Helio Castroneves on heated 2002 Indy 500 win: 'Wait, it's yellow but Tracy is passing me'
INDIANAPOLIS -- To understand one of the most controversial finishes to an Indianapolis 500, people have to understand what it's like to be a driver inside the car, said Helio Castroneves.
Inside it's calm, fast and quiet and then chaos erupts and people start shouting in your ear.
"You see a big flashing on your steering wheel and people screaming, 'Yellow.' It scares the crap out of you. Oh my god, what happened?" Castroneves said Tuesday on the Kevin & Query morning sports radio show on 107.5-FM The Fan. "You think something blew.
"And immediately you start backing off."
More: Paul Tracy still adamant he won Indy 500 in 2002: 'But Helio was climbing the fence. Why?'
More: Helio Castroneves' drive for 5th Indy 500: 'Indianapolis, it brings out the best in me'
That's what happened on Lap 199 in Turn 3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002. Castroneves says he was in the lead with one lap to go when the yellow came out after a crash occurred in Turn 2 between rookie Laurent Redon and Buddy Lazier.
His team started screaming, "yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow," Castroneves said. "And that's when Paul (Tracy) continued going and I was like, 'Wait a minute.'"
It wasn't just Tracy. Several drivers went by Castroneves including defending IRL champion Sam Hornish, Jr., and Felipe Giaffone, who had been in the lead on Lap 171.
"Everybody kept passing me. It's like, 'What? It's a yellow. It's a yellow, what the heck is going on?'" Castroneves said.
His team told him not to worry, just to make sure he finished. If Castroneves finished, they told him, he would be the winner. Tracy had passed him after the yellow came out.
Indy Racing League officials agreed and, immediately after the race, declared Castroneves the winner. He climbed the fence, drank the milk and smiled.
Meanwhile, Tracy said he was in shock as he drove to the pits, as his team told him Castroneves was climbing the fence. "What do you mean?" a confused Tracy asked them. "Why?"
Tracy told IndyStar that there was no question. He had passed Castroneves before the yellow caution.
Indy Racing League officials decided to take a look. Six hours after the race, after IRL director of operations Brian Barnhart had scoured the rule books and reviewed tape, he made it official. Castroneves had won.
Tracy's Team Green protested the decision and, the next day, was overruled. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to appeal the decision to then-IRL president Tony George weeks later.
George ruled in Castroneves' favor, citing a line in the IRL rulebook that said "the placement of the cars after a caution is a judgment call of the officials and, therefore, not subject to appeal."
"I cannot feel sorry for Paul Tracy," Castroneves said 20 years ago.
"We got robbed," a livid Tracy told reporters. "We got robbed."
After yellow, 'I lifted off the accelerator'
Jake Query, half of the Kevin & Query show, asked Castroneves Tuesday to take him back to the moment, Lap 199, "where you are conserving your own fuel but also knowing Paul Tracy was coming with a fury."
Castroneves said his team was talking to him, telling him that Tracy was coming. "The team is saying, 'Don't let him by. Just make sure you keep in front of him.'"
"And on the back straight, I was like, 'I want to save a little bit more fuel.' So I see him coming and I decide I'm going to give him the outside," Castroneves said. "Because there was no way back then, passing on the outside was very, very difficult to do, actually almost impossible, especially when the tires are (at the end of the race)."
As soon as Castroneves was heading into Turn 3 and before Tracy passed him, Castroneves said, the lights of a yellow started flashing on his steering wheel. He slowed down.
"I don't understand why they're saying (Tracy) passed me," Castroneves said in 2002. "The only reason he passed me was because the yellow came out and I lifted off (the accelerator)."
Twenty years later, Castroneves said he is surprised at the controversy of the race. To him, it is cut and dry.
"There was no way in the world, no way in the world a guy (with) two laps to go, I would have let him (pass me)," Castroneves said. "We would have probably crashed, especially with Paul Tracy. But there was no way in the world that guy would have passed me on the outside in Turn 3. No way."
Castroneves calls the controversy "unfortunate."
Tracy told IndyStar he believes if the race had continued, Castroneves wouldn't have had enough fuel to pass him in the finishing seconds. Castroneves didn't confirm nor deny that Tuesday.
"If it had stayed green, would you have had enough fuel to hold him off?" Query asked Castroneves.
"I guess we never know," Castroneves said laughing. "I guess you never know."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 2002 Indy 500: Did Helio Castroneves or Paul Tracy win the race?