Over the winter months I have noticed a big increase in followers on twitter and like'rs on Facebook. I could be surmising, but given some disgruntled F1 fans thoughts on the new engines, nose cones, etc (OK some are still pretty split on the DW12 on this side!) so have sought some solace across the pond?

Listed below are a a few good suggestions to check out for news, views, opinions online (both websites and social media). Any active link is blue and will take you to them, as will the pictures.

The list is not exhaustive but just to put you in the right direction hopefully, I will update as we go along so if you see anything you think would be good for the list, tweet me @IndycarUK.

I have a fair few ideas, but put it out to the twitterverse to come up with some of their own suggestions...

Ok so lets things under-way with the official lines...
- Official Website
- On Twitter - @Indycar (Official Account), @IndycarPR (for all your PR desires), and of course #Indycar, a list of event hashtags can be found here.
- On Facebook / Instagram / Youtube

For a view behind the scenes and competitions check out Paddock Insider on Twitter and Instagram

For the latest news, views, reviews and more check out Racer.com, follow them on Twitter and on Facebook too. Oh and if you are an Indycar Nation Champion member, the magazine subscription works out at a very good rate!

Onto radio shows and podcasts. On 1070 The Fan, in Indianapolis (and online) you can catch Trackside with Curt Cavin (Journalist with the Indianapolis Star) and Kevin Lee (NBCSN / IMS Radio). The show airs once a week and is on somewhere between Monday to Thursday, at midnight, give or take and hour! Always best to check with Kevin's twitter feed for times. And those who are not insommiacs, you can subscribe on iTunes. As we head into May, listen out for 'Talk of Gasoline Alley' with IMS Historian Donald Davidson, what he doesn't know about the Indy 500 is not worth knowing!

For news, views, event summaries and podcasts, one of the best out there for Indycar is More Front Wing, on twitter and on Facebook. Now over 100 episodes you can catch their podcast which is also available on iTunes.

Into the blogger world, I could sit here and list them, but hey, it has already been done for us! Check out 'The IndyCar Blogs' for a list of blogs that talk about Indycar as well as general motor sport. The blogs are re-tweeted too on twitter check the #IndycarBlog.

A subscription to Trackside Online is possibly the best $22 out there, plenty of news and information regularly updated live from the track.

In terms of journalists to follow on twitter follow Jenna Fryer, Curt Cavin, Tony DiZinno, Chris Estrada, Nate Ryan and John Oreovicz.

One guy worth following is Matt Archuleta, better recognised as @indy44, an absolute news hound! Normally before the news is even out there! 

As i stated at the beginning, this is not an exhaustive list (nor should it be taken as a ranking or personal preference) but if there is something or someone worth adding, get in touch! Thanks to Megan, Patrick and the Indycar Blog Stig for their contributions!

Juan Pablo Montoya will make his return to single-seater competition this weekend when he lines up for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for Penske.

The Colombian, who has spent the past seven seasons competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup for Chip Ganassi, has not raced an open wheel car since the 2006 United States Grand Prix for McLaren - a race he retired from after he got caught up in a multi-car incident.

Before his Formula One foray, he competed in the CART series for Ganassi, winning the title at his first attempt in 1999 before a switch to a Lola Toyota chassis and engine combination left him ninth in the standings, despite winning three races. He also competed in the Indianapolis 500 that year, and as with his CART title the year before, he won the IRL's showcase event at his first attempt.

Despite his wealth of experience, the Miami resident sees this season as starting a fresh. But although a lot has changed in the 14 years since he last raced in IndyCar, the veteran driver has set his sights firmly on returning to the winner's circle.

"I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve won in everything I’ve driven. I want to win,” he told indycar.com. “If you’re not in a winning car, there’s no point. At this point in my career, I cannot waste my time.”
 
Teamed with Helio Castroneves and Will Power who have both challenged for the title in recent years, there is no doubt Montoya has been given a car to win and Montoya is certain that the team is in the best possible position to deliver Roger Penske another IndyCar crown

"Helio is really strong on ovals and Will is good on road and street courses." He said. "I think Roger deserves the championship. The last three or four years they were close in the championship but just couldn’t close it, so with the addition of myself we can work together really well."

All three Penske drivers set top 10 times in the recent test at Barber Motorsports park, with Montoya less than a second off Power who set the pace. 
 
Power, who himself is a three-time series runner up, expects Montoya to be on the pace this season.

"Montoya brings some good ideas; he’s very quick so it’s only help for us" said the Australian. "This series, he could win the first race quite easily. I expect him to definitely drive to the front everywhere, so if you’re at the front knocking on the door, eventually you’re going to get a win".

And, with Montoya's vast experience, there's little doubt he'll be up to speed and running at the front soon. As for race wins, the question is not if, but when he'll return to victory lane.

As the Verizon IndyCar series enters its final build up to the opening race of 2014 there’s a familiar name missing from the timing sheets and entry lists. It’s a name that has become synonymous with IndyCar and success over the years… so why is it also a name that many Brit’s have never heard of?

With four IndyCar Championships, three Indy 500 victories, 31 race wins and 32 pole position awards, Dario Franchitti’s name is rightly etched in the record books alongside the likes of Unser, Andretti, Foyt and Jones et al. Yet outside of the IndyCar community and his native Scottish home, his name will largely elicit blank stares. Because thanks to very poor media coverage here in Britain, Dario’s name has never become as renowned and revered as those of his own motor racing heroes, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.

Even compatriot David Coulthard became a household name during his long but largely under-achieving F1 career. Yet Dario’s wins have been woefully under reported and celebrated here in the UK. I understand and appreciate that Formula One will always be seen as the pinnacle of motorsport but the absence of an F1 drive from Dario’s CV doesn't diminish his achievements. It certainly doesn't warrant the rather contemptuous way the UK media have treated him. For example, the day after he won his third Indy500 my newspaper ran a two page spread about Australian Mark Webber winning the Monaco GP. Yet a British winner of the biggest motorsport spectacle in the world was given a tiny insert and blurred pictured in the bottom corner - which was in itself more than I expected. And while Dario did a huge week long media tour in the USA, he wasn’t even featured on UK television and not a single interview was performed.

Indeed the only time Dario has made mainstream UK news was following his horrendous, career ending crash in Houston. But rather typically these reports chose to totally ignore all he’d achieve and focused instead on repeated, sensationalised footage of the accident. Seemingly mixed with a competition to see how many different mispronunciations they could make of his name. Shockingly one channel even thought it was suitable to run footage of his close friend Dan Wheldon’s fatal crash at Las Vegas, barely a week before his memorial. 

The same people who exploited Dario’s accident in the immediate aftermath never once gave updates on his progress or wrote a single word about his subsequent retirement either. No retrospective celebration of his career in the sports pages, no touching tribute on the yearly sports round up at the BBC’s SPOTY. Would it really have been so hard for the UK to acknowledge one of our most successful British racing drivers of recent times?

Thankfully, whilst the UK media may have overlooked Dario, in spite of the often poor coverage, a large core of IndyCar fans here in Blighty have acknowledged, celebrated and enjoyed Dario’s career - myself very much included.

I personally first saw Dario race in his Formula FVJ/Lotus days, way back when we were both just teenagers. Following his McLaren Autosport Young Driver award and Formula Three season, I followed his career to DTM with Mercedes. I was greatly indebted to my neighbours at the time who, whilst working away, allowed me to ‘borrow’ their newly installed satellite. So using a very crude method of a cable running from their ASTRA box to my TV, via open windows, I was able to enjoy two years of cracking action from the DTM/ITC championship! 

Watching Dario going wheel to wheel with Bernd Schneider, Klaus Ludwig etc. as well as fellow ‘young guns’ at the time, Jaun Pablo Montoya and Jan Magnusson was well worth the occasionally soggy carpet when it rained. I still have vivid memories of Dario hitting and totally obliterating a hare at the Nurburgring, which eventually ruined his race as the tiny bones clogged up the engine. Fortunately the RC model I still have of his C-Class Merc is authentic in every way apart from the hare guts! 

Of course I continued to follow Dario’s career when he made the move to America for IndyCar with Hogan Racing in 97, even finally getting my own satellite TV installed in order to watch Eurosport’s rather shaky coverage. It didn’t bode well reading about Dario’s first test on an oval track, when he jumped straight out of the car and promptly fell over from the dizziness. Who’d have thought then that he would go on to win the Indy 500 three times?

During those early days in Indy/CART Dario would write a diary on his website following each race. As I didn’t have internet at home then, each post-race Wednesday I would visit my library’s swanky new tech centre to sneakily download Dario’s missives onto floppy disc for later perusal. And yes, I do re-read them even now, still laughing at tales of Zanardi’s Pasta parties and Montoya’s pink leather motorhome.

As well as satellite TV and internet, I also have Dario to thank for being able to combine my love of travel and motorsport too, attending the fabulous Surfers Paradise race in Australia twice. They certainly didn't call it the Indy-Carnival for nothing. I have such fantastic memories of both events, from sun, sea, sand and Mariachi Bands to Austin Powers, hugs from Barry Green, hiding from Bobby Rahal and an offer of a cigar I almost couldn't refuse…but that’s another story! All in all they were hugely enjoyable experiences that I will remember to my dying day. 

Sadly I never got the chance to see Dario race in the USA, something I deeply regret now. In fact the last time I saw him race was at the purpose built UK oval circuit in Rockingham back in 2002, which was to be his last ChampCar win.

I’ve continued to follow the many ups and downs throughout Dario’s career though. Celebrating the incredibly proud highs of close run, hard fought championships and Indy 500 wins. Enduring the tedious political turmoil and inevitable injury frustrations. And sadly coping with the soul crushing, heart-breaking lows of losing friends to this sometimes fickle sport we love…

It has certainly been quite a journey but one I wouldn’t have missed for the world. However, I’m just deeply saddened that it’s a journey so many people have missed out on. Britain should be ashamed of itself for how it’s shunned and overlooked Dario Franchitti.

Much of the UK media and general public may have missed your career Dario but the IndyCar community and fans didn't and we will greatly miss seeing you out on track at St Pete’s. Good luck in this new chapter of your career and above all…

Thank you from the people who always did know your name and always will. 


You can follow Johanna on Twitter