Honda Indy Toronto

[DanicaFan]

10 of 17

Race - Honda Indy Toronto

Location - Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date - July 12th

TV Schedule - 1pm Eastern - ABC

Course Type - 1.721 Mile Road Course

Distance - 85 Laps / 146.285 Miles

Qualifications - July 11th - 2:05-3:35 pm Eastern

Indy Car Inaugural Event

[DanicaFan]

A little track history...

This will be the inaugural event for the IndyCar Series. The first time for the series at this track. This track was used by ChampCar from 1986-2007. Andretti Green Promotions purchased the assets to this race back in May, 2008 and Honda came aboard in September. This allowed the race to be part of the 2009 schedule.

There will be 4 former winners at this track in this race. Those drivers and the years they won are..

1. Paul Tracy - 1993, 2003
2. Dario Franchitti - 1999
3. Justin Wilson - 2005
4. Will Power - 2007

Now, Michael Andretti, Danica's race strategist won here 7 times. This will be a big help to her. Michael won here in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, and 2001.

[Taprobane]

Yeah but he was a good driver :P

My bet is on Conway...

(actually it's not, it's on Justin Wilson making it two in two, it's a hopeful one but why not?)

[DanicaFan]

My money is on Danica to win this race.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

My money is on Danica to win this race.

You have got to be kidding

Scott Dixon to win & Mike Conway will be at least 2 places higher than Patrick

[racerkeke]

A little more history... On driver's right near the Ontario Place pedestrian bridge approach (up on the hill) is a brass plaque. It commemorates the accident here in 1996 that claimed the life of a driver (Jeff Krosnoff) and a corner worker (Gary Avrin), and injured two other corner workers.

I remember them every year.
keke

[DanicaFan]

Here is the entry list for this race..

Car # & Driver / Car Name / Team

#2 Raphael Matos / US Marines Luczo Dragon Racing / Luczo Dragon Racing
#3 Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske
#4 Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing
#5 Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology-Votorantim / KV Racing Technology
#6 Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske
#7 Danica Patrick / Boost Mobile-Motorola / Andretti Green Racing
#9 Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#10 Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#11 Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven-Nestle Pure Life / Andretti Green Racing
#12 Will Power / Penske Truck Rental / Penske Racing
#13 EJ Viso / PDVSA HVM Racing / HVM Racing
#14 Ryan Hunter-Reay / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises
#15 Paul Tracy / Ontario Honda Dealers-woundedwarriers.ca / KV Racing Technology
#18 Justin Wilson / Z-Line Designs / Dale Coyne Racing
#20 Ed Carpenter / Vision-Williams Rast-Lilly Racing / Vision Racing
#23 Tomas Scheckter / Mona Vie-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#24 Mike Conway / Valspar-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26 Marco Andretti / NYSE-ishares / Andretti Green Racing
#27 Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream / Andretti Green Racing
#34 Alex Tagliani / King Tut-Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing
#98 Richard Antinucci / Novicomm LED Lighting Technology / CURB-Agajanian Team 3G
#02 Graham Rahal / McDonald's Racing Team / Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing
#06 Robert Doornbos / Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing / Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing

[Jay]

I'm concerned about some of the things I've been hearing about this event... Apparently Andretti-Green racing have really been cheaping out on a lot of things, and the biggest concern is run off area - or rather the lack thereof at the end of Lakeshore and some of the other straights. The word from one of the marshalls is that the track has not been configured to the same safety standards as in the past, and some of them are worried about what could happen if someone overshoots turn 3. Apparently there are other organisational messes as well. Perhaps someone can confirm/deny this...

This will be the first year since 1997 that I haven't attended the event. Our grandstand was removed, and the next best ticket prices were nearly double what we payed in the past...the price of the paddock passes was also increased substantially. I suppose if you want to see the old-CART drivers, it would be a good event to attend, but the IRL product is so inferior to the former Champ Car/CART product(IMO) on street circuits, that I can't be bothered.

Interesting note on Danica, the first time I saw her, she was just a little squirt trying to stay out of people's way on pit road/paddock at the Toronto event - nobody gave her any notice then, other than to check her credentials. Bobby had brought her back from England to do a few Barber Dodge events here, before moving her to Atlantic the next year. She was competitive then, but hardly a standout driver... much like today I guess.

[neiltb]

was there in 93 (father in law got tickets at 'dodge corner' (end of the straight) and was a good race, it's now a 5 min train ride from home but I will be watching at a party in town, there have been no reports of concern here in town.

[CarolK]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

My money is on Danica to win this race.

no way - Justin Wilson repeat for Dale Coyne or if not him, one of the Penske guys

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by Jay

I'm concerned about some of the things I've been hearing about this event... Apparently Andretti-Green racing have really been cheaping out on a lot of things, and the biggest concern is run off area - or rather the lack thereof at the end of Lakeshore and some of the other straights. The word from one of the marshalls is that the track has not been configured to the same safety standards as in the past, and some of them are worried about what could happen if someone overshoots turn 3. Apparently there are other organisational messes as well. Perhaps someone can confirm/deny this...

There were rumours. The reality is, there are runoffs in the usual places at turn 1,3,and 8. We'll find out the rest as the event progresses. Turns out a LOT of the rumours have not become reality.

[Leighton Irwin]

My usually accurate grapevine says less than 10,000 tickets sold.
BARC-OC who have always organized the volunteers and supplied many were not contacted until relatively recently. They will not be doing as much as usual. Latest word I have is AGR have still not signed a contract with them. There are less perks than usual. No party and no free passes for family. Lunch, shirts and hats supplied.
The support events are Indy Lites, CTCC (CDN. Touring Car Championship), Group70 (semi vintage) with 40 entries and drifting. The Group70 cars are in many cases not really driven hard as the owners figure them too valuable. There are some who really go at it though. I have seen them several times. The very fast Versace Subarus have withdrawn from the CTCC series because of a rules dispute.
Except for Group70 the local racers are shut out.
A rather skimpy support group of events.
The very popular Cdn.Tire NASCAR (formerly CASCAR) series is racing in Quebec with Jacques Villeneuve entered. They were always a hit (in more ways than one) with the Toronto crowd.

[Jay]

Yeah, I recall the grandstands were usually pretty full for the CASCAR/NCTS races... almost as full as for Champ Car. It's disappointing to not have as many local racers represented.

I'm no IRL fan, but I hope the event will succeed for Toronto's sake and local motorsports in general. I think they made a big mistake with the ticket prices, which appear to have been increased, when they should probably be doing the opposite. I wouldn't be surprised to see AGR drop out of the promotion, as they appear to be doing things very half-heartedly...certainly not with any interest to the local motorsports community.

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by Leighton Irwin

My usually accurate grapevine says less than 10,000 tickets sold.
BARC-OC who have always organized the volunteers and supplied many were not contacted until relatively recently. They will not be doing as much as usual. Latest word I have is AGR have still not signed a contract with them. There are less perks than usual. No party and no free passes for family. Lunch, shirts and hats supplied.
The support events are Indy Lites, CTCC (CDN. Touring Car Championship), Group70 (semi vintage) with 40 entries and drifting. The Group70 cars are in many cases not really driven hard as the owners figure them too valuable. There are some who really go at it though. I have seen them several times. The very fast Versace Subarus have withdrawn from the CTCC series because of a rules dispute.
Except for Group70 the local racers are shut out.
A rather skimpy support group of events.
The very popular Cdn.Tire NASCAR (formerly CASCAR) series is racing in Quebec with Jacques Villeneuve entered. They were always a hit (in more ways than one) with the Toronto crowd.

BARC-OC are there, downsized but still there. A few of the other support groups that usually are there have been called in - somewhat last minute.
Yep - no guest passes (yet) - no idea on 'party', but we are being fed at least one evening (which is pretty much par for the course). Trash and trinkets, we'll wait and see - but then, that's not the main reason we work eh?
CCTCC is a great show, even without the Subies. I always regard these guys as locals (a lot of them run GT sprints as well). G70 put on a great show last time they were out (2 events ago) - did not hold back as much as I thought they might. Actual billing is 'Vintage GT'.
No drifting on the schedule, but there is a "Honda Motorcylce Demonstration"
Agreed - still lighter than in the past, but when compared to something like Detroit, a reasonable schedule.

As for CASCAR/NASCAR - they went many years ago - all part and parcel of the NACSAR buyout. We all miss them. We don't miss having to put the walls back in place afterward though.......

Tickets - fewer and smaller stands, rumours are about 1/3 usual ticket sales levels.

All in all AGR seem very inexperienced at running a street race, but are starting to learn what needs to be done and why things were done the way they were. Things are not running as smoothly as usual, but they are progressing ~ we'll see how the weekend turns out. Very much feels like a new event, rather than an established one.

[Yannick]

This track is new to IRL, but not to the former Champ Car teams, so there might be a few surprises with former Champ Car teams performing better than usual and old IRL teams less than usual. My guess is that Newman/Haas/Lanigan will be strong and Vision look likely to struggle.

[Leighton Irwin]

Shades of Hamilton 78. God I sure hope Not!
I believe there is an article on that fiasco in PRN.
My ex was involved as a director of CRCA at that time and I was there.

[instant classic]

anyone going to the Honda Indy Toronto?

[Jay]

There was an article in today's Toronto Star about how they're trying to keep this year's event small and plan to expand in the future. They reduced the number of grandstands to avoid the embaressment of empty seats. I don't think street races can be successful as small events though - to justify the expenses involved in setting up the circuit, it has to be a major festival that attracts a larke walk up crowd. For small events, Tremblant (which has a far more interesting event this weekend - the Sommet des Legends), or Mosport would work better.

One thing going for this year's Toronto race, is they don't have the Toronto street festival on the same weekend, which they had in the last few years of the Grand Prix of Toronto event. The free street festival was heavily pushed by the city, and definitely took away attention and crowd from the race.

[icemachine]

I'm not going - I'll be at the Victory Cafe enjoying the Summer Cask festival.

[indycool]

What they're saying:

Ottawa Citizen:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/...689/story.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/...160/story.html

London Free Press:

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/M...86146-sun.html

Edmonton Sun:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/sports/ot...84711-sun.html

Toronto Star:

http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/754044

http://www.thestar.com/sports/autoracing/article/663797

Toronto Sun:

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/oth...85186-sun.html

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/col...85191-sun.html

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/oth...85246-sun.html

Toronto Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1213591/

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

My money is on Danica to win this race.

I don't doubt it. How much have you lost so far? Did Japan last year recoup much of it?

[DanicaFan]

1st practice session is over. Here are the results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #12 Will Power / 01:02.1733 / 101.619
2. #2 Raphael Matos / 01:02.2975 / 101.417
3. #9 Scott Dixon / 01:02.3324 / 101.360
4. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 01:02.3556 / 101.322
5. #15 Paul Tracy / 01:02.3930 / 101.261
6. #11 Tony Kanaan / 01:02.4499 / 101.169
7. #10 Dario Franchitti / 01:02.4964 / 101.094
8. #3 Helio Castroneves / 01:02.5057 / 101.079
9. #06 Robert Doornbos / 01:02.5742 / 100.968
10. #02 Graham Rahal / 01:02.5765 / 100.964
11. #14 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 01:02.6661 / 100.820
12. #18 Justin Wilson / 01:02.6748 / 100.806
13. #34 Alex Tagliani / 01:02.6923 / 100.778
14. #24 Mike Conway / 01:03.0203 / 100.253
15. #5 Mario Moraes / 01:03.0293 / 100.239
16. #26 Marco Andretti / 01:03.2557 / 99.880
17. #27 Hideki Mutoh / 01:03.3323 / 99.760
18. #13 EJ Viso / 01:03.5222 / 99.461
19. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 01:04.1912 / 98.425
20. #4 Dan Wheldon / 01:04.3358 / 98.203
21. #98 Richard Antinucci / 01:04.4100 / 98.090
22. #20 Ed Carpenter / 01:04.8593 / 97.411
23. #7 Danica Patrick / 01:04.9420 / 97.287

[DanicaFan]

Danica was improving this 2nd session. She had the incident on Turn 5 which damaged the car and ended her session. So, if this didnt happen, she would of been up there in speed.

[DanicaFan]

Well, not a good day for Danica. She crashed unfortunately ending her practice session early. Im hoping for a better qualifying day tomorrow.

Here are the results of the 2nd practice session..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #2 Raphael Matos / 01:01.4739 / 102.775
2. #18 Justin Wilson / 01:01.7627 / 102.295
3. #12 Will Power / 01:01.7722 / 102.279
4. #06 Robert Doornbos / 01:01.8386 / 102.169
5. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 01:01.8420 / 102.164
6. #10 Dario Franchitti / 01:01.9237 / 102.029
7. #3 Helio Castroneves / 01:01.9364 / 102.008
8. #9 Scott Dixon / 01:01.9617 / 101.966
9. #02 Graham Rahal / 01:02.0027 / 101.899
10. #11 Tony Kanaan / 01:02.0044 / 101.896
11. #24 Mike Conway / 01:02.1916 / 101.589
12. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 01:02.3048 / 101.405
13. #15 Paul Tracy / 01:02.3653 / 101.306
14. #14 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 01:02.4745 / 101.129
15. #26 Marco Andretti / 01:02.5434 / 101.018
16. #5 Mario Moraes / 01:02.6133 / 100.905
17. #34 Alex Tagliani / 01:02.7255 / 100.725
18. #13 EJ Viso / 01:02.7758 / 100.644
19. #4 Dan Wheldon / 01:03.4514 / 99.572
20. #98 Richard Antinucci / 01:03.9239 / 98.836
21. #7 Danica Patrick / 01:03.9279 / 98.830
22. #27 Hideki Mutoh / 01:03.9653 / 98.772
23. #20 Ed Carpenter / 01:04.7355 / 97.597

[NAC]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Well, not a good day for Danica.

Really! Who cares

Oh well at least Mike is in front.

What is of interest is Matos, good on him