By Mike Pryson
Got to hand it to the public relations arm of the Indy Racing League.
The series has jumped all over the success of Helio Castroneves in the ABC-TV reality series, “Dancing with the Stars. ” Castroneves is one of six dancers, and the lone athlete, remaining in the competition that eliminates one dancer in Survivor-style voting each week.
The series has made a mainstream star out of Castroneves and has given a lot of free publicity for open-wheel racing. I’m sure there are many folks out there that watch the show, root for Helio, but who still don’t know that he’s an Indy 500 champion.
Granted, the IndyCar Series is losing the fan battle with NASCAR for racing fans. However, when it comes to dancing on national TV, take Castroneves against anyone NASCAR could throw out there.
On the other hand, how cool would it be to see Tony Stewart doing the rumba or Dale Earnhardt Jr. doing the mambo? I’ll bet Kurt Busch does a mean fox trot. Unfortunately for Carl Edwards, backflips are against the “Dancing with the Stars” rules.
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