The streets of St. Petersburg will become the third Florida venue to host an IndyCar Series season-opening race when the 2009 season begins April 5 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The IndyCar Series held its inaugural race in 1996 at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando and also opened the season at the facility from 1998-2000.
The series moved its season opener to Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2002 where it conducted seven consecutive season openers. Three drivers dominated those seven races with Dan Wheldon claiming three victories and Scott Dixon and Sam Hornish Jr. each claiming two.
St. Petersburg has been on the IndyCar Series schedule since 2005 when it was the third race of the season. It has been the second race of the year for the last three seasons.
Homestead-Miami Speedway will host the final race of the 2009 season.
A complete look at season openers in Florida, the race winner and the race winner’s final position in the point standings:
Year
Season Opening Track
Race Winner Race Winner’s Championship Standing
2008 Homestead-Miami Speedway Scott Dixon 1st
2007 Homestead-Miami Speedway Dan Wheldon 4th
2006 Homestead-Miami Speedway Dan Wheldon 2nd
2005 Homestead-Miami Speedway Dan Wheldon 1st
2004 Homestead-Miami Speedway Sam Hornish Jr. 7th
2003 Homestead-Miami Speedway Scott Dixon 1st
2002 Homestead-Miami Speedway Sam Hornish Jr. 1st
2000 Walt Disney World Speedway Robbie Buhl 8th
1999 Walt Disney World Speedway Eddie Cheever Jr. 7th
1998 Walt Disney World Speedway Tony Stewart 3rd
1996 Walt Disney World Speedway Buzz Calkins 1st (tie)
