It was 1986 again, and Bobby Rahal was fighting a losing battle against his tears as he stood in victory lane and spoke of his ailing friend and mentor, Jim Trueman.

It was 1992 again, and Al Unser Jr. was accepting the Borg-Warner Trophy and sobbing. “You just don’t know what Indy means to me,” he said.

Now it was a Sunday in 2009, and Helio Castroneves had climbed back down from the fence and was sitting in his car on victory lane. He was handed the ceremonial bottle of milk, but he was not yet ready to drink. He just sat in his car with his head in his hands and spilled the kinds of tears he shed the day he was acquitted in a Miami courtroom.

Finally, he turned to team owner Roger Penske, who stood with him as the driver fought for his future against the most formidable opponent imaginable, the United States government.

•Photo gallery: Helio Castroneves wins
•2009 Indy 500 race results

“Thank you for giving me my life back,” Castroneves said to Penske.

Then he thanked the fans, the multitudes who reached out to him with notes or with prayers through those trying months.

Later, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner was asked at a news conference about his faith, and again, he dissolved into tears.

Could you blame him for making it a very wet conclusion to the month of May?

“Sometimes I try to answer questions and I just couldn’t find the answers,” Castroneves said. “Today, I found the answer.”

How can anybody else begin to understand the emotional journey this emotional man has traveled the last couple of months? The depths of his grief and fear? And then the heights of joy he experienced by winning here, winning at a place he dreamed about during the trial?

Castroneves likes to say that for him, Indy is magic.

Truth is, it may just be the other way around.

Sunday, he joined the giants of his sport.

“I remember as a kid growing up here how cool it was to wait for A.J. Foyt to win his fourth (Indy) and then again with (Rick) Mears,‘’ said Team Penske president Tim Cindric. "Now, it’s cool to sit up here and think that Helio has a chance to do it.’’

Castroneves is back, and he’s faster than ever.

“We saw Helio (return) at Long Beach and the kind of hug you got, it was a different kind of hug,” said third-place finisher Danica Patrick. “I’m very happy for him. I’ve always enjoyed him as a person. He’s always been kind to me and respected me. I’m glad to have him back, and he’s obviously great for the sport. The only problem is he’s hard to beat.”

With his third 500 victory, Castroneves showed again there is a lot of substance and grit behind that incandescent smile. He was taken to the edge by a process he never quite understood, forced to cede control to his lawyers and leave his fate in the hands of strangers, only to return quickly to the very top of his sport.

“We talk about Helio’s win of his life a few weeks ago (in the courtroom),” Penske said after his record 15th Indianapolis 500 victory. “To see him come back, it just shows you, on the outside, he’s got that personality, he climbs the fence, but inside, he’s tough as nails. He had to be to go through what he went through the last six months.”

Through all of this, Penske’s role should not be diminished. The Captain and his team handled the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Castroneves with complete humanity and grace. They stood behind their driver from the beginning, making it clear that while they had to fill his seat with Will Power, in the end, his temporary replacement was merely keeping his seat warm.

“We told Helio, ‘We will stay with you until the final answer,’ " Penske said. “I had so much faith that Helio hadn’t done anything wrong. We were never, ever going to leave his side, and the payoff today is not only for him, but for everybody on this team that never, ever blinked an eye.”

As Sunday’s relatively mundane race moved toward its final laps, there was a question whether Castroneves would have enough fuel to finish. But then came a yellow, courtesy of a horrific crash involving Vitor Meira. That let Castroneves conserve his dwindling reserves as the lap counter approached 180.

On the restart, Castroneves left the pack with the same alacrity with which he exited that courtroom. Nobody, not Dan Wheldon, not Patrick, nobody was going to catch him.

When Patrick was asked if she had anything for Castroneves, she asked what lap times he was running. Told he was steady at 220, she shook her head.

“Uhh . . . no,’’ she said with a smile.

The federal government couldn’t catch him, and neither could 32 opposing drivers.

When it was over, the ebullient Castroneves cried. And you can be sure of this: He wasn’t the only one.