![]() He estimates he has spent maybe 20 of the last 60 days sleeping in his own bed. Today, he has three interviews and the ESPN shoot before he has to jump back on the turnpike to Homestead for another night of testing. When Dancing wrapped in late November, Helio appeared in nearly every major media outlet, and even signed up for several stops on the Dancing live tour in January. Before the 2007 Ind圜ar season even ended last September, Helio was practically living in Hollywood, working up to eight hours a day in preparation for Dancing and filling his spare moments granting interviews to TV Guide, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight. In the background, he can literally hear the clamor of his celebrity, the clanks and thuds of an ESPN television production crew setting up for a shoot on his back terrace. Especially blinding is the light breaking upon the Mirror Ball Trophy, his spoils as champion of Dancing with the Stars, the wildly popular TV show that, starting last October, thrust the 32-year-old Brazilian into the national spotlight. From where he stands, he can see the Florida sunshine blasting through broad windows into his living room, bouncing over the marble floor, and glaring off a vast collection of crystal, gold, and silver racing trophies-most from his years in the Ind圜ar Racing Series, two from a pair of Indy 500 wins. Of course, it might not just be the muffin. ![]() Even as he chews, the corners of his mouth creep upward into a satisfied grin. It’s just an ordinary grocery-store muffin, but to watch Helio eat, one would think it was a piece of lightly buttered heaven. He struts back into the shady nook of the kitchen, where he takes breakfast standing up-orange juice and a corn muffin halved on a paper napkin. It’s 10 a.m., and Helio seems rested after a late night testing his racecar beneath the lights at Miami-Homestead Speedway, 30 minutes south of here. No discernible tune, just a happy array of notes punctuated by a bright “Good morning” as he hits the sunlit landing. Helio Castroneves whistles as he taps down the winding marble staircase in his Coral Gables mansion. ![]() ![]() (See photos of him at work and at play here.) Here, our cover feature on him from May 2008. Editor’s Note: Brazilian Ind圜ar legend Helio Castroneves returns this month to the scene of his three Indianapolis 500 victories. ![]()
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