INDY CARS FIRE UP THE STREETS; LIGHTNING CAPTAIN GRAND MARSHALL

St. Petersburg, Fl. (RSEN)– The fastest spring party was in full swing today on the streets of beautiful downtown St. Pete.   The IZOD Indy Car Series practice was held in the morning with Ryan Hunter-Reay ran the fastest time with an average speed of 101.023.  Hunter-Reay had his first start here on the streets of St. Pete in 2003 running the Champ Car Series.   He is from South Florida and is currently a member of Andretti Autosport, which he joined last year.

Last year’s points champ, Dario Franchitti finished sixth just 0.0118 seconds behind Hunter-Reay.   Franchitti, who is a front man for Target Chip Ganassi Racing,  finished 5th last year here in St.Pete.   Franchitti is always a favorite when he takes the track.

RSEN catches up with Alex Tagliani on March 8th at the Media Kart Race at Anderson Race Park in Palmetto. (Photo By Rodney Meyering)

Alex Tagliani, who ran 14th in the morning practice, was a key contact in having Vinny Lecavalier accept the role as Honda St. Pete Grand Prix Grand Marshall.  Tagliani, known as “TAG” said on Thursday when RSEN asked about Lecavalier being the Grand Marshall, “Yea, I mean I texted him (Lecavalier) and asked him if he wanted to be the Grand Marshall.  Obviously Tim (Ramsberger, Grand Prix General Manager) and Bill Wickett (Lightning, VP of PR) you know helped me a lot when I was here promoting the race and he (Lecavalier) accepted. The thing was waiting to see if Guy (Boucher, Lightning coach) was going to put a  practice on Sunday. I’m going to watch their game Friday and then they (Lightning) are going to North Carolina Saturday night.  He’s (Lecavalier) will be back on Saturday night.  So I organized a two-seater ride and that’s something he wanted to do.”

Here is the full list with times and speeds.