Last year, the Indy 500 was postponed and held without spectators due to the pandemic. It was  the most attended sporting event since the pandemic’s start and welcomed 135,000 fans back into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

 Six Indianapolis residents participating in the 500 Spectacles of Homes were selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jameson Terzini and Kimmy were among the six who got the chance to spent their afternoon welcoming an Indianapolis 500 race car driver to their home. It was none other than the eventual winner Helio Castroneves. 

A life-size figure of Castroneves climbing a fence was put on the front porch of Terzini’s household. The house was full of excitement and anticipation as Terzini and his friends anxiously wait for their favorite race car driver to visit their home. Terzini said that Helio is one of their favorite drivers. “The speedway has a lot of history in it, and I was fortunate enough to see all three victories,” he added according to local media reports .  

The Terzinis went all out for the Spectacle of the Homes of this year. Kimmy, his wife said that in the past years, they had put out checkered flags but this year, they wanted to do something different than usual, so they recreated Castroneves’ 2009 win.

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Terzini’s house has become a neighborhood favorite now, People stop by to take photos. In one of the instances, a FedEx delivery man yelled from the street while making a delivery that he loves Helio and he found the life-size figurine was a cool idea. Also, a neighbor came by to share a 2020 fanny pack that has the Indy 500 logo on it.

Terzini expressed how their decorations have allowed them to connect with people again, after a year of isolation the world has been through due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said that it’s a great community engagement project and everybody came by and encouraged them, giving ideas and dropping some props, they also shared positive affirmations. 

“There were a lot of people in the neighborhood that were participating as well,” said Kimmy, “so it was a lot of fun.” 

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When Helio arrived and parked in front of their house, everybody got excited and applause erupted from the Terxino’s yard, the neighbors gathered across the street. Seeing the life-size replica of his fence climb, Castroneves said, “I can’t believe it! What’s Hélio doing over there?”

Jameson and his wife exchanged handshakes with the three-time Champion and said that they goggle images of Helio’s Helmet and tried to mirror it with his 2009 win. Castroneves was all impressed. Then he jumped up the steps of the front porch to pose with the figurine.

Jameson told Castroneves, “You climbing the fence, Dan Wheldon, memorable, I can’t say enough about it. It will never be forgotten. “You don’t know how this makes me feel,” replied Castroneves. “The energy that I suck from you guys  and I hope that’s OK,” he added as the crowd erupted with encouragement.  

Castroneves took Photos with each and every one of the Terzino’s Close friends as well as signed autographs. Ternizo’s friends have brought a Nintendo 64 IndyCar video game card for Castroneves to sign. Before he leaving Castroneves made sure to make every fan feel seen, appreciated, and heard before he left. Terzino’s friends and family yelled, “Can you peel out in our driveway?”

Castroneves told 13News that his reaction on seeing the house was ‘No! Who is there?’ he had never seen anything like this before and it meant a lot to him because He does this for the fans. “It gives them more energy to push it to the limit to make them as happy as I am right now.”

Castroneves made sure to post in front of the Tenzino’s house on his social media handle, letting fans know where he’ll be on Sunday night.