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photo: Dan Helrigel

The Firestone Indy Lights double header and IndyCar Series opener were less than uneventful this weekend in St. Petersburg.  With the exception of Friday morning the weather was stellar and the race conditions were optimal.  Versus did a great job of showcasing downtown St. Petersburg during the race coverage and showing off the location of the course.  They really sold the town to the viewers.

The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was full of surprises.  Graham Rahal, who seemed to be one of the favorites amongst the locals won the pole.  Unfortunately when the IndyCar Series took the green flag Sunday afternoon, Rahal was involved in a turn one incident as the field of cars, 3 and 4 wide in some places, had to bottle neck to make it from the runway onto the city streets.  That incident ended the day for rookie Mike Conway of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.  That is a tough start to the 09 season with Dad’s Root Beer on board as a sponsor.

Danica and Raphael Matos got into each other headed into turn 12 on lap 31.  Everyone in the stands waited for the drama to unfold.  A what appeared to be calm and collective Danica Patrick emerged from the car.  As Matos and Danica waited for the safety vehicle to give them a ride back to pit lane.  They CALMLY voiced their point of views of what had just taken place.  The fans were waiting to see Danica catch a tantrum or throw a fit, but to everyones surprise it was just the opposite.  

One of the big stories of the race had to have been Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Here we have a driver who lost his ride last season and was out of the seat up until about a week ago.  He recorded Vision Racing’s best finish ever finishing 2nd.  That is great for someone who had to jump in and set up a street course car in 3 days.  I am for one anxious to see how he does at Vision this season.  

Who is Junior Strous?  That’s what everyone was asking over the course of the weekend.  That was of course until he won both races of the Firestone Indy Lights double-header.  Strous is a rookie from the Netherlands that used to run in the Champ car Atlantic Series.  He ran a strong and consistant two races.  He is proved that himself along with The Winners Circle Group should be a force to be reckoned with on the road and street courses.  I would not count him out on the ovals either.  Strous was 6th fastest at the Homestead-Miami open test in February.  I am excited to see how this Firestone Indy Lights rookie does this season.

You can watch the Firestone Indy Lights highlights tonight on Versus at  6p.m. and a re-air of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 10 p.m.

Good Morning from Homestead Miami Speedway where we are on day 2 of open testing.  The rookies and veterans of the Firestone Indy Lights took to the track at 9 a.m. and are scheduled to run up until 3:45 p.m.  Then it will be time for the IndyCars to take to the 1.5 mile oval.  Rookie Pippa Mann is continuing to show she has what it takes to run in the Firestone Indy Lights She is currently running the second fastest speed of the day behind Ali Jackson  of Guthrie Mayer Racing.  Bruno Junqueira might make a surprise visit at Dale Coyne driving at tonights IndyCar open test.  Members of Dale Coyne Racing could not confirm at this time.  The IndyCar teams are hard at work preparing the cars to run at tonights test.  They will join Robert Doornbos, Mike Conway, Raphael Matos, and Stanton Barrett who tested late into the evening last night.  Check back to IRLblog.com during the course of the day for more updates from Homestead.

photo: www.Grand-am.com

Well, by this time I am sure everyone knows that Buddy Rice will not be returning to Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.  D&R signed Mike Conway of Britain last week.  Curt Cavin of the Indy Star stated here that Robbie Buhl made it clear that Buddy Rice will not be returning to D&R.  This was a surprise to all since Dad’s Root Beer had announced last year that they would be sponsoring D&R in the 2009 season.  However, not all is lost.  Buddy Rice had a fantastic drive this past weekend at the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona, driving for Brumos Porsche.  He lead all through the late night early morning hours.  Buddy Rice has joined an elite group that have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Rolex 24. After a strong drive this previous weekend, hopefully sponsors out there will step forward and help put Buddy in a car for the 2009 IndyCar season.