's wreck. He finished 30th.

"It is really a shame," Unser Jr. said. "I had an awesome car today that was very competitive."

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