Title sponsor for Toronto race to be announced
09/18/08 Andretti Green Promotions is expected to unveil Honda today as the new title sponsor for next summer's Indy Racing League stop in Toronto.
The announcement is one of the final pieces of the puzzle needed to bring open-wheel racing back to the streets of Exhibition Place, after the 23rd edition of the Toronto Indy was cancelled this year because of the demise of the Champ Car World Series.
The Honda-branded race will be run on July 12 on the 11-turn, 2.825-kilometre temporary street circuit. The other Canadian date on the IRL calendar is two weeks later at the City Centre Airport in Edmonton.
 |
| 2001 – One of 7 Michael Andretti wins at Toronto |
Toronto's race was put on hiatus this year after Champ Car filed for bankruptcy in February and its teams were swallowed by the IRL. The series ran in Watkins Glen, N.Y., on the weekend slated for the Toronto race and could not find an alternate date. The merged series made its Canadian debut in Edmonton in July.
Andretti Green Promotions bought the assets of the Toronto race from former Champ Car co-owners Jerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven in May. Michael Andretti, the chairman of Andretti Green, won on the streets of Toronto seven times.
As many as 28 cars could line up for the green flag next summer.
The deal solidifies Honda's links with Andretti Green Promotions, a subsidiary of the IRL's Andretti Green Racing team. They have combined forces on the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where the car manufacturer has been the title sponsor since the race appeared on the IRL calendar in 2005. The IRL's first street-course event, St. Petersburg, also staged a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART, which later became Champ Car) race in 2003. Globe and Mail
09/16/08 AutoRacing1.com sources are hearing that Honda will become the title sponsor of the Toronto race.
09/14/08 This Thursday Andretti Green Promotions has called a media conference to announce a major title sponsor for the Indy Racing League Grand Prix of Toronto.