"There's photo and video evidence" - Paul Tracy recalls Helio Castroneves' controversial Indy 500 victory

Twenty-three years later, former IndyCar champion Paul Tracy has yet again highlighted the details of his controversial Indy 500 loss to Helio Castroneves in 2002. The iconic race was then a part of the Indy Racing League series.

Castroneves entered the 86th running of the Indy 500 as the defending champion, winning it as a rookie in 2001 with Team Penske. In the final lap, he led the race with Tracy of Team KOOL Green chasing him from second position. When Tracy attempted to overtake Castroneves on the outside of Turn 3, a crash between rookie Laurent Redon and Buddy Lazier in Turn 2 brought out the cautionary yellow flags.

Though Tracy crossed the finish line first, a judgment call by the officials six hours later handed the win to Castroneves. The to-be 2003 champion couldn't believe his luck and claimed he was 'robbed' of the victory. Tracy recently addressed this controversial career moment on the "ThrillCast" podcast.

"The race isn't over when a crash happens. The race is over when a yellow flag comes out or the yellow light comes on," Tracy told host Bill Hynes. "If somebody can show me a picture of the yellow light on and Helio ahead of me, then I'd be prepared to just drop it and let it go because I know there isn't one. There's photo and video evidence of me ahead of Helio when the light turned yellow in Turn 3. I was about half a car-length (ahead)."

Tracy and Team KOOL Green went the legal route to contest the steward Brian Barnhart's decision. However, a clause in the rulebook stated that the placement of cars after a caution is a judgment call and not up for appeal.

Tracy didn't compete in the Indy 500 again for six years before returning to the "Greatest Spectacle of Racing" in 2009, where he finished ninth. To add insult to injury, it was Castroneves who won his third Indy 500 that year. After a final outing at the Brickyard in 2011, Tracy retired from IndyCar.

When Helio Castroneves explained his side of the 2002 Indy 500 controversy

103rd Indianapolis 500 - Practice (Image Source: Getty)

Twenty years after the 2002 Indy 500, Helio Castroneves explained his version of what transpired. According to him, Paul Tracy could only overtake him in Turn 3 of lap 199 because he lifted his foot off the accelerator in reaction to the yellow lights and his team frantically notifying him on the team radio.

"There was no way in the world, no way in the world a guy (with) two laps to go, I would have let him (pass me)," the Brazilian driver said via Indy Star in 2022. "We would have probably crashed, especially with Paul Tracy. But there was no way in the world that guy would have passed me on the outside in Turn 3. No way."

Castroneves won a record-equaling fourth Indy 500 in 2022 with Meyer Shank Racing, a team he now co-owns. However, as fate would have it, he retired from full-time racing in IndyCar at the end of 2023 without winning a championship, which Tracy accomplished in 2003.