Hélio Castroneves

Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500 four times: in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021, and was runner-up in the IndyCar Series drivers' championship in 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2014. Castroneves also competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, consecutively in 2021 with Wayne Taylor Racing and 2022 and 2023 with Meyer Shank, in addition to the overall 2020 IMSA championship with Team Penske.

Castroneves began competitive go-karting at age 10, before progressing to car racing, in the Formula Chevrolet Brazil, Formula 3 Sudamericana, the British Formula Three Championship, and Indy Lights. He entered Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1998 with Bettenhausen Racing and with Hogan Racing in 1999, achieving one second place each with both teams. Castroneves moved to Team Penske in place of Greg Moore for 2000 and 2001, winning three races in both years.

He debuted in the Indy Racing League (IRL) in 2001, competing in two races for Penske and winning the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves drove full time in the IRL from 2002, winning the Indy 500 for a second straight year and finishing runner-up to Sam Hornish Jr. in the championship. He finished third in 2003 and 2006 and was runner-up to Scott Dixon in 2008. During the 2009 season, he won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time, and was fourth three times over the next four seasons, before coming second to Dixon in 2013, and his Penske teammate Will Power in 2014. Castroneves achieved one further series win in 2017 before leaving full-time IndyCar racing to make his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut with Penske at the 2017 Petit Le Mans, paired with Ricky Taylor. He won one race and finished seventh in the 2018 Prototype standings and improved to third with five podiums in 2019. In 2020, he would win three races in a row and his first auto racing title.

One of the most popular drivers in IndyCar, his celebration of climbing the fencing beside the track after a victory, would earn him the nickname "Spider-Man". Castroneves has represented IndyCar in the International Race of Champions series, the Race of Champions event, and the Superstar Racing Experience. Among other media appearances, Castroneves won the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars with professional dancer Julianne Hough.

## Early and personal life

Castroneves was born in São Paulo, Brazil on May 10, 1975, to automobile dealer Hélio Castro Neves and former school teacher Sandra Alves de Castro Neves. He has an elder sister, Katiucia, who is his business manager. In 1977, the family moved to Ribeirão Preto, an agricultural town about 150 mi (240 km) northwest of São Paulo, to allow his father to find business in the region's thriving ethanol processing industry. He was educated in the São Paulo school system. In 2000, he changed his surname from Castro Neves to Castroneves to stop the media misidentifying him as "Helio Neves" or "Helio Castro". Castroneves has a daughter with his long-time partner Adriana Henao.

## Karting career

From early 1981 to 1986, Castroneves observed his father's minor stock car team race on weekends by being sneaked into a car's trunk in racing overalls and helmet, allowing him into a circuit. At age seven, he was given a child-sized motorized car for frequent driving on the streets of his gated community and asked his father about a go-kart. On his 11th birthday, Castroneves received his first go-kart from race car driver Alfredo Guaraná Menezes, and began driving at a karting track in São Paulo. His mother disliked racing, urging him to focus on schooling and enrolling him in less dangerous sports, such as association football, judo, swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Castroneves played those sports infrequently before telling his mother he wanted to focus on racing. He was inspired by Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula One world champion.

His father enrolled him in the Karting State Championships in São Paulo in early 1987. Castroneves won his first trophy mid-year by bettering himself, as his father sold his Rio de Janeiro property to establish and finance a karting team around his son. At age 13, he was taken off full-time schooling to learn more about karting from his father and team members. Castroneves' mother disapproved because she believed he could opt to stop karting and was fearful of him not having a backup career. Castroneves won the 1989 Brazilian National Go-Kart Championship at age 14. Around this time, he and his family began watching Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and Formula One racing on television. From October 1989 to March 1990, Castroneves did weightlifting and played tennis to improve his physique.

In 1990, he forfeited the Brazilian National Go-Kart Championship and flew to Italy to enter the Karting World Cup to acquaint himself with the more powerful and grippier European go-karts. A mix-up of his registration papers with the Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo (English: Brazilian Autosport Confederation) and talks with the Commission Internationale de Karting in Switzerland prevented him from entering until a fellow karter sustained an arm injury. Castroneves finished the race 16th. He raced in the 1991 Karting World Cup in France without registration trouble, finishing 25th, and won more races in Brazil.

## Junior car racing career

Aged 16 in late 1991, Castroneves progressed into car racing, competing in Formula Chevrolet Brazil, a series for finishing go-karters. His parents hired a trainer to help him lift weights for better car control and took him to a local recreational center. Negotiations to drive for the Arisco team fell through when it asked for \$200,000 in sponsorship, causing his father to spend \$250,000 on his team. Driving a Copral-Berta-Chevrolet car, Castroneves was championship runner-up with one victory and 92 points in the eight-round season. He moved to the higher-tier Formula 3 (F3) Sudamericana in 1993 driving a Ralt RT34-Mugen Honda car with Copral and later the funded Amir Nasr Racing Team. Castroneves' five-year-old car was worn and had no aerial to communicate to his team by radio. He was championship runner-up to Argentinean driver Fernando Croceri with four victories, eight podium finishes and 57 points.

Castroneves progressed to the Brazilian Formula Three Championship in 1994 with the Amir Nasr Racing Team, finishing second overall with three victories, four pole positions and 52 points from eight races. For 1995, Castroneves drove a Dallara F395-Mugen Honda car for Paul Stewart Racing in the British Formula Three Championship. His father obtained sponsorship from a Brazilian bank, and mid-way through 1995, sold his business assets, private company and Katicia's university apartment to help finance his son's career. Castroneves was third in the drivers' championship with 169 points, six podiums and a win at Donington Park. He finished third in the Masters of Formula 3 at Circuit Zandvoort and crashed out of the Macau Grand Prix.

In November 1995, a Philip Morris International executive asked Castroneves whether he wanted to enter a four-day Indy Lights (CART's developmental series) test session at Phoenix International Raceway's oval track against nine other drivers. Although he did not finish the test due to exhaustion, he signed to drive Tasman Motorsports' third car with partial funding from the team and the rest from a corporate sponsor after another year in F3 was financially unfeasible. Driving the No. 8 Lola T93/20-Buick car in the 1996 season, Castroneves won at Circuit Trois-Rivières and achieved seven top-tens for seventh overall with 84 points. A series of accidents and Castroneves' lack of English frustrated him, and he briefly spoke to a sports psychologist for help mid-season.

For the 1997 season, he remained at Tasman Motorsport, but was told his sponsor was leaving, forcing Katicia to promote him to several Brazilian companies. He and team owner Steve Horne agreed if he won five races, Horne would retain all prize monies until Castroneves paid him what he was owed, effectively driving for free. Driving the No. 29 Lola T97/20-Buick car, Castroneves was championship runner-up to teammate Tony Kanaan, winning three of the twelve races, six top tens, four pole positions, and 152 points. On June 11, 1997, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi became Castroneves' manager and sponsorship finder.

## CART

### 1998–1999

In January 1998, Bettenhausen Racing owner Tony Bettenhausen Jr. invited him to test for his CART team at Sebring International Raceway; Castroneves signed to drive its No. 16 Reynard 98I-Mercedes-Benz car in the 1998 season, and was assigned former Penske Racing employee Tom Brown as his race engineer. During practice for the season-opening Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead–Miami Speedway, Castroneves sustained a sore head in an accident but medical officials cleared him to race. Castroneves achieved his first career top-ten finish in CART, a ninth at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, followed by a season-high second in the Miller 200 at Milwaukee Mile. He was 17th in the drivers' championship with 36 points, and was second to Kanaan in the Rookie of the Year standings.

In mid-1998 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) wanted Castroneves to replace the Formula One-bound Alex Zanardi; Team Rahal were also interested in him. Fittipaldi blocked both deals as he felt Mercedes-Benz was CART's best engine. Bettenhausen Racing fired Castroneves in January 1999, and replaced him with the sponsored Shigeaki Hattori. Castroneves agreed with team owner Carl Hogan on January 26 to drive for Hogan Racing in 1999 in place of JJ Lehto on the condition he paid \$3 million in sponsorship to the team. He drove the unreliable No. 9 Lola B99/00-Mercedes-Benz car with an engine inconsistent in producing power. Castroneves was ninth in the Firestone Firehawk 500K at Twin Ring Motegi, before coming second in the Motorola 300 at Gateway International Raceway. In the Miller Lite 225 at Milwaukee, Castroneves achieved his first CART pole position. The rest of the season saw him achieve four more top-tens and finished 15th in the points standings with 48.

### 2000–2001

Post-season, Hogan closed his CART team because Fittipaldi was unable to provide him with the requested sponsorship money and consequently, stopped paying Castroneves a salary. Castroneves and his sister negotiated without Fittipaldi's help with Walker Racing to replace the outgoing Gil de Ferran and also Team Rahal without success. Following Greg Moore's death in an accident at the season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway, Penske owner Roger Penske, team president Tim Cindric, attorneys, and sports agent Alan Miller hired Castroneves on a three-year contract for Castroneves after pressure from sponsor Marlboro to find a replacement driver by that date. Castroneves ended his working relationship with Fittipaldi soon after for career mismanagement.

For the 2000 season, Penske stopped building cars, switched to a Reynard 2KI, changed engine manufacturers from Mercedes-Benz to Honda, and tire supplier from Goodyear to Firestone in a bid to improve performance. Castroneves found the Honda engine's driveability different from Mercedes-Benz's, and was at first, not friends with his teammate de Ferran because they were competitors. He finished second at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, his only points finish in the first six races. He led the final 24 laps of the Grand Prix of Detroit in his first series victory after Juan Pablo Montoya retired with mechanical trouble. Castroneves won the Miller Lite 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, took five top-tens, and a third victory in the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca. He was seventh in the drivers' championship with 129 points, and was named the inaugural winner of the Greg Moore Legacy Award as "the driver who best typifies Moore's outstanding talent on the track as well as displaying a dynamic personality with the fans, media, and the CART community."

In 2001, he drove the No. 3 Reynard 01I-Honda, and journalist David Phillips considered him a championship contender. Castroneves changed his strategy on a race-by-race basis, getting support from de Ferran and his teammate's pit crew. At the season's second race, the Grand Prix of Long Beach, he led all 82 laps from pole position for his fourth career win. Castroneves started from pole position in the Firestone Firehawk 500 at Motegi, leading more laps than any other driver to finish second, and led every lap of the Grand Prix of Detroit for his second victory of 2001. He achieved a third win at the Miller Lite 200 to go one point behind championship leader Kenny Bräck, and overtook the latter after finishing seventh in the Motorola 220. Castroneves lost the points lead after coming 18th in Indy Vancouver, but claimed three top sixes in the final six races to finish fourth in the drivers' standings with 141 points.

## IndyCar Series

### 2001–2004

He debuted in the Indy Racing League (IRL) in 2001, driving Penske's No. 68 Dallara IR-01-Oldsmobile car, at the season-opening Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 at Phoenix to understand the series before the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves started 17th but retired with engine failure after three-quarters race distance. He qualified 11th for his first Indianapolis 500 and led the final 52 laps to win the race at his first attempt.

Castroneves switched to the IRL from the 2002 season since Marlboro wanted Penske to focus on the American market. Penske changed engine manufacturers from Oldsmobile to Chevrolet for its Dallara IR-02 car. At Phoenix for the season's second race, he won from pole position after passing his teammate de Ferran on the 183rd lap. Castroneves' season highlight was the Indianapolis 500, which he won in controversial circumstances. With one-and-a-half laps remaining, CART driver Paul Tracy overtook Castroneves for the lead, just as the yellow caution flag light came on for a two-car accident between Buddy Lazier and Laurent Redon. IRL officials' rejected an appeal from Tracy's squad Team Green, upholding Castroneves' second successive Indianapolis 500 victory. He finished no lower than ninth in the next nine races, battling his teammate De Ferran and Panther Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. for the championship. Before the final round at Texas Motor Speedway Castroneves was 12 points behind Hornish and needed to win the race and for Hornish to finish third or lower to claim the championship. He finished second, 0.010 seconds behind Hornish, ending the season runner-up with 511 points.

Before the 2003 season, Penske allowed Castroneves to test for the Toyota Formula One team at Circuit Paul Ricard in France before possible contract renewal. He impressed Toyota with his performance but was told CART champion Cristiano da Matta signed as a race driver for 2003. Castroneves told Penske he would stay with the team, citing his fair and loyal treatment towards him. The beginning of the season saw Castroneves earn two top threes in Homestead-Miami, Phoenix, and the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves took two straight second places at Richmond International Raceway and Kansas Speedway and won at Gateway International Raceway and Nazareth Speedway to take the points to lead. A gearbox failure at Chicagoland Speedway leaving him 20th and a sixth in California meant he entered the season-ending Chevy 500 at Texas as one of five championship contenders and equal on points with CGR's Scott Dixon. A minor collision with Tony Kanaan took Castroneves out of title contention. He was third in points with 484 scored.

For the 2004 season, Hornish joined Castroneves at Penske after De Ferran retired from IndyCar; at first, the two did not speak to each other often because of their differing personalities. He led most of the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 before Hornish passed him on the final lap to win. Castroneves qualified eighth for his fourth Indianapolis 500. A lack of horsepower against the Honda-powered cars caused him to finish the rain-shortened race ninth. Two races later, Castroneves' first pole position of the season came in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond, where he finished third. He took eight more top tens, four pole positions, and overtook Andretti Green Racing's Dan Wheldon to lead the final 21 laps of the season-ending race at Texas for his only win of 2004. Castroneves' finished fourth in the drivers' championship with 440 points.

### 2005–2008

Penske's performance in 2004 saw Castroneves being viewed as an outsider for the 2005 title. He began the season with a fifth place in the Toyota Indy 300 and a second at the following XM Satellite Radio 200. Starting the Indianapolis 500 from fifth position, Castroneves finished the race four places lower in ninth. At Richmond for the SunTrust Indy Challenge two races later, he qualified second and led a race-high 112 laps to win. The relationship between Castroneves and his teammate Hornish cooled after failed overtakes causing both drivers to collide. He qualified on the pole position at Pikes Peak International Raceway and Watkins Glen International and took six top-tens in the final ten races, finishing with 440 points for sixth in the drivers' championship.

Before the 2006 season, Penske changed engine manufacturers from the under-powered Toyota to the more powerful Honda in its Dallara IR-05 car after Toyota withdrew from IndyCar. Castroneves started fifth and led 40 laps for his first series road course win in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He took a second successive victory at Motegi, leading 184 laps from pole position to lead Wheldon by 42 championship points entering the Indianapolis 500. After qualifying second, handling difficulties caused him to strike the turn four concrete barrier, leaving him 25th after 109 laps. Castroneves won the Bombardier LearJet 500 after strategic errors by his teammate Hornish and CGR before tire problems at Kansas and a sixth place at Kansas lost him the points lead to Hornish. A victory at Michigan International Speedway gave Castroneves a one-point lead over Hornish going into the final race in Chicago. A fourth-place put him third in points with 473.

For the 2007 season, Castroneves believed the competition would be stronger than in 2006. The relationship between him and Hornish became cordial and the two shared information. He began the year with four top nines, leading 95 laps from pole position to win the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He took his third career Indianapolis 500 pole position, finishing the rain-shortened race third after pre-race electrical and fueling problems. At the ABC Supply Company A.J. Foyt 225 at Milwaukee a week later, he took his third pole position of 2007, but a rear wing mounting failure on lap 201 caused him to crash while leading. Castroneves took six top-nines, and three more pole positions in the final ten races for sixth overall in points with 446.

Castroneves began the 2008 season by finishing no lower than fourth in the first four rounds with consecutive second places at St. Petersburg and Motegi to take the early points lead. He qualified fourth for the Indianapolis 500; Castroneves lost the points lead to Dixon when front wing damage relegated him to fourth. He finished second in both Texas and Richmond with consecutive pole positions at Nashville and Mid-Ohio, both of which did not result in a race victory. Castroneves won the Peak Antifreeze Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway leading a race-high 51 laps from pole position to end a 29-race winless streak. After finishing second in Detroit for illegally blocking Justin Wilson, he entered the season-ending Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 30 points behind championship leader Dixon. Castroneves needed to win the race and for Dixon to finish 11th or lower to become the champion. He began in 28th due to a track limit penalty, beating Dixon by 0.0033 seconds in the second-closest finish in series history, ending the season second in points with 629.

### Tax evasion trial

In late 2008, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) jury charged Castroneves with conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion for failing to report \$5.5 million of income earned from 1999 to 2004. The issue came about when Alan Miller signed Castroneves to his first contract with Penske in early November 1999 following Greg Moore's sudden and tragic death at the 1999 Marlboro 500. With heavy pressure from sponsors to fill Moore's vacant seat, the deal had to be completed in a matter of days. Due to time constraints, Miller rushed through the contract negotiations for Penske, simply striking out Moore's name on the contract documents, and hand-writing in Castroneves' name. He also struck out the name of Moore's promotion company (Greg Moore Enterprises, which Moore owned) and wrote in Seven Promotions, erroneously implying and identifying Castroneves as owning that company. Castroneves, who had been investigated by the IRS since 2004 when it issued 150 subpoenas to businesses and individuals who did business with him, pleaded not guilty to the charges on October 3, and was ordered released on a \$10 million bail. The IRS said he owed them \$2.3 million in taxes.

During the trial, his indictment centered around whether he used Seven Promotions as a tax shelter to avoid paying U.S. taxes. The defense claimed Seven Promotions was a Panamanian company created by Castroneves' father (Helio Sr.) in early 1999 to improve his son's image in Brazil and to recruit sponsors. Prosecutors called that a lie, showing jurors documents claiming Castroneves owned Seven Productions, and that it was merely a shell corporation set up to obscure taxable income. An IRS agent testified Castroneves owed every amount of taxable income despite the driver not receiving any of it. The defense argued Castroneves focused on racing rather than his income; he was unaware of his finances and disliked Dutch and Panamanian business dealings. They said he was uninterested and could not understand his finances and signed papers without knowing their meaning. They also affirmed that the listing of Castroneves as the owner of Seven Promotions in the original Penske contract was a 'clerical error', and that other holes were later discovered in the contract, a result of haphazardly rushing through the negotiations.

The trial ended with closing arguments on April 10, 2009. If found guilty, he faced a maximum prison sentence of 61⁄2 years with subsequent deportation because he was a non-American citizen, and the loss of his contracts with companies he endorsed and with Team Penske. The jury deliberated until April 17, when it acquitted Castroneves of the six counts of criminal tax evasion but hung on the conspiracy charge. On May 22, with Castroneves at Indianapolis and already back behind the wheel, prosecutors dropped the remaining criminal conspiracy charge. A few months later, Castroneves and his attorneys hand-delivered a check to the IRS for back taxes owed, seemingly closing the issue once and for all. About two years later, the IRS filed a \$6.21 million civil lawsuit against Castroneves for additional taxes and fraud penalties. The suit was settled before going to court for approximately 10 percent of what the IRS claimed.

### 2009–2013

Castroneves signed a multi-year contract with Penske from the 2009 season; Will Power replaced him for the season-opening St. Petersburg race before Castroneves returned for the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Castroneves' season highlight was the Indianapolis 500, where he qualified fastest, and led twice for a total of 66 laps for his third victory there. In the Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas two races later, Castroneves achieved his second victory of 2009. He took six more top-tens, including a second place in the Edmonton Indy, and pole position in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. Castroneves was eliminated from championship contention at Chicago, and finished fourth overall with 433 points.

For the 2010 season, he felt Penske had reached the potential of its ageing Dallara-Honda car, and feared other teams would exploit this to close the performance gap. Castroneves won the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama to extend his record of winning a race to ten straight seasons. After qualifying on pole position for the Indianapolis 500, a stall in a pit stop relegated him to ninth. Five races later, at the Honda Indy Edmonton, Castroneves was the first to finish, but was demoted to tenth after he was deemed to have blocked his teammate Power. He won two consecutive races, at Kentucky Speedway and Motegi, before ending the season with a fifth at Homestead-Miami. With 531 points, Castroneves was fourth in the drivers' standings.

The beginning of the 2011 season saw him struggle in comparison with his previous years at Penske. Castroneves finished poorly as a result of three collisions in the first four races in St. Petersburg, Long Beach and São Paulo; his best result in that period was a seventh at Birmingham, putting him 17th overall by the time of the Indianapolis 500 in May. Castroneves qualified 16th for the race; a flat tire and vibration left him one lap down in 17th. The rest of Castroneves' season included two-second places at Edmonton and Sonoma, and three top-nines. He was 11th overall with 312 points, his lowest finish since he was sixth in both 2005 and 2007. The 2011 season was the first since 1999 in which Castroneves did not achieve a race win.

He signed a contract extension with Penske prior to the 2012 season. At the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Castroneves passed J. R. Hildebrand with 26 laps to go to win. He took pole position for the following Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and finished third. In the Indianapolis 500, Castroneves qualified sixth, but finished tenth due to his car lacking downforce. He then took three sixth places at Milwaukee, Iowa and Toronto. and won the Edmonton Indy to draw within 23 points of championship leader Ryan Hunter-Reay. Castroneves ended the season with three more top-tens for fourth overall with 431 points.

Castroneves resigned with Penske for the 2013 season; the team modified his car in the off-season. Two podiums in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the following Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama gave him the points lead. Castroneves fell to third after finishing 13th in the São Paulo Indy 300, He qualified eighth for the Indianapolis 500; rev limiter issues left him in sixth. In the Firestone 550 at Texas, Castroneves led the final 132 laps to win, breaking a tie with Marco Andretti for the points lead. Castroneves took two more second places at Milwaukee and the second Toronto race and finished no lower than ninth in the next eight races. An opportunity for him to win the championship before the season was over came to nothing when gearbox problems in the Grand Prix of Houston double leader dropped 25 points behind Dixon. To win the championship in the season-ending MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships, Castroneves needed to finish nine positions higher than Dixon. A sixth place for Castroneves and a fifth for Dixon gave Castroneves second overall with 550 points.

### 2014–2017

He remained with Penske for the 2014 season. Castrovenes finished third at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis three races later. He qualified fourth for the Indianapolis 500, and finished second, 0.0600 seconds behind Hunter-Reay in the second-closest finish in event history after a late race duel for the victory. He took pole position for the first Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix race and won the second. After three straight sub-par results, Castroneves finished second in the Pocono IndyCar 500 at Pocono Raceway to tie his teammate Will Power for the points lead, which took after finishing eighth in the Iowa Corn Indy 300. He relinquished the points lead after a throttle problem left him 19th in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Entering the final race, the MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships, Castroneves was 51 points behind Power. After winning the one point for the pole position, he had to claim victory and for Power to finish seventh or lower to become the champion. Castroneves placed 14th for second overall with 609 points.

For the 2015 season, his Penske car was fitted with Chevrolet's updated aerodynamic package. Castroneves achieved consecutive second places in the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana and the Grand Prix of Long Beach and two pole positions. During practice for the Indianapolis 500, he lost control of his car in the first turn, and struck the barrier, flipping his car over 180 degrees and landing upside down. He started fifth and ran consistently within the top five but finished seventh. The rest of the season saw Castroneves achieve consecutive third places in the Firestone 600 and the Honda Indy Toronto and was second in the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 along with two more pole positions for fourth overall with 453 points.

Castroneves stayed with Penske for the 2016 season. At the Grand Prix of Long Beach, he led a race-high 47 laps from pole position but a strategy error left him third. Castroneves took another podium finish two races later, a second place at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. After qualifying ninth for the Indianapolis 500, he led 24 laps, finishing 11th after a lap-160 collision with Hildebrand dislodged Castroneves' left-rear bumper pod. Castroneves achieved two more podium finishes, a second in the Honda Indy Toronto, and a third in the IndyCar Grand Prix at the Glen. In the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono, the top of his vehicle was mounted by Alexander Rossi's airborne car after Rossi and Charlie Kimball collided in the pit lane. Castroneves was uninjured from the impact. With 504 points, Castroneves was fourth in the drivers' championship.

He remained at Penske for the 2017 season. Castrovenes began with his third successive pole position at the Grand Prix of Long Beach; electrical problems left him ninth. He led the first 73 laps of the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix for fourth after winning pole. Castroneves began from a career-low 19th in the Indianapolis 500, moving through the field to finish second after a late race duel for the win with Takuma Sato. He earned his 50th pole position in the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America, and went on to lead 214 laps in his first victory in 54 races in the Iowa Corn 300. Castroneves finished no lower than eighth in the next five races, and entered the season's final race, the Grand Prix of Sonoma 22 points behind championship leader and teammate Josef Newgarden and 19 behind Dixon. A victory and Newgarden finishing third or lower and Dixon second or worse would give Castroneves the title. He finished in fifth place to be fourth overall with 598 points.

### 2018–present

Post-season, he stepped down from IndyCar full-time to move to Penske's IMSA SportsCar Championship program. Castroneves was entered into both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 as part of his 2018 campaign; he prepared for the races by sharing notes with his teammates and familiarizing himself with the car. Castroneves' team employed a strategy allowing him to finish sixth in the IndyCar Grand Prix. At the Indianapolis 500, he started from eighth place, before losing control of his car in turn four and crashing on the 146th lap for a 27th-place finish. In the 2019 season, he again entered both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves finished the IndyCar Grand Prix two laps behind the leaders in 21st. He started 12th in the Indianapolis 500, finishing the race 18th following a pit lane collision with the rear of James Davison's car earning him a drive-through penalty. He began the 2020 Indianapolis 500 from 27th and finished the race in 11th.

Castroneves signed to race for Arrow McLaren SP in place of the unfit Oliver Askew at the Harvest Grand Prix in his first IndyCar start for a team other than Penske since 1999. He finished 20th in the first race and 21st in the second. Following an approach by team owner Michael Shank in late 2020, Castroneves signed for the small Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) team to compete at six races in the 2021 season, feeling the growing team would give him the opportunity to win a fourth Indianapolis 500. He had asked MSR to enter him in more races but the request was denied. At the Indianapolis 500, Castroneves achieved his record-tying fourth career victory in the event after a late-race pass on Álex Palou. He struggled with his form after his victory, and he went on to score one more top ten finish at Nashville in his final five races of 2021 to finish 22nd overall with 158 points.

In July 2021 he signed a contract extension with MSR to drive for the whole of the 2022 season – his first full-time season for five years. Castroneves achieved a season-best result of seventh at the Indianapolis 500 and scored two other top-ten finishes at Long Beach and Mid-Ohio in placing 18th overall with 263 points accumulated, which was his least successful full-time IndyCar season in his career and he did not finish on the podium over a whole year for the first time in his career. In August 2022, he signed a one-year contract extension to remain at MSR for the 2023 championship.

Castroneves is due to stop full-time IndyCar racing at the start of the 2024 season, having become a minority partner in MSR's ownership group. He is set to be replaced by IMSA driver Tom Blomqvist but will continue to compete in the Indianapolis 500 in MSR's third car.

## Sports car career

Castroneves made his endurance racing debut in the 2006 Mil Milhas Brasil, winning after 374 laps in a shared GTP1-class Aston Martin DBR9 with Nelson Piquet, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Christophe Bouchut. He entered at the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona (part of the Rolex Sports Car Series), sharing Michael Shank Racing's No. 60 Riley Daytona Prototype (DP) car with Hornish, Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mark Patterson and finishing ninth. Two months later, Castroneves drove the No. 7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder Evo car with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category of the 12 Hours of Sebring (part of the American Le Mans Series), finishing third in class and fifth overall. He returned to the Rolex Sports Car Series to share the No. 9 Penske-Taylor Racing Riley DP car with Ryan Briscoe and Kurt Busch in the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona. finishing 13th after starting third. For the 2008 Petit Le Mans and the following 2008 Monterey Sports Car Championships Castroneves shared Penske's No. 5 Porsche RS Spyder Evo car with Briscoe, winning the LMP2 category at Petit Le Mans.

In 2016, Roger Penske asked Castroneves if he wanted a full time sports car career. Although Castroneves wanted to remain in IndyCar, he solicited advice from Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears because he had doubts about staying at Penske. Mears told Castroneves to remain at Penske because of Roger Penske's personality. Talks with several teams came close to employment but Castroneves decided to remain with Penske out of loyalty. To prepare for the 2018 WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in a Acura ARX-05 car in the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) category, he drove the final race of the 2017 season, the Petit Le Mans. Teamed with Montoya and Simon Pagenaud, he qualified the No. 6 Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car on pole position, finishing the race third after a collision with Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari.

He formally joined Penske's 2018 IMSA program in October 2017. Castroneves was joined by Ricky Taylor for the entire season, and by Graham Rahal for the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. He referenced his teammates Dane Cameron and Montoya, and communicated constantly with his race engineer and Taylor. Their car started second for the Daytona race, and finished ninth, after Castroneves and Action Express Racing's Felipe Nasr collided in the 16th hour. After starting third at Sebring, he retired after six hours with a loss of oil pressure. In the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio he and Taylor led 87 laps from pole for his first series victory. The final six races saw him achieve four top tens and finish second in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit. Castroneves was seventh in the Prototype drivers' standings with 243 points and was third in the North American Endurance Cup.

For the 2019 season, he remained at Penske in the new DPi class. He again partnered Taylor in the No. 7 car, joined by Rossi at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring and Rahal in the season-ending Petit Le Mans. Castroneves and his co-drivers finished the rain-shortened Daytona season-opener third from starting second. A fourth place at Sebring and a second in the following BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach moved him and Taylor to a season-high second in the DPi standings. The rest of the season saw Castroneves and Taylor achieve two third places in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic and the Petit Le Mans and a second place in the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. With 284 points, he finished third in the DPi standings and was joint fifth with Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez of Mazda Team Joest in the North American Endurance Cup.

Castroneves remained at Penske's IMSA program in 2020. He was again teamed with Taylor in the No. 7 vehicle, with Rossi joining them for the endurance races. Castroneves' team was comprised in the fourth hour of the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona following a collision with Harry Tincknell restricting them to finishing 22 laps down in eighth. He won consecutive races in the rain-affected Road Race Showcase at Road America from pole position, the Grand Prix of Road Atlanta, and the Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Castroneves and Taylor won the championship at the season-ending 12 Hours of Sebring, his first in auto racing, by one point over Briscoe and Renger van der Zande.

In the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, he won the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona as an endurance driver, sharing the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 car with Filipe Albuquerque, Rossi and Taylor. Castroneves replaced Olivier Pla in the No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-05 DPi car he shared with Montoya and Cameron at the season-ending Petit Le Mans. He shared MSR's No. 60 Acura ARX-05 entry for the Endurance Cup races of the 2022 IMSA season alongside full-season racers Tom Blomqvist and Jarvis. Castroneves fended off Taylor in the final laps of the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona to win the event for the second year in succession. Although he was set to enter both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the IndyCar round at Texas that were held on the same weekend, he later withdrew from the Sebring race due to logistical complications and he was replaced by Stoffel Vandoorne. Castroneves went on to win the season-ending Petit Le Mans alongside Blomqvist and Jarvis.

At the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, Castroneves achieved his third consecutive victory in the race, sharing the No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06 LMDh entry with Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Pagenaud as an endurance driver in the GTP category. He then finished sixth at the 12 Hours of Sebring following a left-rear wheel suspension failure.

## Other racing ventures

Castroneves was invited to compete in the International Race of Champions in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Driving a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, his best in the series was eighth with two podium finishes in 2002. In the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series, Castroneves joined James Rosenberg Racing in its No. 47 Ford FG Falcon as Tim Slade's international co-driver for the Gold Coast 600 double header. He visited the team's factory for a seat fitting as preparation. Castroneves and Slade finished outside the top ten in both races. The following year, he again joined Slade at James Rosenberg at the Gold Coast 600 race of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. The duo finished the first race 12th and 10th in the second.

In late 2012, Castroneves joined Shell Racing in the season-ending Stock Car Brasil race, the Stock Car Corrida do Milhão, after a sponsor invited him to enter with Roger Penske's support. He placed 14th in a Peugeot 408. Castroneves was signed as a guest driver for Shell Racing in the seventh round of the 2013 Stock Car Brasil at Ribeirão Preto Street Circuit; doctors ordered his withdrawal due to sustaining bruised ribs, neck sprain and a deep shin cut in a practice accident.

In the 2017 off-season, he paired with Gabriel Glusman at the Latin America team in the 2017 Race of Champions Nations Cup, being eliminated at the group stages. He returned with the same team for the 2018 Race of Champions Nations Cup, this time with Montoya, finishing runner-up to Team Germany's Bernhard and René Rast. At the 2019 Race of Champions, Castroneves joined Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi at Team Brazil, being knocked out of the semi-finals of the Nations Cup by Team Germany's Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. He competed in the Superstar Racing Experience in 2021, finishing fifth in the points standings with six top-ten finishes.

For the 2022 Race of Champions, Castroneves competed in the individual competition and for Team Latin America in the Nations Cup alongside rally driver Benito Guerra Jr. He was eliminated in the first round of both events.

## Media appearances

Castroneves was encouraged by Apolo Ohno, an Olympic speed skater, to participate on dance program Dancing with the Stars in 2007. He was accepted onto its fifth season by the casting director and producers, who watched a video of him and his teammate's Hornish driving styles in different locations. He was paired with professional dancer Julianne Hough, with whom he built a rapport due to their similar personalities. He prepared by watching episodes of the fourth season and instruction videos. The couple lasted until the finals, which they won with a higher percentage of the public vote than singer Mel B. When he won Dancing with the Stars Castroneves appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in February 2008. From 2007 to 2010, he was a correspondent on Dancing with the Stars for Entertainment Tonight.

In 2010, he collaborated with writer Marissa Matteo on his autobiography, Victory Road: The Ride of My Life. Castroneves was inspired to write the book to convey his negative emotions in his tax evasion trial and how he dealt with them. He was selected to be a judge on Miss Universe 2011, a beauty pageant held that September in São Paulo. In 2012 Castroneves appeared on Dancing with the Stars 15th season and was partnered with Chelsie Hightower. The couple were eliminated in the competition's third week. Castroneves appeared on the December 17, 2012 edition of The Jeff Probst Show, and featured on an episode of Celebrity Wife Swap's third season in 2014. In 2016, he was chosen to take part on American Ninja Warrior, and teamed up with IndyCar drivers Conor Daly, James Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan and Will Power on Celebrity Family Feud that same year.

## Public image and other interests

Castroneves is one of IndyCar's most popular drivers; Dave Caldwell of The New York Times noted Castroneves' personality transcends IndyCar through his achievements and media attention outside it. J.J. O'Malley of Auto Racing Digest wrote that Castroneves received some coverage for "his charisma and personality", adding, "The driver seems to permanently wear a smile, and he's not afraid to show his emotions." After 2007, he became more recognized for winning Dancing with the Stars than his sporting achievements. A merchandise sales tallying company attributed Castroneves' popularity outside racing for increasing IndyCar attendances by 68 percent in 2008. Of his IndyCar Series legacy, NBC Sports' Tony DiZinno said, "With four championship runners-up in 2002, 2008, 2013 and 2014, Castroneves is your equivalent Dan Marino, Buffalo Bills or Mark Martin of IndyCar. He'll forever be acknowledged as one of the best, but perhaps known more as the driver who never quite won a title".

After winning a race, Castroneves celebrated by stopping his car, and climbing the catchfence to send a message of delight in achieving success. He began the tradition with his first CART victory in Detroit in 2000 and repeated it each time he won a race. After this celebration, John Kernan, host of RPM 2Night, first gave Castroneves the nickname "Spider-Man", and has been mimicked by other drivers in the following years. His photogenic looks have been picked up the press, Including People, ESPN The Magazine, and Cosmopolitan. Castroneves has done business with oil companies Pennzoil, Shell, and electronics company SMS Audio. In December 2004, he had an audience with Pope John Paul II and spoke to a congress on how Catholicism impacted his life and racing career. Castroneves was part of the National Motorsports Coalition that spoke about spectators returning to race tracks and his season to the Congressional Motorsports Caucus in June 2021. He won the 2001 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year and the 2004 Scott Brayton Award for "displaying the character that best exemplifies the racing spirit of the late Scott Brayton." Castroneves was inducted into the Indy Lights Hall of Fame in 2014 as a 1997 graduate, the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame and the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2018, the Team Penske Hall of Fame in December 2020, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as part of the class of 2022.

## Motorsports career results

### American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (small number denotes finishing position)

#### Indy Lights

#### CART results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (small number denotes finishing position)

#### IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold''' indicate pole position) (small number denotes finishing position)

\* Season still in progress.

- <sup>1</sup> Run on same day''
- <sup>2</sup> The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

#### Indianapolis 500

### Touring/Sports Cars

#### Complete American Le Mans Series results

#### V8 Supercar results

\+ Not Eligible for points

#### Complete Stock Car Brasil results

† Ineligible for championship points.

### IMSA SportsCar Championship

### Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

### International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. \* – Most laps led.)

### Superstar Racing Experience

(key) \* – Most laps led. <sup>1</sup> – Heat 1 winner. <sup>2</sup> – Heat 2 winner.

<sup>\*</sup> Season still in progress

Brazilian racing driver

Brazilian WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers

Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom

Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States

British Formula Three Championship drivers

Dancing with the Stars (American TV series) winners

Participants in American reality television series


Zuo Zhuan

The Zuo Zhuan (; Chinese: 左傳; Wade–Giles: Tso chuan), generally translated The Zuo Tradition or The Commentary of Zuo, is an ancient Chinese narrative history that is traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋; Chūnqiū). It comprises 30 chapters covering a period from 722 to 468 BC, and focuses mainly on political, diplomatic, and military affairs from that era.

For many centuries, the Zuo Zhuan was the primary text through which educated Chinese gained an understanding of their ancient history. The Zuo Zhuan does not simply explain the wording of the Spring and Autumn Annals, but greatly expounds upon its historical background, and contains many rich and lively accounts of Spring and Autumn period (771–476) history and culture. The Zuo Zhuan is the source of more Chinese sayings and idioms than any other classical work, and its concise, flowing style came to be held as a paragon of elegant Classical Chinese. Its tendency toward third-person narration and portraying characters through direct speech and action became hallmarks of Chinese narrative in general, and its style was imitated by historians, storytellers, and ancient style prose masters for over 2000 years of subsequent Chinese history.

The Zuo Zhuan has long been regarded as "a masterpiece of grand historical narrative", but its early textual history is largely unknown, and the nature of its original composition and authorship have been widely debated. The "Zuo" of the title was traditionally believed to refer to one "Zuo Qiuming"—an obscure figure of the 5th century BC described as a blind disciple of Confucius—but there is little actual evidence to support this. Most scholars now generally believe that the Zuo Zhuan was originally an independent work composed during the 4th century BC that was later rearranged as a commentary to the Annals.

## Textual history

### Creation

Despite its longstanding status as the paragon of Classical Chinese prose, little is known of the Zuo Zhuan′s creation and early history. Bamboo and silk manuscripts excavated from late Warring States period (c. 300) tombs, combined with analyses of its language, diction, chronological references, and philosophical viewpoints, suggest that the Zuo Zhuan's composition was largely complete by 300. However, no pre-Han dynasty (202 – AD 220) source indicates that the Zuo Zhuan had to that point been organized into any coherent form. No pre-Han dynasty texts directly refer to the Zuo Zhuan as a source, although a few mention its parent text Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋; Chunqiu). The Zuo Zhuan seems to have had no distinct title of its own during this period, but seems to have simply been called "Annals (Chunqiu)" along with a larger group of similar texts.

In the 3rd century AD, the Chinese scholar Du Yu intercalated the Zuo Zhuan with the Annals so that each Annals entry was followed by the corresponding narrative from the Zuo Zhuan. This became the received format of the Zuo Zhuan that exists today. Some modern scholars believe that the Zuo Zhuan was originally an independent work composed during the latter half of the 4th century BC—though probably incorporating some older material—that was later rearranged as a commentary to the Annals.

### Authorship

Sima Qian's 1st century BC Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, refers to the Zuo Zhuan as "Master Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals" (Zuoshi Chunqiu; 左氏春秋) and attributes it to a man named "Zuo Qiuming" (or possibly "Zuoqiu Ming"). According to Sima Qian, after Confucius's death his disciples began disagreeing over their interpretations of the Annals, and so Zuo Qiuming gathered together Confucius's scribal records and used them to compile the Zuo Annals in order to "preserve the true teachings."

This "Zuo Qiuming" whom Sima Qian references was traditionally assumed to be the Zuo Qiuming who briefly appears in the Analects of Confucius when Confucius praises him for his moral judgment. Other than this brief mention, nothing is concretely known of the life or identity of the Zuo Qiuming of the Analects, nor of what connection he might have with the Zuo Zhuan. This traditional assumption that the title's "Master Zuo" refers to the Zuo Qiuming of the Analects is not based on any specific evidence, and was challenged by scholars as early as the 8th century. Some modern scholars have observed that even if the Zuo Qiuming of the Analects is the "Zuo" referenced in the Zuo Zhuan′s title, this attribution is questionable because the Zuo Zhuan describes events from the late Spring and Autumn period (c. 771–476) that Zuo could not have known.

Alternatively, a number of scholars, beginning in the 18th century, have suggested that the Zuo Zhuan was actually the product of Wu Qi, a military leader who served in the State of Wei and who, according to the Han Feizi, was from a place called "Zuoshi" (左氏). In 1792, the scholar Yao Nai wrote: "The text [Zuo zhuan] did not come from one person. There were repeated accretions and additions, with those of Wu Qi and his followers being especially numerous...."

### Commentary status

In the early 19th century, the Chinese scholar Liu Fenglu (劉逢祿; 1776–1829) initiated a long, drawn-out controversy when he proposed, by emphasizing certain discrepancies between it and the Annals, that the Zuo Zhuan was not originally a commentary on the Annals. Liu's theory was taken much further by the prominent scholar and reformer Kang Youwei, who argued that Liu Xin did not really find the "ancient script" version of the Zuo zhuan in the imperial archives, as historical records describe, but actually forged it as a commentary on the Annals. Kang's theory was that Liu Xin—who with his father Liu Xiang, the imperial librarian, was one of the first to have access to the rare documents in the Han dynasty's imperial archives—took the Discourses of the States (Guoyu; 國語) and forged it into a chronicle-like work to fit the format of the Annals in an attempt to lend credibility to the policies of his master, the usurper Wang Mang.

Kang's theory was supported by several subsequent Chinese scholars in the late 19th century, but was contradicted by many 20th-century studies that examined it from many different perspectives. In the early 1930s, the French Sinologist Henri Maspero performed a detailed textual study of the issue, concluding the Han dynasty forgery theory to be untenable. The Swedish Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren concluded, based on a series of linguistic and philological analyses he carried out in the 1920s, that the Zuo Zhuan is a genuine ancient text "probably to be dated between 468 and 300 BC." While Liu's hypothesis that the Zuo zhuan was not originally an Annals commentary has been generally accepted, Kang's theory of Liu Xin forging the Zuo Zhuan is now considered discredited.

### Manuscripts

The oldest surviving Zuo Zhuan manuscripts are six fragments that were discovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century by the French Sinologist Paul Pelliot and are now held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Four of the fragments date to the Six Dynasties period (3rd to 6th centuries), while the other two date to the early Tang dynasty (7th century). The oldest known complete Zuo Zhuan manuscript is the "ancient manuscript scroll" preserved at the Kanazawa Bunko Museum in Yokohama, Japan.

## Content and style

### Content

The Zuo Zhuan recounts the major political, military, and social events of the Spring and Autumn period from the perspective of the State of Lu. The book is famous "for its dramatic power and realistic details". It contains a variety of tense and dramatic episodes: battles and fights, royal assassinations and murder of concubines, deception and intrigue, excesses, citizens' oppression and insurgences, and appearances of ghosts and cosmic portents.

Each Zuo zhuan chapter begins with the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu) entry for the year, which is usually terse and brief, followed by the Zuo Zhuan content for that year, which often contains long and detailed narratives. The entries follow the strict chronological format of the Annals, so interrelated episodes and the actions of individual characters are sometimes separated by events that occurred in the intervening years. The following entry, though unusually short, exemplifies the general format of all Zuo Zhuan entries.

> > Annals In the 31st year, in spring, a terrace was built in Lang. In summer, in the 4th month, the Liege of Xue died. A terrace was built at Xue. In the 6th month, the Prince of Qi came to present spoils from the Rong. In autumn, a terrace was built in Qin. In winter, it did not rain.
> >
> > (Zuo) In the 31st year, in summer, in the 6th month, the Prince of Qi came here to present spoils from the Rong: this was not in accordance with ritual propriety. In all cases when the princes achieve some merit against the Yi of the four directions, they present these spoils to the king, and the king thereby issues a warning to the Yi. This was not done in the central domains. The princes do not present captives to one another.

### Style

Zuo Zhuan narratives have a famously terse and succinct quality that was admired and imitated throughout Chinese history and usually focus either on speeches that illustrate ethical values, or on anecdotes in which the details of the story illuminate specific ethical points. Its narratives are characterized by parataxis, where clauses are juxtaposed with little verbal indication of their causal relationships with each other. On the other hand, the speeches and recorded discourses of the Zuo Zhuan are frequently lively, ornate, and verbally complex.

## Themes

The Zuo Zhuan's overarching theme is that haughty, evil, and stupid people generally bring disaster upon themselves, while those who are good, wise, and humble are usually justly rewarded. The Confucian principle of "ritual propriety" or "ceremony" (lǐ 禮) is seen as governing all actions, including war, and to bring bad consequences if transgressed. However, the observance of li is never shown as guaranteeing victory, and the Zuo Zhuan includes many examples of the good and innocent suffering senseless violence. Much of the Zuo Zhuan′s status as a literary masterpiece stems from its "relentlessly realistic portrayal of a turbulent era marked by violence, political strife, intrigues, and moral laxity".

The narratives of the Zuo Zhuan are highly didactic in nature, and are presented in such a way that they teach and illustrate moral principles. The German Sinologist Martin Kern observed: "Instead of offering authorial judgments or catechistic hermeneutics, the Zuo Zhuan lets its moral lessons unfold within the narrative itself, teaching at once history and historical judgment." Unlike the Histories of Herodotus or the History of the Peloponnesian War of Thucydides, with which it is roughly contemporary, the Zuo Zhuan′s narration always remains in the third person perspective, and presents as a dispassionate recorder of facts.

### Battles

Several of the Zuo Zhuan′s most famous sections are those dealing with critical historical battles, such as the Battle of Chengpu and the Battle of Bi. The Battle of Chengpu, the first of the Zuo Zhuan′s great battles, took place in the summer of 632 at Chengpu (now Juancheng County, Shandong Province) in the State of Wey. On one side were the troops of the powerful State of Chu, from what was then far southern China, led by the Chu prime minister Cheng Dechen. They were opposed by the armies of the State of Jin, led by Chong'er, Duke of Jin, one of the most prominent and well known figures in the Zuo Zhuan. Chu suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle itself, and it resulted in Chong'er being named Hegemon (bà 霸) of the various states.

> > On the day ji-si the Jin army encamped at [Chengpu]. The Jin commander Xu Chen, who was acting as assistant to the leader of the lower army, prepared to oppose the troops of Chen and Cai.
> >
> > On the Chu side, Dechen, with the 600 men of the Ruo'ao family, was acting as commander of the central army. "Today, mark my word, Jin will be wiped out!" he said. Dou Yishen was acting as commander of the left wing of the Chu army, and Dou Bo as commander of the right wing.
> >
> > Xu Chen, having cloaked his horses in tiger skins, led the attack by striking directly at the troops of Chen and Cai. The men of Chen and Cai fled, and the right wing of the Chu army was thus routed.
> >
> > Hu Mao [the commander of the Jin upper army] hoisted two pennons and began to retreat, while Luan Zhi [the commander of the Jin lower army] had his men drag brushwood over the ground to simulate the dust of a general rout. The Chu forces raced after in pursuit, whereupon Yuan Chen and Xi Chen, leading the duke's own select troops of the central army, fell upon them from either side. Hu Mao and Hu Yan, leading the upper army, turned about and likewise attacked Dou Yishen from either side, thereby routing the left wing of the Chu army.
> >
> > Thus the Chu army suffered a resounding defeat. Only Dechen, who had kept his troops back and had not attempted to pursue the enemy, as a result managed to escape defeat.

The narrative of the Battle of Chengpu is typical of Zuo zhuan battle narratives. The description of the battle itself is relatively brief, with most of the narrative being focused on battle preparations, omens and prognostications regarding its outcome, the division of the spoils, and the shifts and defections of the various allied states involved in the conflict. This "official [and] restrained" style, which became typical of Chinese historical writing, is largely due to the ancient Chinese belief that ritual propriety and strategic preparation were more important in determining the outcome of battles than individual valor or bravery.

### Succession crises

Several of the most notable passages in the Zuo Zhuan describe succession crises, which seem to have been fairly common in China during the Spring and Autumn period. These crises often involved the "tangled affections" of the various rulers, and are described in a dramatic and vivid manner that gives insight into the lives of China's aristocratic elite during the mid-1st millennium. The best known of these stories is that of Duke Zhuang of Zheng, who ruled the State of Zheng from 743 to 701. Duke Zhuang was born "in a manner that startled" his mother (probably breech birth), which caused her to later seek to persuade her husband to name Duke Zhuang's younger brother as the heir apparent instead of him. The story ends with eventual reconciliation between mother and son, thus exemplifying the traditional Chinese virtues of both "ritual propriety" (lǐ) and "filial piety" (xiào 孝), which made it consistently popular with Chinese readers over the centuries.

### Moral verdicts

Many Zuo Zhuan anecdotes end with brief moral comments or verdicts that are attributed to either Confucius or an unnamed junzi (君子; "noble man", "gentleman", "atheling", or "superior man"). The chapter on the Battle of Chengpu contains the following ending comment:

> > The gentleman remarks: This alliance accorded with good faith. In this campaign, the ruler of Jin [Chong'er] was able to attack through the power of virtue.

These "moral of the story" postfaces, which were added later by Confucian scholars, are directed toward those currently in power, reminding them of "the historical precedents and inevitable consequences of their own actions." They speak with the voices of previous ministers, advisers, "old men", and other anonymous figures to remind rulers of historical and moral lessons, and suggest that rulers who heed their advice will succeed, while those who do not will fail.

### Fate

Several sections of the Zuo Zhuan demonstrate the traditional Chinese concept of "fate" or "destiny" (mìng 命)—referring either to an individual's mission in life or their allotted lifespan—and attempt to illustrate how benevolent rulers ought to accept "fate" selflessly, as in the story of Duke Wen moving the capital of the state of Zhu in 614.

> > Duke Wen of Zhu divined by turtle shell to determine if he should move his capital to the city of Yi. The historian who conducted the divination replied, "The move will benefit the people but not their ruler." The ruler of Zhu said, "If it benefits the people, it benefits me. Heaven gave birth to the people and set up a ruler in order to benefit them. If the people enjoy the benefit, I am bound to share in it."
> >
> > Those around the ruler said, "If by taking warning from the divination you can prolong your destiny, why not do so?" The ruler replied, "My destiny lies in nourishing the people. Whether death comes to me early or late is merely a matter of time. If the people will benefit thereby, then nothing could be more auspicious than to move the capital."
> >
> > In the end he moved the capital to Yi. In the fifth month Duke Wen of Zhu died.
> >
> > The noble person remarks: He understood the meaning of destiny.

## Influence

The Zuo Zhuan has been recognized as a masterpiece of early Chinese prose and "grand historical narrative" for many centuries. It has had an immense influence on Chinese literature and historiography for nearly 2000 years, and was the primary text by which historical Chinese readers gained an understanding of China's ancient history. It enjoyed high status and esteem throughout Chinese history because of its great literary quality, and was often read and memorized because of its role as the preeminent commentary on the Annals (Chunqiu), which nearly all Chinese scholars traditionally ascribed to Confucius. Many Chinese scholars believed that the terse, succinct entries of the Annals contained cryptic references to Confucius' "profound moral judgments on the events of the past as well as those of his own day and on the relation of human events to those in the natural order", and that the Zuo Zhuan was written to clarify or even "decode" these hidden judgments.

From the Han dynasty (206 – AD 220) down to the present day, the Zuo Zhuan has been viewed as a model of correct, elegant, and sophisticated Classical Chinese prose. The Zuo Zhuan′s great influence on the Chinese language is evident from the fact that it is the source of more Chinese literary idioms (chéngyǔ 成語) than any other work, including the Analects of Confucius. The well-known Qing dynasty student anthology Guwen Guanzhi included 34 passages from the Zuo Zhuan as paragons of Classical Chinese prose, more than any other source. These passages are still part of the Classical Chinese curriculum in mainland China and Taiwan today.

The 400-year period the Zuo Zhuan covers is now known as the Spring and Autumn period, after the Spring and Autumn Annals, but the Zuo Zhuan is the most important source for the period. This era was highly significant in Chinese history, and saw a number of developments in governmental complexity and specialization that preceded China's imperial unification in 221 BC by the First Emperor of Qin. The latter years of this period also saw the appearance of Confucius, who later became the preeminent figure in Chinese cultural history. The Zuo Zhuan is one of the only surviving written sources for the history of the Spring and Autumn period, and is extremely valuable as a rich source of information on the society that Confucius and his disciples lived in and from which the Confucian school of thought developed. It was canonized as one of the Chinese classics in the 1st century AD, and until modern times was one of the cornerstones of traditional education for men in China and the other lands of the Sinosphere such as Japan and Korea.

## Translations

- James Legge (1872), The Ch'un Ts'ew, with the Tso Chuen, The Chinese Classics V, London: Trübner, Part 1 (books 1–8), Part 2 (books 9–12). Revised edition (1893), London: Oxford University Press.
- Séraphin Couvreur (1914), Tch'ouen Ts'iou et Tso Tchouan, La Chronique de la Principauté de Lou [Chunqiu and Zuo zhuan, Chronicle of the State of Lu], Ho Kien Fou: Mission Catholique.
- Teruo Takeuchi 竹内照夫 (1974–75). Shunjū Sashiden 春秋左氏伝 [Chunqiu Zuoshi zhuan]. Zenshaku kanbun taikei 全釈漢文体系 [Fully Interpreted Chinese Literature Series] 4–6. Tokyo: Shūeisha.
- Reprinted (1992).
- Hu Zhihui 胡志挥; Chen Kejiong 陈克炯 (1996). Zuo zhuan 左传. Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe. (Contains both English and Mandarin translations)
- Stephen Durrant; Li Wai-yee; David Schaberg, trans. (2016), Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan), Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Commentary on Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals

Ancient Chinese philosophical literature


Marq2 transit corridor

The Marq2 transit corridor is a north–south thoroughfare in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It consists of the parallel streets of Marquette and Second avenues in the downtown area. Each public streetway has two contraflow bus lanes with two lanes available for general-purpose traffic in the opposite direction. Vehicular transit flows south on Marquette Avenue and north on Second Avenue. The inner curb lane allows buses to stop for riders, while the second bus-only lane allows buses to pass each other along the corridor. Bus routes that operate on the corridor stop at every other block at an assigned gate with each route assigned a northbound and southbound gate. Gates are assigned letters A, B, C, or D on Marquette Avenue and E, F, G, and H on Second Avenue. Custom bus shelters are installed at each stop with heaters and real time transit information. The corridor primarily serves express buses operated by all five public transit agencies in the Twin Cities.

Transit has existed in the corridor since 1879 with the opening of steam railways which were eventually replaced by streetcars, and then buses. After both streets were converted to one-way traffic, a contraflow bus lane was installed in the 1970s. Eventually the corridor's capacity became overwhelmed with the amount of buses so that operating conditions and speeds were severely impacted. The city of Minneapolis proposed consolidating express bus traffic in the city in the corridor and secured funding to reconstruct the streets in 2007. The redesign added an additional bus lane, increased space for pedestrians, and improved waiting amenities for customers. Upon opening in 2009, capacity for buses in the corridor was tripled, which allowed most express bus service in downtown Minneapolis to be consolidated onto the two streets. Operating speeds increased in the corridor, and some trips took 10 fewer minutes to travel out of downtown. The Metro Orange Line began using the corridor in 2021 when it began operation.

## History

Marquette and Second avenues have been important to mass transit since its introduction to Minneapolis. In May 1879 the Lyndale Railway Company opened the Motor Line along First Avenue (now Marquette), running from First Street near Minneapolis Union Depot to 13th Street, where it continued south along Nicollet Avenue. By the mid-1880s the steam trams operating the line became a nuisance downtown, and the company, now Minneapolis, Lyndale & Minnetonka Railway, responded with several forms of experimental traction along First Avenue. The company collaborated with Charles Van Depoele for trains to be towed by an electric locomotive between Washington Avenue and Sixth Street. There were three tests: one in December 1885 and in January and February 1886, all of which proved to be unsatisfactory. The electric locomotive experienced intense vibrations and other mechanical problems, and current collection was unreliable. Van Depoele personally invested \$25,000 () to perfect the system. The railway then adopted an experimental soda motor, where steam is generated by the addition of caustic soda to the boiler. These locomotives also proved to be unreliable. In 1887 Minneapolis passed an ordinance requiring the Motor Line to use cable or other source of power within city limits. Van Depoele's efforts had produced reliable electric traction, but the Minneapolis, Lyndale & Minnetonka Railway was suffering financially and could not adapt to the ordinance. This prompted the line to be leased to the Minneapolis Street Railway, later Twin Cities Rapid Transit, to operate the line and make the required improvements. First Avenue was electrified September 22, 1890, and the Motor Line was dissolved into First Avenue South streetcar lines.

Marquette and Second avenues became one-way streets in the 1950s. The first express buses to use Interstate 35W used Marquette and Second avenues while running through downtown in 1972. Contraflow bus lanes debuted on the corridor on September 29, 1974. Bus lanes were between 18 and 21 feet wide which is much wider than a standard 12 foot wide lane.

North-south bicycle traffic in Minneapolis began changing in the late 1990s, when proposals to ban bicycles from Nicollet Mall emerged. Bus drivers were concerned about unsafe conditions with sharing Nicollet Mall between bicycles and buses. One proposal had one direction of bus traffic on Nicollet Mall removed and bus traffic in that direction diverted to Marquette Avenue. The Minneapolis City Council was leaning towards separating north-south bus traffic onto Nicollet and Marquette until Metro Transit offered to help pay for installing bike lanes on Marquette and Second avenues in exchange for banning bicycles from Nicollet Mall for at least portions of the week. Ultimately bike lanes were installed on Marquette and Second avenues in September 1998, and bicycles were banned from Nicollet Mall on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

## Capacity problems

The amount of bus traffic on the pair of lanes eventually overwhelmed the corridor's capacity and hampered operations. With bus stops on each block and only one bus travel lane, many buses would make two stops on each block with one at the beginning and the other at the end of the block. It regularly took buses two stoplight cycles to progress to the next block. Attempts were made to improve the corridor's performance with mixed results that often had their own drawbacks. Some bus routes were scheduled to travel in general-purpose lanes heading south on Second Avenue South, where buses heading south on the corridor would normally use Marquette Avenue. Other bus routes were moved to other streets like Nicollet Mall but travel times on Nicollet Mall were even slower than on the corridor. Faster travel times were available on nearby streets like Hennepin Avenue to the west or 3rd Avenue S to the east but both are further from downtown's central core.

Minneapolis developed a transportation plan in 2006 that proposed adding a second bus lane to speed up bus travel by allowing buses to pass each other. The 10-year transportation plan proposed concentrating all express buses serving the suburbs to use the Marquette and Second Avenue pair of streets. While many express buses used Marquette and Second avenues, some were still on Nicollet Mall. At the time there were also bike lanes on each street but the plan proposed that by removing the bike lanes and adding an additional bus lane, capacity in the corridor would be tripled. Wider sidewalks would also be added for riders waiting for the bus. Bus speeds in the corridor were only around 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) at the time. When the transportation plan was approved by the city council in 2007, it was estimated that changes could happen in five years at the earliest and only after the two streets were reconstructed with the goal of using a federal grant to help pay for the changes. Without the federal grant, changes would happen in 2012 at the earliest instead of 2009.

## Funding and construction

The federal government awarded the metropolitan region, as well as four other cities, funds in a program called the Urban Partnership Agreement in 2007. The \$133 million grant would also fund other transit and roadway improvements like park and ride facilities and toll lanes along I-35W. Almost 30 cities had competed for the grants and the state of Minnesota matched the grant with \$55 million of their own funding in June 2008. A planned opening of December 2009 was given for the bus lane improvements. The overall cost of the Marq2 portion of the Urban Partnership Agreement project cost was \$32 million.

Construction was planned to begin after the 2008 Republican National Convention in September 2008. The project was constructed on an accelerated timeline that took roughly half the time it would typically take. Several techniques to ensure the accelerated construction timeline was successful were used, including early coordination of utility relocation and bonuses for construction contractors. The work on Marquette and Second avenues had a required completion of December 31, 2009, while other portions of the Urban Partnership Agreement project had later deadlines.

By removing express buses from Nicollet Mall, the mall was changed to allow bicycles at all times of day where previously bicycles were banned during peak periods. The change to Nicollet Mall allowed the existing bicycle lanes on the Marquette and Second Avenue pair of streets to be removed. Bus traffic on Nicollet Mall was reduced by 35 percent with the move of buses to the Marq2 corridor which improved the experience for pedestrians and sidewalk cafe patrons on Nicollet Mall. The loss of bike facilities in the corridor concerned groups like the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, which later became the transportation advocacy organization Our Streets Minneapolis. Along with allowing bicycles on Nicollet Mall all day, bicycles are allowed in the corridor bus lanes during off peak periods.

Bus travel times in the corridor were expected to improve by 5–10 minutes for each of the 1,400 weekday bus trips. Adding the second bus lane increased capacity from about 60 buses per hour to 180 buses per hour. The corridor consolidated around 80 percent of downtown transit service on the two streets. With 14 routes shifted from Nicollet Mall, a total of 67 bus routes would utilize the corridor shortly after opening. Metro Transit as well as the six suburban transit authorities, including Southwest Transit and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, began using the corridor when it opened on December 14, 2009.

## Operations since opening

While the target speed of buses in the corridor was 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), average speeds for buses in the corridor increased from 3.5 miles per hour (5.6 km/h) to 5.5 miles per hour (8.9 km/h) after the new lanes opened. Ridership also increased from 23,700 to 28,000 rides per weekday. The greatest improvement in speeds was on Second Avenue South in the morning rush hour where speeds increased by 74 percent. Ridership in the I-35W south corridor increased by 9 percent between 2009 and 2011 and at least 85 percent of riders rated bus reliability and travel times as good or very good. Around half of riders surveyed said the Marq2 project increased bus speeds and reliability. Buses from I-94 West, I-35W North, I-35W South, and I-394 all fed into the Marq2 lanes, which made them the busiest transit corridor in downtown Minneapolis. The number of buses on the corridor increase by 52 percent in the afternoon rush hour.

The addition of the heated shelters on Marq2 in combination with A Line heated shelters was identified in 2018 as a source of potential disparate impact and disproportionate burden for low-income and minority riders. This was because Marq2 riders are predominantly not low-income or minority, while other riders in the Metro Transit system—that were more likely to be low-income or minorities—did not receive the same level of benefits. These evaluations are required as part of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. To maintain compliance with Title VI, heated shelters were added on Nicollet Mall and other locations that serve more low-income and minority riders.

Utility work closed a portion of Marquette Avenue to buses in 2019. When buses were shifted to the general-purpose lanes on Second Avenue, severe congestion impacted the ability of buses to exit downtown and resulted in long delays of up to an hour. Southwest Transit officials wrote a letter to the city of Minneapolis requesting improved priority for buses, which they felt were not being given priority by traffic control agents. The city of Minneapolis insisted that buses were given priority and met with Southwest Transit, Minnesota Valley Transportation Authority, and Metro Transit officials to discuss the traffic congestion and transit. Minneapolis adjusted signal light timing and parking meters to improve conditions for transit. Minnesota Valley Transportation Authority eventually temporarily detoured several bus routes off of the transit only lanes on Marquette to 4th and 3rd Avenues South in an effort to improve travel times.

While the first real-time information signs used cellular connections to receive data, upgrades on 36 signs in the corridor were replaced with signs that have fiber optic connections in 2021. The change was partially done to improve reliability of the signs as sign unreliability was a frequent customer complaint. The Metro Orange Line was designed around using the corridor, and during planning stages, project staff identified several possibilities on connecting I-35W to the Marq2 lanes. The final design included a transit-only ramp from I-35W to 12th Street where buses could either travel eastbound using general-purpose lanes to the 12th Street Ramp on the E-ZPass lanes or travel westbound from the ramp to a bus-only contraflow lane connecting to Marq2. The Orange Line began using the Marq2 transit lanes on December 4, 2021, when the line began service. Most intersections along the corridor allow for transit signal priority for Orange Line buses.

## Design

The designed project covers 24 blocks. The design was partially inspired by the Portland Transit Mall. Each roadway contains four lanes, two in either direction. Buses travel southbound on Marquette Avenue and northbound on Second Avenue, with general traffic operating the opposite direction in the other lanes. Each stop can accommodate two buses, with there being two stops per block. The inner lane allows buses to pass stopped buses.

Marquette and Second avenues are 80 feet (24 m) wide from building width to building width. The total width of the paved street is 49 feet (15 m) with 21 feet (6.4 m) dedicated to pedestrian and streetscape uses. Initially the construction design called for a concrete roadway for buses and asphalt for general-purpose traffic in the other direction, but an all concrete roadway surface was close enough in cost that an all concrete roadway was built. The previous road surface was recycled and used as a base with 9 inches (23 cm) of reinforced concrete place on top. The curing process for the roadway took two to three days. The concrete roadway stands in contrast to the mostly asphalt streets within the rest of downtown. The curbside bus lane is 11 feet (3.4 m) feet wide while the second passing lane is 13 feet (4.0 m) feet wide.

As part of pedestrian and streetscape improvements, 200 trees were added to the corridor. The trees were held in structural cells designed to allow for tree growth and the cells were covered with 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of porous pavers to allow for some storm water retention. Buried underground were 11,000 plastic cells that look like milk crates. The cells are filled with soil which prevents soil compaction but still allows for excess water to leave the system. Up to 21,000 cubic feet (590 m3) of storm water is diverted from the sewer system after a rainstorm. The system also helps increase the lifespan of street trees, which are otherwise frequently replaced after only five to seven years. With an average of 588 cubic feet (16.7 m3) of soil dedicated for each tree, each tree pit captures water from an average surface area of 300 square feet (28 m2). The overall cost of the system was about \$8,038 per tree. After seven years many of the trees were no longer looking as healthy as when they were planted. The manufacturer of the cell system conducted a study to see why the trees were struggling and blamed trees planted at an improper depth and tree root girdling as the primary reasons for the decline.

## Stops and stations

Stops along the corridor are organized by gates, with buses stopping every other block at their designated gate. Gates on Marquette Avenue are lettered A, B, C, and D, and gates on Second Avenue are lettered E, F, G, and H. Orange Line buses stop at most C and F gates, which are enhanced with pylon markers, additional security and real-time departures, and off-board fare collection. Bus stops at each gate are 135 feet (41 m) long. Gates are spaced 40 feet (12 m) apart.

Custom transit shelters were installed at opening, and sidewalks on the bus stop side of the street are three feet (0.91 m) wider than on the other side. The average annual maintenance costs for each shelter was \$5,038 in 2016.

Public transit corridor through Minneapolis, Minnesota