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Staff Writer Tim Haddock covers auto racing for the Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at spdwrtr0905(at)aol.com.
After a stretch of five races in six weekends, CART FedEx Series driver Helio Castroneves finally took a vacation.
The driver of the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda Reynard set off for his home country of Brazil last weekend with the series points lead and the Indianapolis 500 championship in tow.
And even though Castroneves said he had a nice visit, his homecoming was met with little fanfare.
"It's not like Adrian in Mexico," Castroneves said, referring to the fanatical reception fellow CART driver Adrian Fernandez received at the season-opening Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico. "I have no complaints, but here in America, it's been more fun."
In Brazil, Formula One is king. The only other sport that can compete is soccer, which was being televised opposite the Indy 500 on another channel.
Though Castroneves' Indy win is hardly a secret in Brazil, it wasn't nearly as popular as fellow countryman Emerson Fittipaldi's Indy 500 win. He hasn't been mobbed or, as he puts it, had his hair pulled out or had his clothes torn off. In Castroneves' words, he isn't a superstar.
Castroneves sported his Indy 500 championship ring during a news conference in Beverly Hills on Wednesday and jokingly commented on how long it took for him to receive it. It wasn't until the Target Grand Prix at Chicago Motorspeedway on July 28, nearly two months after he won the...