The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto is an annual

Indy Car IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...

race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the

Championship Auto Racing Teams Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 CART season, 2003 season. CART was founded in 1979 by team owners formerly ...

(CART) series from 1986 to 2003, and then the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), ...

from 2004 to 2007. After a one-year hiatus, it has been part of the

NTT IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

schedule since 2009. The race takes place on a , 11 turn, temporary

street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport race track, racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor racing, motor races. Airport Runway, runways and Taxiway, taxiways are also sometimes part of ...

through

Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...

and on

Lake Shore Boulevard Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore ...

. 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 The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the CART/Champ Car Worl ...

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 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-Race track, track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville in Clarington, Ontario, Canada, approximately 75 kilometers (47 miles) east of To ...

Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant () is a List of cities in Canada, city in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, approximately northwest of Montreal and northeast of Ottawa, Ontario. The current municipality with city status was formed in 2000. Mont-Tremb ...

, Sanair,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, and

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Origins

Motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

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 IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...

, the

1916 Indianapolis 500 The 6th International 300-Mile Sweepstakes Race was the sixth running of the Indianapolis 500. It was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1916. The management scheduled the race for 120 laps, , the only Indianapolis 500 s ...

winning

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

during the 1918

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...

From 1952 until 1966 the

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

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 The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

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 Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He is the patriarch of the Petty racing family. He was one of the early pioneers of NASCAR and one of its f ...

. Following the 1977 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix,

Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...

, 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 Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...

had negotiated with Labatt to move the race permanently to Montreal. In 1984,

Molson Breweries The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

in-house promotional division, Molstar Sports & Entertainment acquired the rights to

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

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 Richard Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is an American former race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (197 ...

during the first event. In the spring of 1985, Molson revived the idea of a street circuit through

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 Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

on July 20, 1986. The event quickly became Canada's second largest annual sporting event, eclipsed only by the

Canadian Grand Prix The Canadian Grand Prix () is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports car event, before alterna ...

in Montreal, with three-day attendance figures routinely around 170,000 people. In the 1996 race, American driver

Jeff Krosnoff Jeffrey John Krosnoff (September 24, 1964 – July 14, 1996) was an American race car driver. A competitor in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, he was killed in a racing accident during the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto. Early life and care ...

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 Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández was born in Mexico City and began his career in Mexico at the age ...

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 IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

(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 Steelback Brewery was a Canadian brewery located in Tiverton, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron. History Beginning The roots of Steelback Brewery begin in September 2002, with businessman Frank D'Angelo looking for expansion space for his ...

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 Andretti Global is an American motorsports organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, Indy NXT, Formula E, and joint entries in IMSA and the Australian Supercars Championship. Starting in 2026, Andretti will also operate the Cad ...

(co-owned by

Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...

) 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. 2013 Honda Indy Toronto Exhibition Place

2013 Honda Indy Toronto Exhibition Place

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 Hotel X Toronto is a hotel and sports club complex on the grounds of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hotel, part of the Library Hotel Collection, is intended to serve visitors attending conventions, meetings, and trade shows b ...

. 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 and 2021 editions of the event were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada w ...

, marking the second gap in the race's history. This came due to the restrictions that were in place barring non-essential travel at the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

(as most

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

races are within the United States) and after Mayor

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007 ...

announced that all mass public gatherings were banned throughout the summers of 2020 and 2021 respectively in response to the pandemic. 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. On March 14, 2024 it was announced that the new title partner of the race would be the Ontario Honda Dealers, changing the name to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. In 2025, the race will be the shortest race on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule, at , even after the series lengthened races on the schedule.

Past winners

*1990: Race shortened due to rain. *1996: Race shortened due to fatal crash involving

and a track marshal. *2014 I: Race postponed from Saturday to Sunday morning due to rain. Shortened to accommodate regularly scheduled Sunday race. *2014 II: Race shortened due to time limit.

Support race winners

Road to Indy

SCCA Trans-Am Series

Pirelli World Challenge – GT

Pirelli World Challenge – Touring Car

CASCAR Super Series

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 Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly known as Exhibition Stadium or CNE Stadium and nicknamed The Ex) was a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the grounds of Exhibition Place. Originally built for Canadian National ...

(located on the site of

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...

). That race marked the Cup debut of

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "the King", is an American former stock car racing driver who competed from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most nota ...

Stadium Super Trucks

Lap records

As of July 2023, the fastest official race lap records at the Grand Prix of Toronto (

) are listed as:

Current series

USF Pro 2000 Championship The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an Open-wheel car, open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the ...

USF2000 Championship The USF2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tire is an American racing series using an American variation of the Formula Ford standard, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States ...

NASCAR Pinty's Series The NASCAR Canada Series (NCS, ) is a national NASCAR racing series in Canada, and is a continuation of the old CASCAR Super Series which was founded in 1981. It is the top NASCAR touring series in Canada. History In September 2006 NASCAR purchas ...

* Sports Car Championship Canada *Radical Canada Cup *Blue Marble Radical Cup North America

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: *

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just ...

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was an American open-wheel auto racing series promoted by the Skip Barber Racing School from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were prima ...

CASCAR Super Series The CASCAR Super Series was Canada's premier stock car touring division. It was sanctioned by CASCAR. The series ended after the 2006 season after NASCAR purchased CASCAR, and NASCAR used it as the basis for the NASCAR Pinty's Series. General T ...

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of ...

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a One-Design, single-marque Auto racing, motorsport championship that was created in 1993, initially catering to owners of the 348 Challenge who wanted to race their cars. The first European season took place in 1993, ...

* North American Touring Car Championship *

Canadian Touring Car Championship Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) presented by Pirelli is a Canadian professional touring car road racing series. In 2006, it was created based on the growth of amateur touring car racing in Canada and the pent-up demand for a professiona ...

Motorola Cup Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul Galvin (businessman), Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motoro ...

IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Canada The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama was a one-make racing series based in Canada utilizing Porsche 911 GT3s. The Ultra 94 GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama featured semi-professional drivers racing head to head in one of ...

* Porsche Carrera Cup North America * SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks *

North American Fran Am 2000 Pro Championship The Formula TR 2000 Pro Series was a Formula Renault 2.0 championship held in North America. This series was created in 2004 and was part of the Formula TR Pro Series that also included the Formula Renault 1.6 (FTR 1600 class) and 2.0 (FTR 2000 c ...

*Canadian Formula Ford Championship *

Pirelli World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2 ...

*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

References

External links

Official website2013 IndyCar Results PageExhibition Place (Toronto) race results
at Racing-Reference {{Navboxes , list = {{Honda Indy Toronto {{Parades and Festivals in Toronto {{Exhibition Place {{Indy Racing League Seasons {{IndyCar Series races {{Pirelli World Challenge circuits {{Champ Car Races {{Atlantic Championship circuits {{Trans-Am tracks {{NASCAR Canadian Tire Series racetracks {{Indy Lights racetracks {{Pro Mazda Championship race venues {{Stadium Super Trucks tracks {{Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada tracks {{Global MX-5 Cup tracks {{IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge racetracks {{Barber Pro Series tracks Auto races in Canada Tourist attractions in Toronto Festivals in Toronto Articles containing video clips Exhibition Place 1986 establishments in Ontario Recurring sporting events established in 1986 IndyCar Series races Champ Car races NASCAR races Annual events in Toronto