Question mark hangs over 2015 IndyCar Series race in Toronto

Mario Andretti leading the IndyCar race at Mosport in 1968

We'll find out today whether Toronto will be on the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule. Cross fingers, though. It could happen. Or it might not.

For a racing series that's not doing any racing these days, the Verizon IndyCar Series is doing everything it can to keep itself front-and-centre in the news.

There's a driver announcement one minute and something else the next. Let's start with this, though.

Sometime today – this afternoon, in fact – the 2015 IndyCar schedule will finally be issued. The fact that most of the promoters have already sent out releases about dates and numbers to call for tickets hasn't discouraged the series from scheduling a media conference to make the Grand Announcement and offering up people for interviews. Whether anybody will really be interested remains to be seen.

From my perspective, all I care about is whether there will be a Honda Indy Toronto race next year – and where.

Everybody assumes Toronto will be on the calendar but will the race be held at its traditional location – Exhibition Place – or be moved for a year to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park?

Savoree-Green Promotions, the company that owns the Toronto race, let it be known on Labour Day weekend that it had entered into talks with the owners and manager of "Old Mosport" to perhaps hold the race there in 2015 because the Pan-Am Games will be going on at the CNE in July, which is when Toronto is traditionally held.

Since then, little has been said by anybody. Lots of rumors; lots of speculation. Not a lot of hard facts.

I know that talks were going on as recently as a month ago to hold the race at CTMP in mid-June but there would be a lot of risk on both sides.

From the CTMP side, they would have had to spend some money – serious money – to make safety improvements that would better protect the IndyCar drivers as well as spectators. I could see them spending the money and making the changes if the race was going to be held there for two or three years or longer. But for one year?

From Savoree-Green's side, their two big revenue sources are pretty much tied to Exhibition Place. They sell all those suites to Canadian corporations every year and they make a lot of money from them. Will the people who rent those suites in downtown Toronto be happy about having to drive an hour east before setting up the catering and opening the bar? Some, maybe; most no.

And then there is government money. The Toronto Indy car race doesn't get nearly the amount that Montreal gets for the Formula One race there but it does attract investment dollars. Montreal gets federal and provincial money as well as Montreal tourism dollars. All can be justified as being tied to tourism and job creation. That money would not be available to Savoree-Green – or the organizers of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, either – if the races were to be held away from the big cities.

I would imagine that if Toronto race organizers have made a deal with the city to hold the event at the Ex in mid-June, part of the contract would stipulate that they would have to dismantle the circuit and get everything moved out literally within days of the checkered flag falling. The Pan-Am Games are costing the city, the province and the feds millions and millions of dollars and there is a timetable that has to be adhered to. Those games will open on July 10 and everything has to be ready and anything that might interfere would likely get a thumbs-down.

So if Toronto is to have a race, it will likely be at the Ex and we will find out the details later today. Of course, there is always the possibility that a deal with the city couldn't be reached and, for the reasons outlined above, Savoree-Green didn't want to go to CTMP. Which means Toronto's IndyCar race won't be held in 2015.

But let's think positively and hope the news today is good.

I do have to say this, though. The Indy cars would have run like rockets at "Old Mosport." Toronto Star