By: Daniel Vining, dan@thespeedzine.com

Even though the 2011 IndyCar season is still almost two months away, the build up for what could be a stellar season is already underway.  Brian Barnhart, the IndyCar Series Chief Operating Officer, announced today that IndyCars is dropping the Indy Racing League name, in favor of IndyCars, and that starting with the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, restarts will be double-file, stealing a page from the Nascar book.  That, plus all the other previous announcements, including the re-entry of Chevrolet and introduction of Lotus as engine suppliers to the series, put 2011 as a pivotal year and precursor to a very eventful 2012.

If the notion of double-file restarts doesn’t get you excited, maybe a very well produced promotional video from the IndyCars YouTube channel will.