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 Versus network continues to promote the IndyCar Series prior to the opening race on the Streets of St Petersburg scheduled for April 5, 2009.  At first I was a bit skeptical about the IndyCar Series moving to Vs.  I must admit, they have definitely caught my attention with all the promotions and effort that they have put in prior to the start of the season.  Versus has already surpassed ESPN in my book in coverage.  Funny thing is they haven’t even covered anything yet.  However, they are going to have a special this Saturday on driver Danica Patrick that is scheduled to air from 2-3 p.m. The promo video above will debut this during this hour long special.  Below is a schedule of IndyCar programs that are going to run every Saturday during the month of March.  These should tie us over and get us worked up for the opener April 5th.

Saturday, March 07, 2009 2:00PM – 3:00PM	DANICA – FIVE YEARS RUNNING  () Danica- Five Years Running  TBD
Saturday, March 14, 2009 2:00PM – 3:00PM	INDY CAR: CLOSEST FINISHES  () Indy Car Series: Top 10 Closest Finishes  TBD
Saturday, March 21, 2009 2:00PM – 3:00PM	INDY CAR: CRASHES AND CONFLICTS  () Indy Car Series: Crashes and Conflicts  TBD
Saturday, March 28, 2009 2:00PM – 3:00PM	INDY CAR: WORLD TOUR 2009  () IndyCar Series World Tour 2009  TBD

The smell of Ethanol and the sound of the Honda Indy V8 are definitely things that I missed in the off season.  The Ethanol comes from Apex-Brazil and is now manufactured using sugercane instead of corn.  The new exhaust systems that are installed on the cars this year definitely dial down the sound.  For once I did not feel the need to wear ear plugs during the testing sessions.  The new exhaust consists of a 180 degree bend and then feeds into a non tunable muffler.  It exits the car at the top rear section of the sidepod instead of out the rear under the suspension and gear box.  When I heard about the exhaust change a few months ago I  remember thinking to myself, it’s a race car.  Why would you want to quiet it down?  It is not rediculously quiet but it definitely doesn’t sound as raspy as the cars did during the 2008 season.  As a matter of fact The Firestone Indy Lights made some engine modifications as well.  They now sound more like the big cars in the IndyCar Series instead of stock cars.  This automatically drew me towards them when I heard them at Homestead Miami Speedway.  I don’t know about anybody else but I honestly could not stand the sound that they emitted last season.  Hopefully this will play into the Firestone Indy Lights getting more attention by viewers along with Versus network televising the series.  you will be able to hear the sound of both series at the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg April 5th.

Session one of tonights IndyCar test has been completed.  It has been brought to my attention that tonight we have the most cars on track at an open test since 2002.  Many of the teams are running pretty fast and the speeds overall have leveled off speed wise.  The big surprise has to be Bobby D.  Robert Doornbos placed himself in P4 before the end of the first session.  That is definitely something to talk about since his speeds last night during the IndyCar rookie session.  The yellow has been called out numerous times already for cut rubber.  During the break teams grabbed dinner and made adjustments to the cars while team mates and engineers collaborated on car setups. Testing will end at 10 p.m. tonight.  Stanton Barrett of team 3G has been consistanly the slowest in the field with a fast speed that just over 201 mph which is 10 mph slower than P1 Scott Dixon.

Well friends, Versus Network announced there broadcast team last week and now they have have started there add campaign with some short video adds.  The PR department from the Indy Racing League sent me these two promo videos that will debut during the  during the NHL All-Star game and will continue to play up until the season opener on the streets of St. Peterburg.  This should grab some attention during a very quiet off-season.

The staff at IRLblog would like to wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas.