Sports: Formula One far off for Indy 500 winner

Formula One far off for Indy 500 winner

By KEVIN KELLY

Helio Castroneves shrugged and mumbled, unsure how to answer with his team owner seated on his right Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The 26-year-old, who makes his home in Miami and gave Roger Penske his 11th Indianapolis 500 victory, said he would be interested in moving from CART to Formula One as Juan Montoya did this season.

"Yes, my dream always was to be a Formula One driver," said Castroneves, who is second in the CART standings and in his second year with Team Penske. "But you have a different route, you know, that you can take to be there. I'm very happy with Team Penske."

Much to Castroneves' surprise, Penske supported the idea of a move.

"If he has the chance to drive in a first-class Formula One team, I would be the first guy to say go," said Penske, who owned the top two cars in Sunday's race. "I say that because he is the right age. I've seen him run on the streets, seen him run on the ovals, seen him run on the road courses."

Penske would release Castroneves to only a "red" or "gray" team, meaning Ferrari or McLaren. Ferrari last week re-signed Michael Schumacher through the 2004 season and Rubens Barrichello through 2002 while McLaren is expected to stick with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

"I"m very happy where I am today," Castroneves said. "I never had an offer from somebody, so who knows? If somebody came like a big team and said, "You want to go for it?' I'd just have to think about it."

GOODYEAR UPDATE: IRL driver Scott Goodyear was listed in good condition Monday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after breaking his lower back during a crash involving Sarah Fisher on Lap 8 of the Indy 500.

The 41-year-old, who drove Team Cheever's second entry, was being fitted with a brace, a track spokesman told the Associated Press.

LET'S PLAY TWO: The last time Tony Stewart ran the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day, he climbed out of his stock car after driving 1,090 miles and collapsed.

For three weeks before this year's double, Stewart put himself on a strict diet in an effort to physically prepare for the 1,100-mile feat. When he climbed out of the No. 20 Pontiac Sunday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, his preparation showed.

"For someone who ran the full 1,100 miles, not 1,090, I think I feel pretty good right now," Stewart said minutes after finishing third in the Winston Cup race. He was sixth at Indy.

In fact, the worst part of Stewart's day wasn't the switch from Indy car to stock car or boarding the jet and helicopters that made the journey possible. It was the IV he received on the plane between races.

"When they stuck the needle in my arm, that's worse than anything that can happen in a car," Stewart said. "This wasn't any pin needle they had. I thought they used it on horse or something. It was huge."

A POSSIBLE TRIPLE?: It wasn't quite the same scale as Stewart, but Coca-Cola 600 runner-up Kevin Harvick had a pretty decent weekend of his own. The Winston Cup rookie ran the 300-mile Busch Series race Saturday, finishing 26th, then all 600 miles Sunday.

Seemingly unimpressed by what Stewart accomplished, Harvick remarked that maybe next year he'll one-up his competitor and run three races in the same weekend.

"I've never run 600 miles before but I think I've run more miles than all those guys combined," Harvick said. "Maybe next year we'll run the Busch race, the Cup race and the Indy race."

Stewart's response?

"If he needs a ride I can probably get him one out there. I have a lot of pull in Indianapolis," Stewart said, slightly tongue in cheek. "He's fit enough already, they probably won't have to put him on a diet. They'll just have to keep him out of the bars."

- Staff writer Mike Readling contributed to this report.