Penske PR has kicked out this apology from Helio Castroneves for his post-race freak out ...
Clearly upset with the penalty that cost him a victory, Castroneves, who was scored in 10th place, confronted series officials after the race. He later apologized for his actions.
“Obviously, I disagree with the decisions made by the race officials on the last restart in today’s race, but there is no excuse for my actions after the checkered flag,” Castroneves said. “I apologize to my team, our sponsors, the fans and the entire IZOD IndyCar Series community for my behavior. My actions were totally wrong and I acted inappropriately to some people who are my friends and people I respect very much. Obviously, I am a very emotional person and today I let my emotions get the better of me and I’m very sorry for that.”
Some have called for fines for Helio, specifically for pushing and grabbing league personnel, including Security Chief Charles. This isn't minature golf, so I have no problem with the tirdade right up to the point Helio starts pushing or grabbing people.
League officials can't really crack him upside the head if he wants to get all physical because they'd get fired and probably sued (rightly or wrongly), so going there really should be out of bounds. If he wanted to get into a brawl with another driver, that would be a little different, since another driver is not constrained from defending him/herself or pushing back as a league official is.
Props to Patrick of Trackside Online for making me and all his other subscribers aware earlier in the day. Just one more reason you should SUBSCRIBE to TSO.