INDIANAPOLIS – On April 5, the IndyCar Series will be back on the racetrack, racing on the scenic streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., at the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The official website of the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights, www.indycar.com, is kicking off the season with a fresh look and expanded features, allowing fans to keep pace with the series all season long.
“The IndyCar Series’ commitment to technology and innovation is on clear display at the newly-designed indycar.com,” said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division for the Indy Racing League, sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. “The redesigned website keeps pace with the very latest in online technology, allowing fans the opportunity to connect with IndyCar Series racing like never before. It will be a wonderful asset for our fans throughout the 2009 season.”
The new site is now live at www.indycar.com and features several exciting upgrades for fans, including:
IndyCar Race Control presented by iRacing.com – Fans Can Choose to “Ride Along” with Their Favorite Drivers – The IndyCar Series’ live Internet broadcasting platform, IndyCar Race Control presented by iRacing.com, will be free to all users in 2009, offering fans unprecedented control over the way they experience IndyCar Series racing online. Using Conviva’s real-time media control platform, IndyCar Race Control delivers an “up close and personal” experience for Indy race fans with multiple high-quality camera feeds, allowing fans to choose the viewing experience or in-car camera that interests them most. Conviva’s open and real-time media control platform will also manage “meta data” feeds of the car speed, RPM, steering, brake and throttle position for every car on the track. Conviva’s Pulse offers the IndyCar Series continuous insight and intelligence into race fans’ viewing experience to ensure the highest quality video, consistent with IndyCar fans’ expectations. The IndyCar Series will be able to monitor, simultaneous to the Internet broadcast, the popularity of various streams within the audience, providing valuable programming information that can be used to improve revenues, viewing times and brand loyalty.
PEAK Motor Oil IndyCar Series Fantasy Racing League – 2009 will mark the first year that the IndyCar Series has hosted a fantasy racing game on its website, open to all fans worldwide, free of charge. Powered by STATS LLC, the PEAK Motor Oil IndyCar Series Fantasy Racing League will be available for both the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights during the 2009 season by registering for free for IndyCar Nation, the official online community of indycar.com. The game brings together the excitement of weekly player selections for both the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. Players will accumulate points based on their driver’s real-life performance and will have the option to upgrade their IndyCar Nation citizenship and redeem those points for prizes from INDY DownForce, the official fan club of the IndyCar Series.
IndyCar.com Media Center: Multimedia at Race Fans’ Fingertips – With the addition of the Indycar.com Media Center, fans will have a central location to visit for all things multimedia. The Media Center, powered by leading sports technology company NeuLion Inc., is an all-in-one online media solution for both the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. Available free-of-charge at indycar.neulion.com, the Media Center uses the latest Adobe Flash technology to deliver popular Up to SPEED segments, race highlights, vintage races, podcasting and all other archived video assets. The Media Center will also provide live online event streaming of IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights practice and qualifying sessions. The Media Center includes an integrated search feature that allows fans to view archived video by searching by driver, track, video title, etc. It also includes a built-in option allowing fans to easily share audio and video clips on their personal Facebook, MySpace, twitter, digg and more than 20 other top social networking sites with the click of a button. This allows fans to easily put IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights content on their sites and share it with their friends.
IndyCar Mobile: Improved On-the-Go Access – The IndyCar Series will unveil an updated IndyCar Mobile service in 2009, powered by July Systems’ industry-leading Mi Channel platform, giving fans improved on-the-go access to IndyCar Series racing. July’s Mi box, a personalized notification service on IndyCar Mobile will provide fans with race, video and event alerts as well as regular IndyCar Series news updates. It also provides instant viral sharing capability, allowing fans to share and receive IndyCar Mobile content with friends with just one click on their mobile device. IndyCar Mobile will continue to provide live timing and scoring information during race weekends, as well as individual driver pages and race action video content. The 2009 IndyCar Mobile platform will be available in time for the season-opening race on the Streets of St. Petersburg on April 5. Fans can opt in by texting the keyword INDYCAR to 234500.
