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Ok, so everyone is on twitter.  Twitter is free service that allows you to let everyone know through tweets what you are doing, thinking, or how you are feeling.  Twitter is a recent phenomenon that is now used by news companies, athletes, sports teams, and even fortune 500 companies to give a live update of what is happening. 

Twitter can be used by anyone.  I even have a Twitter account to let my readers in the blogosphere know what’s going on when I am at various racing venues as well as when I update IRLblog.com.

Danica Patrick recently joined the Twitter world.  What makes this so different than anyone else that has joined is that Danica is one  of the first , if not the first athlete to join Twitter and have sponsor backing in doing so.  Tissot (watches) has signed as her sponsor.  

Tissot watches views social media as a new way of advertising in a less-invasive way.  They want to connect with social media using one of their company’s faces.  Tissot along with Danica are entering into this new venture cautiously knowing that they are treading through new territory as far as sponsorship on Twitter.  Prior to her first tweet on May 17, she already had roughly 2700 followers.

Social media is proving to be the wave of the future.  I expect to see more companies backing atheletes in the social media world.  After all, services like Twitter are free to use and for anyone that is following, it can be used as a form of direct advertising.

You can follow Danica on twitter by going to http://twitter.com/danicapatrick

This weekend you might not recognize Dario Franchitti’s car as it goes by.  This is because Air Wick will be the primary sponsor for the #10 car this weekend in St. Petersburg Florida.  Dario stated:

“Driving the AIR WICK® car to start the IndyCar Series season couldn’t be more fitting for me…their tagline ‘It’s good to be home’ pretty much sums up my thoughts on this race to start the year after racing in NASCAR in 2008. I’ve said many times that part of the IndyCar Series’ allure is in the diversity of its tracks, and I’m a huge fan of the street circuits. What a great way to continue my Indy car career with AIR WICK® on board on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Chip Ganaasi racing will also be making history this season being the only team to put teammates together who have won both its sanctioning body’s Driver Championship  and its marquee event the previous two seasons.  

Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon should be optimistic going into this season’s opening event.  Both drivers did well at the Barber Motorsports test this off-season.  Dixon had his only DNF last season at St. Petersburg and finished 22nd.  Franchitti last ran there in 2007 and finished 5th driving for Andretti Green Racing.

Donna McGonigal, who is the marketing director for Air Wick also expressed her excitement.

We’re excited to continue into the 2009 racing season as a proud sponsor of Target Chip Ganassi Racing.  The IndyCar Series gives us a wonderful opportunity to educate consumers about how Air Wick gives them the assurance that their home always smells good and is something they can have pride in.

You can see Dario’s car on Versus this Sunday April 5th during the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 2 p.m.

What does Versus network have that ESPN did not?  How about 130 hours of coverage dedicated to the IndyCar Series.  The break down you ask?  Versus will air at least seven hours of IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights coverage every week in 2009 that there is a race.   Versus will also  broadcast a one hour preview show the day before a race that will show the practice and qualification highlights and all the stories that are going on that weekend.  The Monday after a race Versus will re-broadcast the race in a two hour long window. The network will also air the Firestone Indy Lights races in one hour windows the Monday after the event takes place.  The Firestone Indy Lights race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 22 will be aired live as well as the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.  All qualification days in the month of May will also be aired live.

The Firestone Indy Lights alone this season will see more coverage than they have ever seen.  This should help promote the drivers, teams, and help with sponsorship for the feeder series to the IndyCar Series.  Everything sounds win win and now the Firestone Indy Lights will get the exposure that they deserve.

Versus has clearly put everything on the table and is showing that they want to be here and they want to contribute to the growth of the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights.  I think everyone will be very pleased with the race coverage when the season starts with the first race on the streets of St. Petersburg April 5th.

The programming schedule for St. Petersburg is as follows.

• April 4th 5-7 p.m. Qualifying
• April 5th 2-5 p.m. IndyCar Race
• April 6th 6-7 p.m. Indy Lights race
• April 6th 10-12 p.m. IndyCar Race (re-air)

While at the movies with my significant other this previous weekend, I noticed that Honda played an advertisement that was quite long.  It seemed more like a preview.  It is titled “Failure, the Key to Success”.  The video featured but was not centered around Danica Patrick and her rought start in the IndyCar Series.  It also touches on Honda’s debut year in open wheel racing.  I found it interesting so I thought I would post it here so everyone can check it out.  You can watch all of the videos at dreams.honda.com.

Wow! Who would have thought that the 2008 IndyCar season would be as eventful as memorable as it turned out to be. It will definitely go down in history as one to remember. From the last minute Champ Car merger weeks before the season opener at Homestead Miami Speedway all the way through Helio Castroneves drive from last place to first place at the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway. This year has also been a year of firsts. Graham Rahal went on to become the youngest winner in open wheel history with his first IndyCar Series start on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Danica Patrick went on to be the first female in open wheel history to win an event, doing so at Twin Ring Motegi when she passed Helio Castroneves with just a few laps left in her 50th IndyCar Series start and Ana Beatriz became the first woman in the Firestone Indy Lights to win an event at Nashville Superspeedway. It is going to be tough to top the eventful history making 2008 season.