The people who designed the Indy track

The original Indy track at the CNE that was proposed in 1968 (the start/finish line and the pits would have run through the old football stadium) was rejected by Indy racing organizers in 1985 because too much of Lake Shore Blvd. West would have been used.

Norris McDonald

MOTORSPORT WRITER

Jim Tario is Director of Operations for the Honda Indy Toronto.

Translation: he’s the guy who supervises the construction of the race track where, come next weekend, Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy and Danica Patrick and more than 20 other IZOD IndyCar Series drivers will put the pedal to the metal for the 24th renewal of the popular downtown Toronto summertime classic.

Tario is the only person in an official capacity at that race who’s been around it since the beginning. He supervised the erection of the walls and fencing for the first Indy in 1986 and he’s done that job at every race since but one.

So this week, at a press conference in which it was announced that the Canadian government will contribute about half of the cost to replace the current walls and fences in time for the 2011 race (promoters Green-Savoree will pay the rest), we got talking about how the track came to be designed in the first place and the people who were involved.

“It actually happened in 1985, the year before the first race,” Tario said. “I was employed by Exhibition Place as manager of concessions and I went around with the committee that determined where the track would be built to basically say, ‘That’s a fire lane, that road has to stay open’ – that sort of thing.”

Tario said the committee consisted of Jack Long and Lance Shafer, whose company ran the Long Beach Grand Prix and had been hired by Molson to “get it right the first time,” Kirk Russell, an executive of CART (which sanctioned the Indy car series of the day), Wally Dallenbach, a retired racer who was director of competition for CART, and two representatives from Molson, Mike Murphy and Dave Barber.

I asked Tario if there was any thought given to duplicating the layout first proposed in 1968 by racing driver George Eaton and two executives of the old Toronto Telegram – Johnny F. Bassett and Don Hunt – who’d wanted to run annual Grand Prix of Canada F1 races as well as Indy car races at the Ex.

“No,” Tario said. “It was mentioned in passing but they thought the run along Lake Shore Blvd. West, as proposed originally, would have been too long and that’s when they started focusing on the baseball stadium (since demolished) as a turning point,” he said.

“It’s interesting, but at one time the idea was to keep the circuit entirely inside the Exhibition grounds and not have to use Lake Shore at all. Another scenario had the cars turning right near the corner of Strachan and Fleet streets, but that was rejected because it meant going over some TTC tracks.

“Finally, the Molson guys said, ‘No, we need the ‘wow factor’ of Lake Shore, so that’s why the cars are out there going 220 miles an hour – a speed they never could have been attained if the track had been kept inside the grounds.”

Tario said practice makes perfect: it took between eight and nine weeks to build the track for the first race but that’s down to six weeks now.

“And when we get the new metre-high barriers and improved fencing for 2011, the time to put it up and take it down will be even shorter.”

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And now for a couple of public-service announcements. Note: this doesn’t happen very often in this column (and won’t soon again) but I believe strongly in what’s being offered in the following items and am happy to make these two exceptions:

1. The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, of which I am a proud supporter, is holding its 4th annual Celebration of Speed on Monday (July 12) at Mosport.

Presented by Pure Precision Tech, H2Sport, Matco Tools and Franczak Enterprises, the day will include lapping sessions for drivers who want to take their own cars out to the fabled track and drive them around in a safe, structured and fun environment with lots of track time and camaraderie.

Classroom and in-car instruction will be offered to anyone who wants to take advantage of this rare opportunity to drive on a real race track.

The program will also include ride-alongs with professional race drivers such as Oakville’s Kenny Wilden, who’s currently competing in the Grand Am Rolex Continental Tire Series (he won a one-off Trans-Am Series race at Mosport a few weeks ago, too), and Rick Bye, who’s raced against the best in NASCAR, Rothman’s Porsche Turbo Cup and the Canadian Formula 2000 series.

All proceeds will go to the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation – Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

For more info, go to www.cmhf.ca

2. My friend Brian Stewart has devoted his life to auto racing.

He’s raced himself and he’s prepared cars for others to race and some of the guys who’ve strapped themselves into his cars over the years are a who’s who of the sport: Paul Tracy, Cristiano Da Matta, Brian Herta and – well – literally dozens more.

In recent years, Stewie has given back to the sport by sponsoring the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship. To raise money for the young karters, he’s organized a golf tournament, which just happens to be his second-favourite sport.

The first-ever BSR Benefit Golf Tournament will be held next Wednesday (July 14) at the exclusive and private Briars Golf Course at Jackson’s Point. A chicken and rib dinner and silent auction will be held afterward at the nearby Lake Simcoe Arms. Prizes include a couple of chances to drive a racing car for a day.

All the proceeds raised will be donated to the not-for-profit karting series. As Brian says, “Every Canadian kid should be able to learn safe driving skills while developing important life skills like dedication, determination and discipline. The Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship provides those opportunities.”

He’s also got a million stories about racing and racers. He’ll have you in stitches, guaranteed.

Interested in playing? Go to Brian Stewart Racing for more info.

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