De Ferran

	Castroneves

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis 500 is becoming a regular Brazilian carnival.

Gil de Ferran's win Sunday was the third straight for one of the "Boys from Brazil," and Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan made it a 1-2-3 sweep for the country -- a first in Indy history.

"It's awesome. There's going to be a party over there," said Kanaan, the third-place finisher. "Probably, they're going to throw a carnival for us."

De Ferran will be the first to join the celebration after beating teammate and countryman Helio Castroneves, the winner the last two years.

This American holiday weekend is becoming a decidedly international event, with a particularly Brazilian flavor.

Besides Kanaan, Castroneves and de Ferran, Vitor Meira finished 12th. Airton Dare crashed after finishing 125 laps and Felipe Giaffone managed only six laps before engine trouble knocked him out.

"Unfortunately Brazilian people, I don't think, they know how big this is," Castroneves said after being denied an unprecedented third straight Indy win by his Penske teammate.

They should learn quickly.

Brazilians have dominated Indianapolis in recent years with seven drivers finishing in the top three since 2001 -- a major achievement considering the Indy Racing League was created to help develop young American drivers.

Castroneves attributes the Brazilian success to being one of the few sports that people follow in his country. He also has said that drivers start competing at earlier ages.

This year's Indy race is one example. Many of the Brazilians competed as teenagers and became friends long before they made it onto the 2½-mile oval.

"Tony started when he was 9 or something and Helio when he was 11 or something," de Ferran said. "Tony, Helio and I, we race hard, but we also like to race hard."

Tom Kelley, an IRL team owner since 1997, agrees that the biggest advantage Brazilians have is a fewer amount of options.

"There's soccer and there's racing, that's basically it," Kelley said. "There's not a lot for them to do in Brazil."

After Sunday, for the third straight year, there is one more thing the Brazilians expect to do: party.