It drew in fans from all over the state and country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tara and Taylor Davenport, a mother and daughter who traveled from Naples to watch the races, also bought paddock passes because they wanted to get a \u201cbehind-the-scenes look at everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_4888-2-scaled.jpg\")
Hordes of people flooded the racetrack shortly before the IndyCar race started. They were able to walk between the cars in starting positions and take photos with their favorite drivers.\u00a0Photo by Julia Birdsall | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n
They told The Crow\u2019s Nest that they have been fans of various motorsport series \u2014 first Formula 1, then IndyCar \u2014 for about 6 years and 2026 marks their second year attending the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really enjoy motorsport in general, but we love IndyCar,\u201d Taylor Davenport said. \u201cBut it\u2019s just cool to be in the middle of everything and kind of seeing what the mechanics are doing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aakash Karvir, a high school senior from North Carolina, has always loved motorsports and wanted to see a race before his graduation in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His dad granted his wish and even bought pit and paddock passes so that Karvir, who enjoys photography, could document everything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to be this close to the cars and in the paddock, watching him [Dennis Hauger] roll by every day has been pretty cool,\u201d Karvir told The Crow\u2019s Nest on the second day of the Grand Prix. \u201cAnd I\u2019m surprised. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to get this close and\u2026 reach over and touch the car.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karvir, similarly, to the Davenports, became fans of IndyCar through Formula One (F1), a prominent international open-wheel racing series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karvir noted that IndyCar is much more interactive than F1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t let you get this close and it\u2019s much harder to get pit access and paddock access \u2014 from what I\u2019ve heard, at least,\u201d Karvir said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of what I was expecting [from IndyCar], but I\u2019m glad it\u2019s like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taylor Davenport emphasized his sentiment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been to a few Formula One races\u2026 unless you have thousands of dollars, you\u2019re not getting access like this,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The appreciation for these aspects of IndyCar shows, as the Davenports noted, that the IndyCar fanbase has grown exponentially.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[The 2026 St. Petersburg Grand Prix] feels busier, which is great,\u201d Tara Davenport said. \u201cI feel like people are becoming more interested.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The introduction of the NASCAR truck series helped with this, bringing in many new fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Firestone-2026-Saturday-Trucks-03-scaled.jpg\")
NASCAR Truck Series drivers interact with fans and sign autographs at a pre-race introduction.\u00a0
Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n
Connor Stone, a USF alum, and Bella Molinari, a USF St. Petersburg psychology senior, both attended the St. Petersburg Grand Prix for the first time on the race\u2019s opening day and said that they would be willing to attend in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They enjoyed the \u201cSunday tailgate\u201d feel of the races.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it introduces people to other people,\u201d Molinari told The Crow\u2019s Nest. \u201cAnd I think it brings people together to experience things together like this, create like a community or like a club, that type of thing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kaitlyn Bears, who has been attending the St. Petersburg Grand Prix since she was a child, noticed this as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before the races, Bears told The Crow\u2019s Nest that one does not have to know anything about racing to enjoy the Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you just go and sit in the stands, I bet you somebody next to you will sit there and teach you or show you or tell you the rules,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s super friendly and they want the sport to grow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Krieger had this exact experience when she attended for the first time in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, when I had no clue what was going on, some guy mid-race was like, \u2018Oh, this is what this means,\u2019 and started explaining everything to me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a super great atmosphere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The community-building aspect is an upside of sports as a whole, Taylor Davenport said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Firestone-2026-Sunday-359-scaled.jpg\")
One driver may have won the race, but he had a whole team behind him that ensured he did so.\u00a0
Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n
Karvir agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come from all over to come watch,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard different languages, all sorts of stuff. So, it\u2019s a really cool way to bring a lot of different people together that share common interests, like racing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even drivers contribute to the welcoming atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my favorite memories was meeting James Hinchcliffe,\u201d Bears said. \u201cI was like, thanking him for taking a photo. He\u2019s like, \u2018No. Thank you for attending and thank you for coming every year.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 44
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/f94f24cfe5bb3ee0cee96d090f60b035.png\")
<\/a>
Written by: Alisha Durosier<\/a> on March 9, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many new figures stepped onto the racing scene, such as IndyCar rookies and former Formula series drivers Mick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-184319","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\/184319","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=184319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}