Editor's note: Dale Harrigle, chief engineer for Bridgestone America’s Motorsports and manager of race tire development, highlights the upcoming Verizon IndyCar Series season in "The Engineers' Spin" -- a monthly behind-the-scenes look at Firestone Racing's program from the perspective of the people that make the tires roll.

All of us at Firestone Racing are extremely excited that the long preseason is over and it is finally time to go racing.

We all are looking forward to the first event of the season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where the long-awaited aero kits will make their competition debut. But first, we had two days of testing at Barber Motorsports Park – testing that will set the stage for the road course events early in the season.

One unique quality of the aero kits is that, for the first time in over a decade, the Verizon IndyCar Series will have two cars that look completely different on the track at the same time. I had my first chance to really study the aero kits in detail at the Barber Open Test, and I think everyone has to agree that the different visual approaches taken by Honda and Chevrolet will provide a source of endless technical speculation all season long.

One very interesting facet that we have yet to see or test is the alternate tire and its relationship with the new cars – that will happen for the first time next week at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We frequently talk about the “gap” between the primary tire and the alternate tire, defined as how much faster the alternate tires are than the primary. The additional downforce from the aero kits is going to change the gap, giving the teams an additional unknown going into the weekend.

All things considered, it’s a great time to be an IndyCar fan. The new aero kits bring an interesting technical aspect to the series, along with a number of notable changes to driver lineups, team management and engineer pairings all across the series.  It will be very interesting to see which of those pairings can jell the fastest and bring results early in the season. This might be a year that favors the problem-solving ability of an experienced driver and engineer team, or it could be a year that a very talented rookie can make lots of noise. After all, a rookie doesn’t know or care what the car used to feel like last year. But one thing is for sure – Firestone will be right in the heat of the action all season.

Finally, with the Firestone Grand Prix a week away, I would like to invite any and all fans who are attending the race to take part in the Firestone Grand Prix 5K presented by Modern Business Associates and Benefitting All Children’s Hospital on Friday, March 27 at 7:15 p.m.  A number of us from Firestone will be running this year, along with INDYCAR staff and race fans.

Last year, I found it to be great way to experience the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg track from an up-close and personal perspective.  Advanced registration is $25 (includes race entry and T-shirt) with registration $30 the day of the race.  Sign up at www.racersignup.com.

Funds raised will be donated to All Children's Hospital, which provides expert pediatric care for children and families from all across the state of Florida and beyond.

Get more information about the science and engineering that goes into producing the Firestone Firehawk tires for the demanding Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, visit www.FirestoneRacing.com.