Helio Castroneves is likely best known for his work on the track in the IZOD IndyCar organization. He is a three time winner of the Indy 500 and has posted 21 wins during his career. In 2012, he got two wins and finished the season in fourth overall. For now, however, reality show fans know him best as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars" where he is one of 13 celebrities competing for the coveted and shiny Mirror Ball Trophy. He previously appeared on, and won, season five in 2007 with dancer Julianne Hough. If he wins this time, the trophy would be the racer's second and could be placed as bookends around his racing trophies.
In the first episode of the season, Castroneves hit the dance floor with his dance partner Chelsie Hightower. The pair danced a foxtrot and earned good marks for the first episode. He was in the middle of the pack with some dancers not even close to him in terms of ability. They were safe in the elimination episode and the first couple eliminated was the lowest scoring one, Pamela Anderson and professional dancer Tristan MacManus.
In the second episode, the pair danced a jive for the judges. The two pulled a respectable 23 points out of a possible 30. Though they were scored in the middle of the pack, they somehow landed in the bottom two. Luckily, it was the other dancers, Joey Fatone and professional dancer Kym Johnson, who were eliminated from the competition. Castroneves and Hightower will be returning for next week.
As a fan of both IndyCar and the show, I am happy to see him dancing every week and will be rooting and voting for him. I don't know if he will be able to get another trophy, but it would be great to see it happen. It was disappointing to see him in the bottom two but sometimes the bottom two are not actually the lowest scoring pairs. Hopefully next week will be a better one for both Castroneves and Hightower. I don't know if all drivers would be able to do as well in the competition as Castroneves has done but it is always great to see drivers excelling at something outside of racing.
Kristin Watt has been a fan of motorsports since she was a young girl and she watched NASCAR races with her mother. That love of NASCAR quickly evolved into a great enjoyment of many different motorsports including everything from local dirt track action to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans to the adrenaline rush of the extreme motocross events. She has been following motorsports for many years.
