Honda Indy Toronto

[00steven]

Toronto is excellent, I look for a good race.

[harvick#1]

after Watkins Glen, it looks like Briscoe was really right with Will this time, Toronto is gonna be quite interesting and I believe it could be a toss up between the 2 Penske drivers.

Dario, Dixon, and Helio are the obvious next 3, Wilson, TK, and RHR should be threats.

and Sato and Matos continue to show improvement. I hope Simona puts a solid effort from start to finish, cause she has a skills to crack the top 10.

[TURN3]

after Watkins Glen, it looks like Briscoe was really right with Will this time, Toronto is gonna be quite interesting and I believe it could be a toss up between the 2 Penske drivers.

Dario, Dixon, and Helio are the obvious next 3, Wilson, TK, and RHR should be threats.

and Sato and Matos continue to show improvement. I hope Simona puts a solid effort from start to finish, cause she has a skills to crack the top 10.

Don't forget about PT...he showed really well here last year. If KV is tuning their street setup in for their bogus regulars, I'd think he runs top 8 or so.

Wait! Who is this an impression of. It's a podium for him easy!

[DanicaFan]

Tomas Scheckter will be driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in this Toronto race. He will be in the #24 MonaVie car.

[harvick#1]

Don't forget about PT...he showed really well here last year. If KV is tuning their street setup in for their bogus regulars, I'd think he runs top 8 or so.

Wait! Who is this an impression of. It's a podium for him easy!

PT might be podium material, but the team's pitwork have been absolutely killing themselves.

Sato went from a top 5 to crap all because of the team not knowing how to do pitstops

[TURN3]

PT might be podium material, but the team's pitwork have been absolutely killing themselves.

Sato went from a top 5 to crap all because of the team not knowing how to do pitstops

Sato went to the back because he came in 2 laps ahead of when the team told him too. Either this guy's head is as dense as it appears on most days or the team should have a Japanese interpreter. Either way, he restarted 19th and finished 15th...PT restarted 22 and finished 14 by comparison. 2 of the 3 KV cars did show speed throughout the weekend though so I'm assuming the team has a respectable setup.

[Marbles]

Looking forward to the race. I'd go if I was in town but I'll be away so I'll catch it in a week on the PVR. Avoiding catching the results in the mainstream media is pretty easy these days. So no spoilers for a week, please!

The only promotion I've heard for the race is in the traffic reports in the last two weeks on how lanes are closed on the Lakeshore "due to construction for the Toronto Indy".

Not the best way to attract fans.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I hear the commercials on Fan590 and other radio, and have heard them since Mid May, so they are covering the basis there, and I have seen ads on TV at times...

The problem is the people running the Honda Indy Toronto are not the old promotors and they came in with the disease of "we can do this better" and they scrapped everything. They told the volunteer army organized on a yearly basis by BARC ( a member club of CASC) basically to not bother, and put their own organization together. This was done likely at great cost, and little success. Then all the ads last year only featured the Andretti Drivers, with you know who as the poster child. Funny, A native son was committed to driver in the race from FEBURARY and they never took advantage of him.

So last year's race didn't quite work..

This year, they are advertising more, and not just the AA guys although they are still the most obvious people promoted in the radio ads. Of course, it is Andretti's organization doing the race, so they wont change that much, but it still speaks to an arrogance and naivety that they know what they are doing. The volunteer base that was at the track isn't going to buy tickets after working the Molson Indy for years. We might watch on TV, but we wont venture down to sit in the stands when we used to have a purpose.

The reality is Andretti's organization took this event over and tried to fit their St. Petersburg template on it, and this is a different market, one that was kicked in the teeth when the IRL/CCWS merger took place as it was one of the races not held that first year. You take one of the most loyal and best racing crowds and take their race away from them to protect the poorly attended race down at the Glen that first year, and then ask for their loyalty back a year later? It doesn't work.....

I think with the right promotors, the Honda Indy Toronto might have made a comeback, but too many people ignored this city for a year, and then last year, it was obvious there was no respect for the local hard core of fans and how things were done.

Add in the malaise that surrounds the future of the IRL in a market that doesn't like 2nd rate anything....and you have issues.

The city is a great one to visit, the weather is always hot and welcoming for the most part, and it is a decent ticket price for people, but the magic is lost....

[Mark in Oshawa]

AS for the radio people saying "Traffic is delayed for Indy Setup" Marbles, they were saying it 20 years ago when the race sold out too.....I doubt anyone pays much attention. It is Toronto, there doesn't need to be a reason for traffic to be snarled on the Lakeshore or the Gardiner Expy....

[NaBUru38]

Does anyone have a map of the old course?