TORONTO INDY CAR HISTORY (English version)
A motorsports and Toronto summer tradition began in 1986 at Exhibition Place with the strong backing of Molson Breweries. Today the Honda Indy Toronto trails only the Grand Prix of Long Beach as the second-longest running street race for Indy cars.
Hot off his Indianapolis 500 victory and just over a month removed from the death of Truesports team owner Jim Trueman, Bobby Rahal would win the first race on the streets of Toronto. He would also go on to win the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) championship that season. One famous Canadian by the name of Jacques-Joseph Villeneuve, uncle to the 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve, competed in the first event.
Legendary names of the sport won the first four races with Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr., and Michael Andretti following suit to Rahal the next three years. The 1989 win for Andretti would be his first of seven at Exhibition Place. Additional Canadian drivers to compete on the streets of Toronto during the 1980s were Scott Goodyear (1987, 1989), Ludwig Heimrath, Jr. (1987-1989), and John Jones (1988, 1989).
As back as the late 1960s, several attempts were made to bring a major auto race to central Toronto. Efforts in the late 1970s to hold races at Exhibition Place met fierce opposition from a Parkdale-centric citizens group known as the Anti-Grand Prix Coalition (AGPC) and city councillors like John Sewell”. The AGPC reformed in the spring of 1985 when a proposal from Molson to run a CART Indy-car race gained momentum.
As in the 1970s, the AGPC feared the garbage, noise, pollution, and vandalism such an event could bring. While they failed to stop the race, AGPC succeeded in having the city address their concerns. Toronto City Council approved the race by two votes in July 1985 with several conditions attached: capping attendance at 60,000, a detailed traffic plan, tight noise controls, and the formation of a committee consisting of municipal and Molson officials, police, Parkdalians, and the TTC to oversee the event. Molson received permission for one year to run the race and was responsible for any resurfacing costs.
For two weeks in May 1986, there was a jurisdictional spat between CART and international sanctioning body FISA (Fédération Internationale de Sport Automobile), from which it split away in the late 1970s. FISA ordered its Canadian affiliate CASC (Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs) not to sanction the race and suspend any member drivers who participated. Once threats of legal action ended that tantrum, the operators of the Indianapolis 500 received a temporary injunction from the Supreme Court of Ontario prohibiting Molson from using the term “Indy” in event advertising. A week before the race, the court ruled in favour of Molson as it wasn’t satisfied that the Indianapolis Speedway would suffer irreparable brand damage and had used the “Indy” name for other Canadian races.
Back in Parkdale, residents prepared themselves for the three-day event, which began on July 18, 1986. The AGPC was satisfied with the consultations they had with the City and Molson but kept their guard up. One benefit quickly pleased them: the special attention police paid to illegal parkers. With only 3,000 spots available near the course, there were nightmares regarding traffic chaos despite pleas from race organizers to take transit.
Though the hum of Indy cars bounced off apartment buildings, an army of decibel meters revealed levels no worse than passing buses—AGPC official Bart Poesiat admitted to the Star that the race was less sonically disruptive than the annual CHIN picnic. Some residents profited by renting out their driveways and yards as parking spots, with rates as high as $10 per vehicle along Tyndall Avenue.
Apart from long waits by spectators to use the walkway to reach the inner section of the track and a first-lap exit by Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve, the first Molson Indy was viewed as a success.
WINNERS
2023: Christian Luundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)
2022: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
2019: Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
2018: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
2017: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
2016: Will Power (Team Penske)
2015: Josef Newgarden (CFH Racing)
2014: Mike Conway (Ed Carpenter Racing Race 2)
2014: Sebastien Bourdais (KV Racing Technology Race 1)
2013: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Race 2)
2013: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Race 1)
2011:Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
2010: Will Power (Penske Racing)
2009: Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
2007:Will Power (Walker Racing)
2006: A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe Racing)
2005: Justin Wilson (RuSPORT)
2004: Sebastien Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing)
2003: Paul Tracy (Forsythe Racing)
2002: Christiano da Matta (Newman/Haas Racing)
2001: Michael Andretti (Team Green)
1999: Dario Franchitti (Team Green)
1998: Alex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)
1997: Mark Blundell (PacWest Racing)
1996: Adrian Fernandez (Tasman Motorsports
1995: Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas Racing)
1994: Michael Andretti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
1993: Paul Tracy (Penske Racing)
1992: Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas Racing)
1991: Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas Racing)
1990: Al Unser Jr. (Galles/KRACO Racing)
1989: Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas Racing)
1988: Al Unser Jr. (Galles Racing)
1987: Emerson Fittipaldi (Patrick Racing)
1986: Bobby Rahal (Truesports)
