Hey, dig this: a Y! Sports/From The Marbles exclusive! Those of you who dig the open-wheel racing, this is your day: Versus will be airing tons of IZOD IndyCar racing over the 2011 season, and we’ve got your details.
Versus is going to broadcast 12 races of the season, starting next month with the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Combined with a weekly studio show, Versus will be airing more than 140 hours of IndyCar material, with the races all in HD. Also included: coverage of eight Firestone Indy Lights races to see the open-wheel stars of tomorrow. (Or perhaps NASCAR stars. You never know.)
And while open-wheel and NASCAR fans tend to divide into two camps, there’s at least one face familiar to NASCAR fans who says there’s no need to decide between the two.
"Racing is racing, and motorsports fans are motorsports fans," says Wally Dallenbach, TNT studio analyst who’ll be serving as an analyst on Versus as well. "This is good racing, and people are going to love that. IndyCar is making all the right moves." Bob Jenkins will be handling play-by-play for the series, while Dallenbach and Beekhuis will be the color men.
NASCAR fans who love to scream about the lack of broadcast offerings for pre- and post-race coverage will look upon Versus’ offerings with a twinge of jealousy. There’ll be plenty of qualifying coverage, race replays, and more than 17 hours of qualifying events leading up to the Indy 500. Versus’ IndyCar season will kick off on April 3 with a one-hour "Crashes and Conflicts" special.
Here’s the complete schedule of Versus’ offerings; all times Eastern.
April 10, Barber Motorsports Park, 3:00 p.m.
April 17, Streets of Long Beach, 3:30 p.m.
May 1, Streets of Sao Paulo, 12:00 p.m.
June 11, Texas Motor Speedway, 8:00p.m.
June 25, Iowa Speedway, 8:00 p.m.
July 10, Streets of Toronto, 2:00 p.m.
July 24, Edmonton City Centre Airport, 2:00 p.m.
August 7, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 2:00 p.m.
August 28, Infineon Raceway, 4:00 p.m.
September 4, Streets of Baltimore, 2:00 p.m.
September 17, Twin Ring Motegi, 11:00 p.m.
October 2, Kentucky Speedway, 2:00 p.m.
Y! Sports exclusive: Versus announces major new IndyCar schedule
