Honda Indy Toronto - roundup going into 2011

Paul Tracy's latest ups and downs has seen him leave his KV Racing Technology team (Tony Kanaan takes over) and hired by Dreyer and Reinbold Racing with a run in the Indy 500 and some believe that he may race in the Toronto and Edmonton Indys.

The downs for Paul (pictured at top: Paul on the right, with Helio Castroneves on the left) included the difficulty in finding the large bucks sponsorship needed for the price of admission into the very expensive race series. I want to see the bad boy running the track and also raising everyone's temperatures off the track (like Ontario/Tracy vs Quebec/Tagliani  - I just hope he doesn't end up trashing his car.

Another driver I am looking forward to seeing out on the track is of course the famous and beautiful Danica Patrick shown above at the 2010 Toronto Street Party signing autographs. I think it is great that several ladies are part of the IndyCar Series and doing so well in it - here is Simona de Silvestro entering the pits at the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto.

The Honda Indy Toronto owners - Green Savoree Racing Promotions, have also purchased the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and School. This increases their holdings with along with the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg. It's always good when the promoters are growing. They say “Properties like Mid-Ohio don’t come on the market every day,” said Green Savoree Co-Owner, President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Savoree. “It was a great opportunity to invest in a property with a great history and tradition that, like us, has deep roots in sports car and Indy car racing. It was also a chance to extend our relationship with Honda, which is a longtime partner of Mid-Ohio and our other properties.”

It will be interesting to see if the September 17 Indy Japan 300 ends up being run with the extreme damage and hardship the people of Japan have had to endure with the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant problems        - especially since IndyCar intends to drop the Japanese race after the 2011 season. Japan was where Danica won the 2008 race.


IndyCar Lights driver James Hinchcliffe from Toronto (and Canadian Driver of the Year) has started the transition to IndyCar and hopefully the Canadian will run and place near the top of the series in his first season.

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Canadian Tour Car Championship racing will be back and those large NASCAR stock cars fill up the track pretty fast. And Ferrari Challenge anyone?

After a rocky period several years ago when the ownership of the Grand Prix and later the Indy seemed to burn and churn, the last several years has seen a steady improvement each year. Free Fridays is a fantastic way to get people in to see the excitement of the high performance race cars. It will soon be time to sit in the warm sun, watch the cars burn around the track and enjoy some cold barley pops.

Toronto Honda Indy start/finish line.