Indy Racing League (IRL) Tickets - Revving Up for 2009 Series

The men and women of the IRL are ready to start their engines for the beginning of the 2009 IndyCar Series that kicks off on April 5, 2009 at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race in St. Petersburg, Florida, but April is still far away for many racing aficionados holding Indy Racing League (IRL) tickets. All has not been quiet on the IndyCar front since Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon snagged the IndyCar Series title in 2008, and 2009 has already brought several changes from last year's racing league.
In the 2008 IndyCar Series, Scott Dixon edged out Helio Castroneves for a first place finish on the season, while Tony Kanaan came in a close third and Dan Wheldon and Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five, respectively. Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Oriol Servia and Hideki Mutoh finished in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth (respectively) in 2008, and while all these drivers set their sights on the 2009 series title, quite a few things have changed in the last several months, putting a brand new spin on things in the upcoming racing season.
First and foremost, Team Penske's No. 3 driver Helio Castroneves is still an iffy prospect to racing in this year's IndyCar Series, as he is currently tied up in legal woes battling the Miami judicial system after being accused of tax evasion. Aussie Will Power is set to take the reins for Castroneves in his absence, and the fate of these two drivers for Team Penske still hinges on the outcome of this lawsuit. Penske's other driver Ryan Briscoe, in the meantime, is staying consistent with his testing, leading the rest of the IRL in speed after a two-day testing period at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in February.
Coming in second after the two-day testing run at the end of February was defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, whose racing position with Target Chip Ganassi Racing still stands solid. The Chip Ganassi team endured some changes after the 2008 season, however, losing Dan Wheldon to Panther Racing in the offseason while gaining Dario Franchitti, winner of the 2007 IndyCar Series who briefly left the IRL in 2008 for a stint with NASCAR before coming back to open-wheel racing. The Franchitti-Dixon double-threat is expected to be a powerful force on the IRL scene for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, but that's not the only team roaring toward a fierce start to the season.
Andretti Green Racing welcomes back drivers Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick, all of whom were top 10 finishers in the 2008 championships and have been active in the offseason. Patrick especially has been the vixen of media coverage since having an explosive year in 2008, and she has recently made a splash as one of the handpicked female figures posing for the 2009 swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
Andretti Green looks to go strong into 2009, and another team ready to spice things up in the upcoming months is KV Racing Technology, which recently picked up Brazilian driver Mario Moraes. Moraes raced with Dale Coyne Racing in his inaugural IRL season last year, and he looks to be an absolute asset to KV in '09. Fellow Brazilian Vitor Meira also made team changes over the past year, switching from Panther Racing to A.J. Foyt Enterprises, where he will spend 2009 trying to beat his 13th overall standing from last year.
While several changes have taken place over the last year with the IndyCar Series of the Indy Racing League (IRL), one thing remains consistent: these 29 drivers of the open-wheel racing league are revved up and ready to go for the 2009 season, so get racing tickets online and head down to the nearest speedway for a taste of this year's high-flying IRL action.
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