Upstaging NASCAR rarely happens in this day and time for an IndyCar driver unless it’s at the Indianapolis 500.
It wasn’t always that way because for most of the 20th century, the Indy 500 was king and NASCAR was the sport of the backwoods, staging most of its races in the Southeast in front of a Confederate flag-waving crowd.
But NASCAR’s continued growth in the 1980s and 1990s, combined with a split that divided open-wheel racing between CART and the Indy Racing League beginning in 1996, saw a change in fortune with NASCAR taking the lead while IndyCar struggled to keep up.
Despite the emergence of Danica Patrick, the bombshell-looking female driver who has yet to win an IndyCar race, the series fought for recognition.
So when Helio Castroneves was invited to participate on “ABC’s Dancing with the Stars,” IndyCar officials hoped it would showcase one of its greatest personalities in front of a new audience.
“Just on the numbers it was 20 million twice a week,” said Terry Angstadt, IndyCar President, Commercial Division. “That is massive. A few clips of him in the car and every time he’s introduced as a two-time Indy 500 champ, that’s valuable stuff.”
Move over Danica, it’s time for “Helio Mania,” as IndyCar racing has another star that can appeal to the masses.
“I relate this a little bit to when Danica Patrick broke through a couple years ago,” Angstadt said.  “All of a sudden we had a name associated with the series whether you followed IndyCar racing or not; people knew Danica Patrick and they still do.
“Now, you have a guy who is a two-time Indy 500 winner, which was repeated to 20 million people twice a week for 10 weeks with that same name association. We have two people now that will have that national quick recognition that we can build some programs around.”
Angstadt believes that despite the best marketing plan; sometimes it takes pure luck and good fortune to capture the proverbial lightning in a bottle.
That’s what happened when Castroneves was able to beat out stars of the entertainment industry to win the dancing title.
The key is to translate that into new fan interest in IndyCar racing, who want to see what Castroneves is like in his chosen profession.
“I think a couple of things that are logical thoughts is if a percentage of people are interested, that were so engaged in following this to vote for the guy, if 1, 2, 3 percent of those folks say I might like to see what this guy does for a living, we’re going to have a very nice bump,” Angstadt said. “Again, we’re going to work hard in keeping this alive until we race again. I think it’s logical to assume that some of that will happen.
“We’re going to work hard to make sure it does.”
And the payoff could be even bigger for IndyCar racing if Castroneves is able to bring the “buzz” back to the sport.
“I hope so,” said Tim Cindric, the president of Penske Racing. “The American people are typically looking for something new and different. Sometimes they do one thing and they do it for a while and then they move on to something different. That’s shown in the fashion world all the time. Maybe IndyCar racing can come in vogue again.”