Meet the Indy 500's Odd Couple
Two very different drivers eye the same finish line.
INDIANAPOLIS, May 23, 2007 — -- On an average Sunday afternoon, soft-spoken Sam Hornish Jr. cruises past the corn fields that line the roads of his northwestern Ohio in a burly, black pickup truck. Meanwhile, his counterpart, extroverted Helio Castroneves, takes to the showy streets of South Beach in a luxurious Lamborghini.
Meet IndyCar's version of the odd couple. Each are different in terms of personality, but both know how to put the pedal to the metal -- and win. "We're both pretty much fighters," Hornish told ABC News. "We have similar accomplishments."
The 28-year-old Midwesterner takes to the track on Sunday as the defending champion of the Indianapolis 500 after a dramatic, come-from-behind finish last year. In fact, he went on to win the 2006 IndyCar Championship for the first time in his career.
The Indianapolis 500 will air Sunday at noon on ABC.
Castroneves is no slouch either. He's a two-time Indy 500 champion and enters this year's competition as the winner of the prestigious pole position, which earned him the coveted No. 1 starting spot in the race.
"Sam and I are pretty different [away from the track]," Castroneves pointed out to ABC News. "I believe it begins where you grow up."
For Hornish, that would be the tiny town of Defiance, Ohio. Population: 16,000. Number of traffic lights? Very few. Hornish has become the pride and joy of this sleepy hamlet. "There are so many people around here that have been so supportive," he said. "The local paper has promoted me so well. And there are people from town who go to five, six, seven races a year. That's one of the things that's best about it for me -- when I accomplish something I feel like they accomplish it too."
Hornish is as cutthroat as they come behind-the-wheel, but once he steps out of the car it's a different story. "I don't have a whole lot of confidence outside the car… There's a lot of things I wish I could do better -- do better with the camera and promote myself better. But it's not me. I'm not up there doing that song and dance because it would come off too fake. I'm glad I'm smart enough to know that's not me."
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