The Honda Indy Toronto (Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto)

Street racing (safely of course) finally meets city streets. The Honda Indy Toronto is a 2.84km (1.755 mile), 11 turn temporary street course located in Downtown Toronto. The track itself is constructed throughout and around the Exhibition Place grounds and uses Lake Shore Boulevard as the backstretch. 

Street racing in Toronto has a long history, with the first street race (ever!) taking place in Toronto in 1986. Records were set during these races that would still be recognized years later down the road. In 1996, Andre Ribeiro set the fastest pole speed with an average speed of 110.616 miles per hour (registered on the streets of Toronto). In 1999, Gil de Ferran set the fastest pole time (registered on the streets of Toronto) with a lap of 57.143 seconds. Past winners proudly represent eight different countries around the world including: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, Great Britain, Scotland, France, and Australia. 

Many big names in the industry have (over the years) contributed to the event through partnerships. These include the following companies: Honda, Honda Motorcycle, Honda Power Equipment, Honda Marine, Acura, Honda Ontario, Cooper Tires, Tim Hortons, CAA, Pinty’s, Food Dudes, Pizza Pizza, Coca Cola, Miller Lite, CDW Canada, OLG, Sportsnet, Metrolinx, GO, Petro Canada, YTV, Commissionaires, Toronto Sun, Driving.ca, Entripy.com, Performance Publications Media Group, Hotel X Toronto, Good in Every Grain, William Ashley, Black Magic, Exhibition Place, Safety Kleen, the City of Toronto, Levitt Safety, and Service Ontario.  

So the next time you’re planning a trip to Toronto, why don’t you make it a priority to see the Exhibition Place in Downtown, because let’s be real, isn’t it every gear heads dream to be able to say they stepped foot on a race track? 

Paul Tracy – “the thrill from West Hill”

Paul Tracy is a big name in this event as he was the only Canadian to ever win on the streets of Toronto, having victories in both 1993 and 2003, including his Indy Lite win in 1990. Paul Anthony Tracy was born in Scarborough, Ontario on December 17, 1968. His love and fascination for cars and racing in general date back to when he was a child where he would race go karts at Goodwood Kartways near his home town until the age of 16. At the age of 16, unlike the average 16 year old can say, Tracy became the youngest ever Canadian Formula Ford champion. A year later he won the final Can-Am race in series history, also claiming the title of the youngest winner in Can-Am history. 

Fast forward a couple of years to 2005 – a year that Tracy is bound to never forget. Throughout the years leading up to this one, Tracy continued to win and set records in the races he competed in and although he started off the 2005 season strong – leading the point standings after five races AND winning at Milwaukee and Cleveland – his winning streak broke and spiraled downward at an alarming rate. While racing in Toronto (where he had the lead) he ran out of fuel and crashed on his own while leading at Denver. In Las Vegas, a hard crash with Sébastien Bourdais ended his championship hopes and landed him in 4th place in the standings for the second year in a row. 

Although there were gaps in Tracy’s racing years (2002, 2008-2011), 2011 was the year that he decided enough was enough. Unfortunately it was a tragic incident that he witnessed and was involved in that led him to make this decision but by then he had lived out his and many more racing dreams and had lots of awards and records to his name. 

It was Sunday October 16, 2011 when Paul Tracy was making his way around the track at the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This day would go down in history but not for the reasons that many people may think. It only took a few minutes into the competition for this race to become known later on as the “worst IndyCar Wreck ever”. 

As the cars raced past one another, barely missing the wall from the fast turns that needed to be made, a pile started that caused cars to plow into each other one after the other. Peter Cunningham’s car swerved, clipping J.R Hildebrand’s – the start of a very tragic chain reaction. Cunningham swerved to avoid hitting any other part of the car, causing Hildebrand to roll over the rear of that car, going airborne in a matter of seconds. On his way toward the wall at the side of the track, Cunningham hit two more cars and at that point the middle and upper parts of the track had wreckage and debris littered all over it as drivers of damaged cars tried to avoid more damage, hoping that the drivers behind them could get through safer than they had. 

Unfortunately the next set of drivers had no time to react when they saw what was in front of them and ultimately ended up adding to the carnage already there before them. Vitor Meira took out two more cars causing Paul Tracy to run up on Tomas Scheckter’s ride, and Pippa Mann went over the top. The wreckage, which at this point involved 15 cars, was nowhere near over. Dan Wheldon was slowing down to the best of his capabilities – a seemingly impossible task to do when travelling at speeds of at least 220 miles per hour – but was too close to avoid being involved. His No. 77 car climbed up the back of Charlie Kimball’s car (which had been hit by Meira) and went airborne high on the track. The car began rolling mid air and hit the catch fence cockpit-first. 

Two were pronounced dead two hours later at a local hospital, however Wheldon was almost certainly lifeless by the time his car fell back to the track – littered with cars on fire or otherwise heavily damaged. 

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I have included the link to the video of the crash in this blog post however viewer discretion is advised. 

Hope for the Future

Tracy has been fighting ever since for the improvement of safety in the sport in general – the best way he believes to honour Dan Wheldon. Unlike the others who are pushing for covered cockpits and closed wheels, Tracy believes the real issue lies in the trackside fencing – the part of the accident that he is convinced killed Dan Wheldon. In an interview in Phoenix, Tracy was quoted saying “Really what injured him was getting into the fencing, getting stuck in the fencing….The car gets tangled up in the fencing, the parts get tangled, and it really shreds the car apart. We’ve done so much in the past 10 years… in improving the car. The one thing that has still stayed the same is how the fencing is, and the poles, and the cables, and the wires.” 

The addition of an enclosure around the cars’ open cockpits is also back on the table in wake of Wheldon’s death and although IndyCar says it will consider how it can improve safety, the Formula One circuit has been considering it for some time. They suggest a new protective device that would in theory be added to the driver’s helmet where it meets the visor. 

The reason many people are not supportive of the closed cockpit is because it is seen as a barrier between the driver and race fans, not to mention potentially causing visibility issues, evacuation concerns and claustrophobia issues for the driver as well. 

Tracy has decided however, regardless of what happens that Weldon’s death is making him seriously consider early retirement.