Gil de Ferran didn’t want to be one of those drivers who stayed in the cockpit too long, marring a great career with a mediocre finish.

The 35-year-old Brazilian – considered one of the brightest and most introspective men in the sport – thought long and hard about when to stop driving Indy cars.

In the end, de Ferran decided the right time is October, following the IRL season finale at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It was a very difficult and emotional decision for me because being a race car driver, it’s all I have known really since I was a teenager,” de Ferran explained.

He said the idea of retirement first began “bouncing around in my head” over the winter.

It’s been a long, lively party for de Ferran, whose first championship came in go-karts in 1983 in his native Sao Paulo.

The man with the Hollywood leading man looks and an analytical mind that has earned him the nickname “The Professor” worked his way steadily up the racing ladder. He arrived in the CART Champ Car series in 1995 as Rookie of the Year.

He won three races in his first five years in the series, finishing second in the points in 1997 while driving for underfinanced Walker Racing. He showed flashes of brilliance each season, but the consistency didn’t come until he joined Team Penske and helped drive that elite unit back to prominence.

De Ferran gave Roger Penske his first win in three years early in the 2000 season in Nazareth, Pa., and went on to win two consecutive CART championships.

When Penske took his team to the rival IRL in 2002, de Ferran came along.

He finished third in the IRL points last season despite missing the final race with a concussion from a crash at Chicagoland Speedway. De Ferran, who won the Indianapolis 500 in May, also is in the picture this year, trailing teammate Helio Castroneves by just 25 points with three races remaining.

He’s viable in the championship despite again missing a race, this time due to a concussion and a back injury from a crash in Phoenix.

De Ferran is adamant that it was not the injuries that prompted his retirement. He was quick to point out his victory at Indy came in his first race back after the Phoenix wreck.

“I couldn’t really sit in the car with fear in my heart and afraid of possible consequences,” de Ferran said.

“You either race and drive full-hearted and with all the enthusiasm and aggression that you have, or you don’t do it at all.

“So I guess I would say that it did not play a very big part in this decision. For me, the decision was more about not wanting to go into a decline. I really could not live with the thought that I am not doing as good a job as I did in the past.”

Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing, said de Ferran is a very determined man who does whatever it takes to win and is able to focus completely on whatever that is.

“Everybody on this team respects him, and he and Helio have been a very good combination – friendly competition and always time to help each other,” Cindric said. “But Gil knows what is right for him.”

Did winning the 500 in May make the decision to retire easier for de Ferran?

“Yes and no,” he said. “I guess it helped. I have accomplished here more than I could possibly dream of. It felt like the Indy 500 was a big factor on that front.”

De Ferran doesn’t know what he will do after racing, although staying with the Penske team in some capacity could be an option.

“In 21 years of racing, I have gathered a lot of experience with cars and a little bit with business, and I developed some good relationships over the years,” he explained. “Certainly the one with the Penske organization and Roger, it probably ranks as one of the most important ones. I would like to make good use of these experiences and relationships in the future.” Right now, though, there is another championship that can be won.

“This doesn’t change anything because the motivation to win the last three races and to try to win the championship is within me,” de Ferran said.

AP-ES-08-27-03 1652EDT