Tracy win boosts Toronto ticket sales

The Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto got the shot in the arm it needed to push ticket sales when hometown boy Paul Tracy drove his No. 3 Forsythe Championship Racing Panoz DP01 to victory in Cleveland on Sunday. There were times, however, during the weekend when Grand Prix boss Charlie Johnstone had to be very anxious about Tracy and Forsythe being able to even be competitive when the Champ Car World Series rolls into town next week. Prior to his win at the Burke Lakefront Airport circuit, Tracy had suffered through two winless years and had a bad result in the previous race at Portland, where he finished 10th, and in two days of qualifying at Cleveland the best he could do was seventh on the speed charts. But what really must have had Johnstone worried was word that team owner Gerry Forsythe was threatening to tear the team apart. Tracy had complained that his poor performances were the result of Forsythe's decision not to test with other teams during the eight week period the Toronto driver was recuperating from a broken back suffered in the second race of the season. Edmonton Sun