Indianapolis and the Canadian connection
First rider hurt there, first driver killed there and many who raced there
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway turned 100 in 2009. This year, the Indianapolis 500 race turns 100. What gives?
The Speedway opened for business in1909 with a hot-air balloon race (of all things) but the first 500-mile International Sweepstakes (once the official name of the “500”) wasn’t held until two years later, in 1911.
Then, when racing was cancelled during both World Wars, there were no Indy 500s in 1917 and ‘18 and from 1942 through ’45. Add it all up and the 100th race is seven years younger than the Speedway.
Be that as it may, the Speedway, the city of Indianapolis and the Verizon IndyCar Series are going all out to make this 100th race memorable. And the Canadian International Auto Show, which opens to the public at the downtown Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Friday, is doing its bit to promote the centennial — as well as July’s Honda Indy Toronto, which will feature the same cars and drivers — by showcasing some of the machines that have been in competition at the Speedway over the years and highlighting the many Canadian connections.
Although the car driven to victory in 1995 by the only Canadian to win the iconic race, Jacques Villeneuve of St-Jean-sur-Richeleu, Que., was not available (there could have been problems at customs), the car that finished second three years earlier most certainly is.
In 1992, with Toronto’s Scott Goodyear at the wheel, the Lola T92/00Chevrolet sponsored by the MacKenzie Financial Corp. of Toronto lost to American star Al Unser Jr. by 0.043 seconds, which is still the closest finish in the history of the race.
Although only 19 Canadians have made the field to start the Indianapolis 500, many more have raced in Indy cars and some have even tried, but failed, to qualify for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Canada has had a long and rich connection with the race, with a Canadian making the field for the first race and, if all goes well, a Canadian in the 100th.
Here is a rundown of some other Canadians who have had an impact at Indianapolis as well as the drivers who can proudly say that despite the fierce competition, they made it into the big show. 1909 I: Jake DeRosier was a motorcycle racer from Quebec (hometown unknown) who entered the first motorcycle races promoted at the new Speedway in August, 1909. The motorcycle races preceded the first car races the same month. In a special match race against American ace Ed Lingenfelder, DeRosier was thrown from his motorcycle while exiting Turn Four and suffered serious injuries, thus becoming the first racer to be taken to a hospital as the result of an accident at the Speedway.
1909 II: William (Billy) Bourque of West Farnham, Que., won the third automobile race held at the Speedway but later that same day became the first racing driver to be killed there. His riding mechanic, Harry Holcomb, also died. Ironically, his car overturned while exiting Turn Four after a wheel hit a rut known as the DeRosier Fault that had originally been dug into the track’s surface by fellow Canadian Jake DeRosier when he’d crashed there days earlier.
1911: The first Canadian to race in the “500” (that we know of; there could have been others with Canadian roots in that first race) was W.H. (Jack) Turner (also sometimes referred to as “Wild Bill”), who was born in Toronto in August, 1877. He started 12th in that first “500” and finished eighth. There were 40 cars and drivers in that first “500” and Turner was among the 12 who managed to go all 200 laps. 1916: The second Canadian (that we know of ) to drive in the Indy 500 was George G. (Pete) Henderson. He was born in Orangeville, Ont., moved as a child to Fernie, B.C., where his father was publisher of the local newspaper, the Fernie Free Press (still in business today) and started racing while he was a student at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He drove in the 1920 “500” and, so far as is known, was the first Canadian to win an “Indy car” race when he finished first in an AAA national championship race on the two-mile board track at Maywood Speedway, Chicago, in October 1917.
1965: Billy Foster, of Victoria, B.C., was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1993 as “the first Canadian to make the field at Indy.” Wrong. He was, it turns out, at least the sixth. A talented racer who cut his teeth in supermodifieds and stock cars, he was Mario Andretti’s best friend. They both made their first “500” starts the same year, 1965, with Mario qualifying fourth and Billy sixth. Mario finished third but engine troubles dropped Billy to 17th at the finish.
1977: Cliff Hucul, Prince George, B.C. Hucul raced in three Indys, with a best finish of 18th in 1979. He also drove in several NASCAR Winston Cup races in the 1980s. 1989: John Jones of Thunder Bay, Ont., ran in one Indianapolis 500 even though he scored points over four seasons in the old CART Indy car Series. In his 1989 start, he fin- ished 11th.
1991: Scott Goodyear of Toronto raced in the Indianapolis 500 more times than any other Canadian — 11 — and he very nearly won the race on three different occasions. He finished second twice, in 1992 and 1997, and was winning the race in 1995 when he was disqualified for inadvertently passing the pace car before a restart late in the race. He finished second to Al Unser Jr. in 1992 by 0.043 seconds, which is still the closest finish in the history of the race. He retired after the 2001 race as the result of injuries suffered in a crash.
1992: Paul Tracy of Toronto first went to the Speedway in 1991 but withdrew from rookie orientation when it became apparent the car he was driving would not be competitive. In 1992, he made his first start while driving for Roger Penske but was only able to start 19th and finish 20th. His best finish came in 2002 for Team Kool Green when he was officially classified second. A crash brought out the yellow caution light just as Tracy passed “winner” Helio Castroneves. Tracy felt he’d completed the pass and should have won the race and many people agreed with him. But an appeal was denied and the results, with Castroneves first and Tracy second, were stamped official.
2009: Another victim of the CART-IRL split, Alex Tagliani of Montreal didn’t make his first appearance in the Indianapolis 500 until he was well on in his career. He’s never finished better than 10th. His claim to fame at Indy, however, came in 2011 when he became the first Canadian to win the pole for the world’s most famous automobile race. In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (Tracy, Goodyear and both Villeneuves were inducted earlier).
2011: James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., is looking forward to racing in the 100th Indy 500 this May because he missed the 99th as the result of a horrible accident during practice that resulted in him losing most of the blood in his body. Prior to 2015, he had raced in the previous four 500s with a best finish of sixth in 2012.