Grand Prix of Toronto facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Honda Indy Toronto

NTT IndyCar Series
Location	Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario, Canada 43°38′14″N 79°24′56″W / 43.63722°N 79.41556°W / 43.63722; -79.41556
Corporate sponsor	Honda Canada Inc.
First race	1986
First ICS race	2009
Laps	90
Previous names	Molson Indy Toronto (1986–2005) Molson Grand Prix of Toronto (2006) Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto (2007)
Most wins (driver)	Michael Andretti (7)
Most wins (team)	Newman/Haas Racing (7)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chassis: Dallara (13) Engine: Chevrolet (13)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt/Concrete
Length	2.874 km (1.786 mi)
Turns	11
Lap record	57.143 ( Gil de Ferran, Reynard-Honda, 1999, CART)

The Honda Indy Toronto is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 to 2007. After a one-year hiatus, it has been part of the NTT IndyCar Series schedule since 2009. The race takes place on a 2.874-kilometre (1.786 mi), 11 turn, temporary street circuit through Exhibition Place and on Lake Shore Boulevard. Toronto is classified as an FIA Grade Two circuit.

It is IndyCar's second-longest running street race, only behind the Grand Prix of Long Beach and is the third oldest race on the current schedule (tied with the Mid-Ohio 200) in terms of number of races run. The Toronto Indy is one of seven Canadian circuits to have held an IndyCar race, the others being Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Mont-Tremblant, Sanair, Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton.

Origins

Motorsport and automobile demonstrations has a history at Exhibition Place going back over 100 years. Automotive shows, displays, races and driving demonstrations have taken place on the grounds since the invention of the automobile, including the first appearance of an indy car, the 1916 Indianapolis 500 winning Peugeot during the 1918 Canadian National Exhibition.

2003 Molson Indy pit lane and front straight.

From 1952 until 1966 the grandstand hosted stock car racing on a paved quarter mile circuit on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, hosting crowds upwards of 20,000 often broadcast live on CBC in Toronto. In 1958 the venue hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race, the Jim Mideon 500. The race was the first of Richard Petty's 1,184 starts in NASCAR and was won by his father Lee Petty.

In 1967, the first ever Indy race held in Canada was the Telegram Trophy 200, held at nearby Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario as part of the USAC Championship Car season. The race was won by Bobby Unser for his first career Indy victory. Following Dan Gurney’s victory in 1968, a group led by John Bassett and Imperial Tobacco made the first proposal to run both the 1969 Telegram Trophy Indy race and the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix at a new street circuit along Lake Shore Boulevard and through Exhibition Place with the start/finish line and pits to be located inside Exhibition Stadium. Bassett dropped the idea just as the bill was going through third reading before Toronto city council.

Drivers view towards the start finish line and turn 1 at the Princes' Gates

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After a nine-year absence, IndyCars returned to the Toronto area for the Molson Diamond Indy at Mosport Park won by A. J. Foyt in 1977 and Danny Ongais in 1978.

Following the 1977 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix, Labatt, the sponsor who held the rights to F1 racing in Canada at the time, as well as the owners of Mosport Park revived the proposal to move the race to Exhibition Place after the FIA deemed Mosport as an unsuitable host facility going forward. Toronto city council turned down the proposal by a margin of two votes and within a few hours, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau had negotiated with Labatt to move the race permanently to Montreal.

In 1984, Molson Breweries in-house promotional division, Molstar Sports & Entertainment acquired the rights to CART sanctioned IndyCar races in Canada and ran the first Molson Indy at the Sanair Speedway outside Montreal. The tight tri-oval was unpopular with the CART teams in part due to a severe injury to Rick Mears during the first event. In the spring of 1985, Molson revived the idea of a street circuit through Exhibition Place in Toronto for a third time. Toronto City Council approved the race by two votes in July 1985 for the race to be held the following year.

Race history

The first Molson Indy Toronto was won by Bobby Rahal on July 20, 1986. The event quickly became Canada's second largest annual sporting event, eclipsed only by the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, with three-day attendance figures routinely around 170,000 people.

In the 1996 race, American driver Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a crash with 4 laps remaining. In that same crash, volunteer corner marshal Gary Avrin was killed, and marshal Barbara Johnston also received injuries in the crash; she was treated and released that evening. Adrián Fernández won the race.

The name of the race was changed in 2006 from the Molson Indy Toronto to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto after it was purchased by the Champ Car World Series from Molstar Sports and Entertainment. The name was also changed to distance Champ Car from the rival Indy Racing League (IRL), which had gained the exclusive right to use the "Indy" name after 2002. In 2007, after Molson dropped their title sponsorship to the race, Steelback Brewery signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal to become the event's title sponsor, renaming it the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto. This marked the first title sponsorship change since the event started in 1986.

The unification of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League was announced on February 22, 2008, and the Grand Prix of Toronto's future was left in doubt. After attempts were made to preserve the race for 2008, it was confirmed on March 5, 2008, that the race had been cancelled. On May 15, 2008, Andretti Green Racing (co-owned by Michael Andretti) purchased the assets of the former Grand Prix of Toronto. On July 30, 2008, it was confirmed that the race would return to Toronto on July 12, 2009. On September 18, 2008, Andretti Green Racing announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Honda Canada Inc. for the title sponsorship of the race, henceforth named from 2009 onward as the Honda Indy Toronto.

Looking towards the Direct Energy Centre during the 2013 race. Team Penske pits are at the bottom of the image.

In 2013, the race weekend was changed to a 2 race format with one race Saturday and one race Sunday. The Saturday race would feature a standing start while the Sunday race would be a rolling start. After an aborted standing start Saturday leading to a rolling start, teams and officials agreed to try the standing start again Sunday. The Sunday standing start was successful on its first attempt and was the first successful standing start in unified IndyCar series history (the Champ Car World Series had used standing starts late in its history shortly before unification). In 2014, weather forced both races to be run Sunday, exposing the difficulty in logistics of running two races in an already packed schedule. By 2015, both standing starts and the two race format were abandoned.

In 2016, the track layout was modified to accommodate the newly constructed Hotel X Toronto. Under the new layout, the pit lane was moved to the opposite side of the race course, starting at the outside of turn 9 and exiting just after turn 11. This, in turn, made turn 11 a sharper turn than it had been in the previous configuration.

Michael Andretti is the all-time race win leader with seven victories.

The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, marking the second time in the race's history. This came after Mayor John Tory announced that all public gatherings of 250 or over were banned until July 31 and no permits were to be issued.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 race, a new three-year agreement was reached in September 2020 between Exhibition Place and Green Savoree Toronto to host the event through 2023.

Past winners

USAC (Mosport Park)

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race distance		Race time	Average speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
USAC National Championship Trail
1967	July 1	Bobby Unser	Leader Cards Racing	Eagle	Ford	40	98.36 (158.295)	0:59:14	102.770	Report
						6	14.754 (23.744)
1968	June 15	Dan Gurney	Oscar Olson	Eagle	Weslake-Ford	40	98.36 (158.295)	0:56:45	105.727	Report
						40	98.36 (158.295)	0:55:16	108.564
1969 – 1976	Not held
1977	July 3	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Coyote	Foyt	75	184.425 (296.803 km)	2:03:35	90.733	Report
1978	June 11	Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	76	186.884 (300.761 km)	2:08:38	87.164	Report
1979	Not held
1980	Sept 14	Race cancelled following unification of USAC and CART schedules.

• 1967: Run in two heats of 98 miles (158 kilometers/40 laps) each. Second race stopped after 6 laps due to rain.
• 1968: Run in two heats of 98 miles (158 kilometers/40 laps) each.

CART/Champ Car/IndyCar (Exhibition Place)

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race distance		Race time	Average speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
CART IndyCar/Champ Car
1986	July 20	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	March	Cosworth	103	183.34 (295.057)	2:05:50	87.414	Report
1987	July 19	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	March	Chevrolet-Ilmor	103	183.34 (295.057)	1:54:35	95.991	Report
1988	July 17	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	March	Chevrolet-Ilmor	103	183.34 (295.057)	1:59:34	91.994	Report
1989	July 23	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	103	183.34 (295.057)	2:01:00	90.9	Report
1990	July 22	Al Unser Jr.	Galles/KRACO Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	94|align="center"|167.32 (269.275)	2:13:26	75.997	Report
1991	July 21	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	103	183.34 (295.057)	1:50:57	99.143	Report
1992	July 19	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	103	183.34 (295.057)	1:52:21	97.898	Report
1993	July 18	Paul Tracy	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	103	183.34 (295.057)	1:53:58	96.51	Report
1994	July 17	Michael Andretti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	98	174.44 (280.733)	1:48:15	96.673	Report
1995	July 16	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	98	174.44 (280.733)	1:50:25	94.787	Report
1996	July 14	Adrian Fernandez	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	93|align="center"|165.912 (267.009)	1:41:59	97.548	Report
1997	July 20	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	Reynard	Mercedes-Benz	95	163.495 (263.119)	1:45:43	92.779	Report
1998	July 19	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	95	163.495 (263.119)	1:52:24	87.274	Report
1999	July 18	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Reynard	Honda	95	166.725 (268.317)	1:56:27	85.897	Report
2000	July 16	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	112	196.56 (316.332)	2:00:02	98.248	Report
2001	July 15	Michael Andretti	Team Green	Reynard	Honda	95	166.725 (268.317)	1:59:58	83.375	Report
2002	July 7	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Toyota	112	196.56 (316.332)	2:06:19	93.361	Report
2003	July 13	Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	112	196.56 (316.332)	2:02:36	96.189	Report
2004	July 11	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	84	147.42 (237.249)	1:45:36	83.749	Report
2005	July 10	Justin Wilson	RuSPORT	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	86	150.93 (242.898)	1:46:10	85.296	Report
2006	July 9	A. J. Allmendinger	Forsythe Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	86	150.93 (242.898)	1:38:01	92.386	Report
2007	July 8	Will Power	Walker Racing	Panoz	Cosworth	73	128.115 (206.181)	1:45:58	72.534	Report
2008	Race cancelled following reunification of Champ Car and IRL.
IndyCar Series
2009	July 12	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:43:47	86.24	Report
2010	July 18	Will Power	Penske Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:47:15	83.451	Report
2011	July 10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:56:32	76.805	Report
2012	July 8	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Dallara	Chevrolet	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:33:27	95.787	Report
2013	July 13	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:41:17	88.37	Report
	July 14	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:35:02	94.177
2014	July 20| Sébastien Bourdais	KV Racing Technology	Dallara	Chevrolet	65|align="center"|114.075 (183.585)	1:15:44	90.37	Report
		Mike Conway	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	56|align="center"|98.28 (158.166)	1:20:36		73.168
2015| June 14	Josef Newgarden	CFH Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	85	149.175 (240.073)	1:39:00	90.41	Report
2016	July 17	Will Power	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	85	151.81 (244.314)	1:42:39	88.739	Report
2017	July 16	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	85	151.81 (244.314)	1:35:05	95.79	Report
2018	July 15	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	85	151.81 (244.314)	1:37:00	93.898	Report
2019	July 14	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	85	151.81 (244.314)	1:30:16	100.9	Report
2020	Race cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	July 11	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBA	TBD	TBD	TBD	Report

1997 Molson Indy Toronto

• 1990: Race shortened due to rain.
• 1996: Race ended with 1 1/2 laps remaining (93 of 95 laps completed) because of fatal crash on Lake Shore Boulevard. Driver Jeff Krosnoff and a track marshal were killed and the race was stopped near the impact point a lap later.
• 2014: First race was postponed from Saturday to Sunday morning because of rain. The second planned race was still scheduled for Sunday afternoon which meant two races in one day. Because of this, both races were shortened from 85 laps to 65 to compensate for the delay. The second race however was further shortened due to time limit.
• 2015: Due to Toronto hosting the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, the race was moved to June to avoid conflicting with the games.
• 2020 Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic the Toronto Honda Indy car race originally set between July 10 to the 12 was cancelled as per restrictions of City Of Toronto-led events and permits.

Support race winners

Road to Indy

CART American Racing Series Season Date Winning driver 1986 July 20 Fabrizio Barbazza 1987 July 19 Tommy Byrne 1988 July 17 Calvin Fish 1989 July 23 Gary Rubio 1990 July 22 Paul Tracy CART Firestone/PPG/Dayton Indy Lights Series 1991 July 21 P. J. Jones 1992 July 19 Bryan Herta 1993 July 18 Bryan Herta 1994 July 17 Steve Robertson 1995 July 16 Greg Moore 1996 July 14 Gualter Salles 1997 July 20 Hélio Castro-Neves 1998 July 19 Guy Smith 1999 July 18 Geoff Boss 2000 Not held 2001 July 15 Townsend Bell IndyCar Indy Lights 2002 Not held 2003 Not held 2004 Not held 2005 Not held 2006 Not held 2007 Not held 2008 Not held 2009 July 11 Sebastián Saavedra 2010 July 18 Jean-Karl Vernay 2011 July 10 Stefan Wilson 2012 July 7 Gustavo Yacamán 2013 July 13 Jack Hawksworth 2014 July 20 Alexandre Baron 2015 June 13 Spencer Pigot June 14 Spencer Pigot 2016 July 16 Felix Rosenqvist July 17 Felix Rosenqvist 2017 July 15 Kyle Kaiser July 16 Kyle Kaiser 2018 July 14 Patricio O'Ward July 15 Santiago Urrutia 2019 July 13 Aaron Telitz July 14 Oliver Askew 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Star Mazda Championship Season Date Winning driver 2007 July 7 Dane Cameron 2008 Not held 2009 Not held 2010 Not held 2011 Not held 2012 July 7 Jack Hawksworth July 8 Jack Hawksworth Pro Mazda Championship 2013 July 13 Matthew Brabham July 14 Matthew Brabham 2014 Not held 2015 June 13 Florian Latorre June 14 Garett Grist 2016 July 16 Aaron Telitz July 17 Aaron Telitz 2017 Not held 2018 July 14 Rinus VeeKay July 15 Rinus VeeKay Indy Pro 2000 Championship 2019 July 13 Danial Frost July 14 Kyle Kirkwood 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Formula Ford 2000 Championship Season Date Winning driver 2006 July 8 J. R. Hildebrand July 9 J. R. Hildebrand 2007 to 2009, No series, not held U.S. F2000 National Championship 2010 Not held 2011 Not held 2012 Not held 2013 July 13 Neil Alberico July 14 Danilo Estrela 2014 July 20 Jake Eidson Florian Latorre 2015 June 13 Jake Eidson June 14 Nico Jamin 2016 July 16 Victor Franzoni July 17 Parker Thompson 2017 July 15 Parker Thompson July 16 Parker Thompson 2018 July 14 Kyle Kirkwood July 15 Kyle Kirkwood 2019 July 13 Darren Keane July 14 Christian Rasmussen 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Atlantic Championship Season Winning driver 1990 Freddy Rhemrev 1991 Stuart Crow 1992 David Empringham 1993 Claude Bourbonnais 1994 Richie Hearn 1995 Richie Hearn 1996 Patrick Carpentier 1997 Memo Gidley 1998 Alex Tagliani 1999 Not held 2000 Andrew Bordin 2001 David Rutledge 2002 Michael Valiante 2003 A. J. Allmendinger 2004 Jon Fogarty 2005 Antoine Bessette 2006 Robbie Pecorari 2007 Franck Perera

SCCA Trans-Am Series

Year	Winning driver	Car	Ref
1993	Scott Sharp	Chevrolet Camaro
1994	Tommy Kendall	Ford Mustang
2004	Jorge Diaz, Jr.	Jaguar XKR
2005	Paul Gentilozzi	Jaguar XKR
2010	R. J. Lopez	Chevrolet Corvette

Pirelli World Challenge – GT

Season	Winning driver	Car
2007	Randy Pobst	Porsche 911 GT3
2010	Randy Pobst (GT) Peter Cunningham (GTS)	Volvo S60 Acura TSX
2013	Johnny O'Connell (GT) Lawson Aschenbach (GTS)	Cadillac CTS-V Chevrolet Camaro
2014	Race 1
	Nick Tandy (GT) Marcelo Hahn (GTA) Dean Martin (GTS)	Porsche 911 GT3 R Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Ford Mustang Boss 302S
	Race 2
	Kuno Wittmer (GT) Michael Mills (GTA) Mark Wilkins (GTS)	Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R Porsche 911 GT3 R Kia Optima

Pirelli World Challenge – Touring Car

Season	Winning driver	Car
2007	Peter Cunningham	Acura
2010	Nick Wittmer	Honda Civic Si
2013	Race 1
	Michael Cooper (TC) Joel Lipperini (TCB)	Mazdaspeed 3 Honda Fit
	Race 2
	Michael Cooper (TC) Ernie Francis Jr. (TCB)	Mazdaspeed 3 Mazda 2

CASCAR Super Series

Year	Race name	Winner	Car	Ref
1999	Miller Lite 100	Robin Buck	Pontiac
2000	Exide 99	Kevin Dowler	Ford
2001		Robin Buck	Pontiac
2002	CASCAR Toronto Indy, presented by NAPA	Kevin Dowler	Ford
2003	Avenue ACDelco 100	Jeff Lapcevich	Chevrolet
2004	CASCAR Toronto Indy 100	Jeff Lapcevich	Chevrolet
2005	ATTO 100	Kerry Micks	Ford

NASCAR Pinty's Series

The Indy Toronto circuit is based around Exhibition Place, but the heritage of NASCAR and Exhibition Place dates considerably earlier than the 2010 Canadian Tire Series round at Indy Toronto. In 1958, the 31st round of NASCAR's Grand National (now Cup Series) championship was held at the third Exhibition Stadium (located on the site of BMO Field). That race marked the Cup debut of Richard Petty.

Ron Beauchamp, Jr. practicing for the 2010 Jumpstart 100

Year	Race name	Winner	Car	Ref
2010	Jumpstart 100	Andrew Ranger	Dodge
2011	Streets of Toronto 100	Andrew Ranger	Dodge
2016	Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto	Alex Tagliani	Chevrolet
2017	Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto	Kevin Lacroix	Dodge
2018	Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto	Andrew Ranger	Dodge
2019	Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto	Alex Tagliani	Chevrolet
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stadium Super Trucks

Year	Winner	Ref
2013	Justin Lofton
	Sheldon Creed
2014	Sheldon Creed
	Sheldon Creed
2015	Scotty Steele
	Keegan Kincaid
2016	Matthew Brabham
	Sheldon Creed
2019	Cole Potts
	Gavin Harlien
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Current series

• NTT IndyCar Series
• Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires
• Indy Pro 2000 Championship
• U.S. F2000 National Championship
• NASCAR Pinty's Series
• IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Canada
• SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks

Former series

Besides the main event, Honda Indy Toronto also holds races of lower levels before. These are known as support series. A variety of racing series have previously run as support series on the race weekend. These include:

• Champ Car World Series
• Atlantic Championship
• Barber Dodge Pro Series
• CASCAR Super Series
• Trans-Am Series
• Ferrari Challenge
• North American Touring Car Championship
• Canadian Touring Car Championship
• Motorola Cup
• North American Fran Am 2000 Pro Championship
• Canadian Formula Ford Championship
• Pirelli World Challenge
• Player's Ltd./GM Motorsport series
• Honda Michelin Challenge Series
• F1600 Super Series

Charities

During the tenure of Molson's original race ownership, the Molson Indy Festival Foundation hosted various fundraising events in the city in the week leading up to the race week. As of 2004 the foundation had donated $5.6 million towards community groups and charitable organizations.

In 2010 the race introduced the annual Fan Fridays to the race weekend. In lieu of paid admission, attendees are encouraged to make a contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation upon entering the grounds. The initiative has raised $820,000 as of 2019 for the organization dedicated to granting wishes for children with critical illnesses.

Race day attendance

Images for kids

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  Drivers view towards the start finish line and turn 1 at the Princes' Gates

See also

In Spanish: Gran Premio de Toronto para niños