The Indy Racing League kicks off its season this coming weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla., with one of its biggest stars sitting on the sidelines.

With Helio Castroneves wrapped up in a tax evasion trial, Will Power will be behind the wheel of one of Team Penske’s race cars.

Aside from Danica Patrick, Castroneves is probably the most recognized IRL driver in the U.S. In addition to being a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, he captured the “Dancing with the Stars” competition in 2007.

Patrick, defending champion Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Marco Andretti, Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan will all be competing on the street course. Dario Franchitti returns to the IRL with Ganassi Racing after his aborted attempt to compete in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series.

It will be interesting to see how Power performs with Team Penske and Australian teammate Briscoe, and if Dixon can continue his winning ways in 2009.

The return of Franchitti is a plus for the IRL.

Last week Firestone announced that an alternate tire will be available for the race teams on the street and road courses in 2009. The new tire will be carrying a distinctive red stripe so the fans can discern the differences.

The alternate tire features a softer tread that is expected to produce faster lap times, but will be less durable than the regular racing slick.

Each team will be provided with three sets of the “reds” as they are being called, and it has to use them for at least two green flag laps during a race. They are expected to provide more side-by-side racing and more passing.

With the two tire compounds now available, a new element will be added to the race strategy as teams try to determine the best time to use the faster and less durable rubber.

The St. Petersburg race will be telecast at 2 p.m. Sunday on the cable television network Versus. A lingering question will be how many fans tune into the broadcast on the Versus channel.

One has to wonder how many IRL fans even receive the Versus channel signal. Only time will tell. It would have been preferable had the IRL races been broadcast on ESPN or ABC during the season.

In other racing news

• The newly created Champion Racing Association Super Series South Division will stage its inaugural event at Watermelon Capital Speedway this Saturday.

Several big names in southern late model racing are entered for the event including Augie Grill, the winner of last year’s Snowball Derby and the Rattler 250 in March.

Other drivers expected to complete include Ryan Lawler, a former Winchester 400 winner, Chris Gabehart, Stanley Smith, Jeff Fultz, Josh Hamner and Justin Drawdy.

• There is a full weekend of racing planned at Anderson Speedway this weekend. The season opening event for the Street Stocks, Figure-8 , Thunder Cars and Front Wheel Drive division will take place Saturday at 7 p.m.

The USAC National Midgets will be competing in a 100-lap feature event along with a 30-lap feature for the Kenyon Midgets starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Ken de la Bastide may be reached at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com or (765) 454 -8580.