{"id":173557,"date":"2026-03-01T04:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173557\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T04:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:58:06","slug":"firestone-grand-prix-of-st-pete-opens-indycar-season-with-speed-and-unforgettable-souvenirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173557\/","title":{"rendered":"Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete opens IndyCar season with speed and unforgettable souvenirs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As crews mount 1,100 tires for the 22nd annual downtown race, some fans leave with more than memories.<\/p>\n<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Day two of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtsp.com\/article\/entertainment\/events\/2026-firestone-grand-prix-st-pete-date-tickets\/67-e473190c-5516-4d70-aabb-feba4ab3de74\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete<\/a> wrapped up Saturday evening, marking the 22nd consecutive running of the downtown tradition and the opening race weekend of the IndyCar season.<\/p>\n<p>The main event is set for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. along the nearly two-mile waterfront course that winds around Albert Whitted St. Petersburg Municipal Airport. The race is expected to run two and a half to three hours.<\/p>\n<p>Behind the scenes, preparation is measured in grams.<\/p>\n<p>Crews will mount and balance about 1,100 Firestone tires over the course of the weekend for the 25 cars competing, most running 10 sets per car. Each tire is carefully fitted, inflated and balanced before it ever touches the track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday we are going to mount and then balance a tire. Are you ready to work?\u201d Mark Williamson, service crew manager for Firestone asked 10 Tampa Bay News reporter Annie Krall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am ready Mark,\u201d Krall replied.<\/p>\n<p>After mounting the tire, filling it with air and putting a cap on it, the subsequent pops that come from the tire getting set into place mean it&#8217;s ready to be balanced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we balance within three grams,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that actually mean when you say balance?\u201d Krall asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you go to the grocery store and you&#8217;ve got a shopping cart that&#8217;s got the little bump on the wheel and it goes thump, thump, well imagine that at 150 or 160 mph,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n<p>For some young fans, the weekend\u2019s takeaways extend beyond autographs and photos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe asked, can we have these tires? He was like: \u2018Do whatever you want.\u2019 So we just grabbed two tires and we got them,\u201d Alexander Macko, 10, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was nice of him to do. I like them a lot,\u201d Alexander added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would just keep them in my room or somewhere in my house,\u201d Deegan Gollnitz, 14, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just love seeing all the cars and watching them go around the track. Just having a great time,\u201d Daniel Macko, 14, said.<\/p>\n<p>Tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend the qualifier and finale festivities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Organizers recommend arriving early, as parking is available at the now-transformed Albert Whitted St. Petersburg Municipal Airport.<\/p>\n<p>A full race guide is available with ticket information by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtsp.com\/article\/entertainment\/events\/2026-firestone-grand-prix-st-pete-date-tickets\/67-e473190c-5516-4d70-aabb-feba4ab3de74\" id=\"isPasted\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n2026 Firestone Grand Prix parking                    <\/p>\n<p>Parking is available for $30 at Tropicana Field Lots 6 and 7. Enter the lots at 3rd Avenue South and Dr. MLK Jr. Street S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Payment must be made through credit card, as cash is not accepted. A free shuttle service will run from Tropicana Field to the Grand Prix event site.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0USF St. Pete garage\u00a0is recommended for those with limited mobility looking to enter the event at 5th Avenue S (Gate 5).<\/p>\n<p>The SouthCore garage\u00a0is recommended for those looking to enter the event at 1st Avenue S (Gate 1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As crews mount 1,100 tires for the 22nd annual downtown race, some fans leave with more than memories.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-173557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}