Revving up
Get set for Honda Indy Toronto with our complete guide to race weekend.
When Tony Spiteri, senior vice-president of marketing and research and development for Pinty’s Delicious Foods Inc. of Burlington, Ont., called me last December to say the family-owned firm was taking over title sponsorship of Canada’s national stock-car racing series, I knew it would be good news for the country’s one and only IndyCar Series race. Why? Because of what Spiteri said: “We’re taking the series back to the Honda Indy Toronto, where it hasn’t been since 2011.
“The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will be the headline race on Saturday of race weekend (this week: July 15-17), and we’re looking forward to being able to showcase some of Canada’s finest young stock-car stars.” My reaction? Bravo! Why? Because for several years, the Saturday of race weekend hasn’t really had a focus. Yes, for a couple of years, they tried to run doubleheaders, but the last two years have lacked a Main Event.
Now there will be on Saturday, and it’s a great one. Stock car veterans like Alex Tagliani, Andrew Ranger and D.J. Kennington are being challenged by youngsters like Cayden Lapcevich, who’s only 16, and Que- becer Alex Labbe. Throw in Matthew Scannell and Gary Klutt and you have potential for a race for the ages.
This marks the 30th year of Indy car racing through the streets of Toronto. The first race, sponsored by Molson’s in 1986, was won by Bobby Rahal, and over the years the giants of the game have gone to battle here — Tracy, Bourdais, Unser Jr., Sullivan, da Matta, NewmanHaas, the Andrettis, and the list goes on and on.
Back in the day, the media went crazy with special programs and sections before, during and after the race.
Following the first Indy, the Toronto Star published a front-page story about driver Emerson Fittipaldi speeding up Hwy. 427 with his family to catch a plane after the race.
He was pulled over, and the cop allegedly said:
“Who do you think you are? Emerson Fittipaldi?”
And the driver replied: “As of matter of fact, I am.”
He was let off with a warning. And then the officer gave him an escort to Toronto Pearson.
Apocryphal or not, that incident illustrates the excitement that used to sur- round this race.
The Indy car civil war that started in 1995 and lasted more than 10 years was the first big blow, and then the title sponsor got tired and the city started harassing the event by promoting free, alternative events all the way up Yonge St. (which was closed for the weekend), and the fields were weak and it just wilted.
And then the warring Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League stopped fighting and merged to become IndyCar. That was the good news. The bad news was that Toronto lost its race because there was a conflict with another and the streets of Exhibition Place were silent in 2008.
Rescued the next year by Michael Andretti and Kim Green (who’s now partners with Kevin Savoree in the promotion of the Honda Indy), it’s been a struggle to reignite the excitement ever since. Until this year — and two things have happened.
First, Pinty’s insisted that the stock cars had to be back on the Honda Indy program. NASCAR was happy to oblige because it has an excellent working relationship with SavoreeGreen, who also own the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, scene of an annual NASCAR Infinity Series race. Second, there was a change in senior management at the race, and a young, enthusiastic guy named Jeff Atkinson took over as president.
Under Atkinson’s leadership — and Canadian IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe characterizes him as being “gung-ho,” so that should give you an idea of what the guy’s like — hardly a week has gone by, sometimes mere days, when there hasn’t been an announcement of a new corporate partnership or promotion of some sort.
And Honda Indy Toronto is so active on social media, particularly Twitter, that it can sometimes make your head spin.
But if that’s what it’s going to take to re-energize this summertime festival — and once upon a time, it was right up there with Pride Toronto and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, in that people came from out of town and stayed in hotels and ate in restaurants and partied hearty till the wee hours — then go for it, I say.
Now, with one exception — a change in the configuration of a section before the main straight that saw it reduced from a sweeping “s” to an “s” that was tighter — the Honda Indy track has remained the same for 30 years. But this year, the pits have been moved from the south side of Princes’ Blvd. to the north side, outside the EnerCare Centre. Strange as it may seem, that is going to take some getting used to. Even the drivers — the veterans — anyway, might find it a bit disconcerting at first.
But they’ll catch on, as race drivers have a habit of doing. And they’ll put on a good show. You can bet on that.
Don’t forget: Friday is free in exchange for a donation to Make-AWish Canada. You can wander around the EnerCare Centre (psst, it’s air-conditioned!) and visit the support-race paddock which is inside and see the Pro Mazda, Indy Lights, Porsche GT3 Cup and USF2000 teams up close. Outside, you can enjoy watching all of those cars and drivers practice as well as the big guns of the Verizon IndyCar Series — Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Josef Newgarden (he won the race last year) and our own James Hinchcliffe, among many others.
The ground shakes as those cars thunder by. And you have to keep an eye out or they’ll be past you in a flash.
Saturday, of course, will feature more practice, the IndyCar qualifying and then the headline event of the day, the Pinty’s Grand Prix of Toronto for the cars and stars of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. And Sunday? The Honda Indy Toronto.
I hope to see you all there. P.S. I want to say a public, “thank you” to photographer John Larsen, who provided some exclusive pictures for this year’s special Honda Indy section. John is an excellent photographer who’s covered races like the Rolex 24 at Daytona for Toronto Star Wheels in the past.
All of his photos are at his website, photograffics.com and they are all for sale. nmcdonald@thestar.ca