Dec 6, 2007 7:48 pm US/Eastern
"Dancing" Castroneves Back At Homestead Speedway
HOMESTEAD (CBS4) ―
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Television personality/dancer Julianne Hough and dance partner/Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves arrive at the 2007 American Music Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A.
Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images
Helio Castroneves, two-time Indianapolis 500 champion and recent winner on TV's "Dancing With The Stars," put away his dancing shoes and returned to the cockpit Thursday at Homestead- Miami Speedway.
CBS4 Sports Reporter Prim Siripipat was there to greet the newly crowned dancing king, who was back to business at the racetrack, in for Firestone tire testing, meeting with new Penske Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe and adjusting to his Dancing With The Stars victory.
"I definitely had no idea that it would blow out of proportion like it did. But so far everybody has been nice. I'm being very open with everything. There's nothing that I'm hiding I'm just living normal," he said of his life after the show.
Castroneves was a bit surprised by the support he garnered from colleagues.
"I can't believe that everybody was very supportive. They were like calling me every week saying 'We're voting. My wife and I are voting for you!' I was like wow," he said.
One colleague at the racetrack chimed in his support for Castroneves as well.
"I had no doubt that Helio was going to do a great job. Being a race car driver, I knew he was going to be very competitive," said fellow Indy Racer, Tony Kanaan. "I'm proud of him. I think he represented us pretty well."
As for his racing colleagues, testing continues with former Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Hideki Mutoh and Ed Carpenter.
The 2008 Indy Car opener is on March 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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