“At to the end of the year, Tony Bettenhausen shut down the team,” says Castroneves. “And I’m like, ‘Emerson, come on, man. We can’t let this happen. I can’t keep packing my bag and start to go home again. I did this too many times!’
“Then JJ Lehto was actually driving for Hogan Racing, but decided to do IMSA with BMW [instead].
“I got a phone call [from Hogan] to say, ‘Hey, there is a possibility.’ ‘Well talk to my manager –he’s the one that that does that.’
“Emerson goes up there and thought he was so smooth going into it without finding sponsorship through his business, but he never follow[ed things] up!”
Castroneves would compete in ’99 for Hogan, but felt several crucial IndyCar openings for his future were missed due to his former manager’s decisions.
‘I said ‘Emerson, we keep missing opportunities’. Toyota asked, saying there was a driver [shootout] opportunity, which Christiano Da Matta ended up getting. I said before that, ‘Why don’t we go to [the] test?
“I had a written offer from [the Ford-powered] Bobby Rahal [team] for five years in the middle of July [‘99]. And I said ‘Emerson, let’s do it!’
And he’s like ‘No, no, we have to stay with the Mercedes engine.’ But we didn’t even know if Mercedes were gonna be there next year!