Racing umbrella guy

The racing crews that looks after the fine tuned machine that is an open wheel race car includes a specialist - the umbrella guy. They don't seem to use team specific umbrellas, just whatever someone might have handy. Their job is to keep the hot sun off the race car driver as he is in the pits during practice. Although sometimes they have to run off and do something else and the driver has to hold his own umbrella.





I see that the race weekend weather has changed from sunny and warm to cool with showers - hopefully if it rains it will be minor and we can all run into the beer tents to keep dry, otherwise we could all use an personal umbrella guy.

Paul Tracy - to return to open wheel racing in TO

I was glad to hear that bad boy of racing - Canada's Paul Tracy "The Thrill from West Hill" will race in both the 2009 Toronto and Edmonton Indy races for KV Racing Technology.

The often controversial driver has also picked up at least one additional race at the Milwaukee Mile due to the injury of Vitor Meira from A.J. Foyt Enterprise's number 14 car. Vitor was injured during a crash with Raphael Matos during the 2009 Indianapolis 500 race. He fractured two vertebrae and is expected to be out of action for a number of months.

In an unusual turn of events 4th ranked Indycar Driver Danica Patrick has said some kind words about Paul's excellent driving skills. Around the same time Paul has said that A.J. Foyt was one of his racing heros and that if had pulled some crap while a young driver he would have been "taken out behind the garage and got the crap kicked out of him". With three female drivers in the IRL it's a good thing that things have changed from the old days.

Toronto is no stranger to female drivers in the open wheel races as Katherine Legge competed in the Grand Prix. As a former Sunshine Girl Katherine (photo below) could give Danica Patrick a run for the money.

Start and Finish Line - Honda Indy Toronto

The old and faded Toronto Grand Prix start and finish line markings remain in the asphalt roadway - it's almost time for the new Honda Indy line to be painted on the road.

Here is a panorama of the starting area across from the pits and looking toward the Direct Energy Building and Princes Gates.



Looking east on Princes Blvd towards the Princes Gates and turn one on the road course.

Honda Indy Toronto coming soon

The pedal hits the metal July 10 - 12, 2009 as racing action begins again in downtown Toronto. This will be the first indycar race for us as the Honda Indy Toronto takes over from the previous Toronto Grand Prix event.



As a bonus Budweiser has become the official beer sponsor for the event - so save up your thirst and wait for the smell of burning rubber, high octane race fuel and some lovely ladies.

For a taste of the upcoming excitement here are some pictures of the Grand Prix race action.

Frankie Muniz - to race the Steelback Grand Prix

I was surprised to receive notice that Frankie Muniz, star of movie and television - including Malcolm in the Middle, has been racing and will compete in the 2007 Toronto Steelback Grand Prix.

Frankie will be in Toronto today (May 16, 2007) for an autograph session. To see information regarding the session just follow this link to the Toronto Grand Prix website.

The Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto

The Toronto Grand Prix released it's new name with the following announcement.

After 21 years, we made history today by announcing that Steelback Brewery has signed a multi-year agreement to become the Grand Prix of Toronto’s title sponsor. From this day forward our new name is the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.

“This is a momentous occasion and we’re proud to have Steelback Brewery as our new title sponsor,” said Charlie Johnstone, President and CEO, Grand Prix Association of Toronto. “We’ve been working to build this event into the top open-wheel racing event in North America. In Steelback Brewery, we’ve secured a dedicated, enthusiastic title sponsor who shares our vision of what this event can be and who will work hand-in-hand with us to make the vision come to life. This title sponsor, combined with our securing some of the best on-track action to ever race on the streets of Toronto, will make this a truly great year attend the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.”

Luckily I like beer so it seems like a good name to me!

YouTube - Fight Network Girls

Those battlin' bikini girls of the fight network put on a great show. Tag team wrestling was an exciting diversion between practice runs on the track.

Ramping up for the 2007 Toronto Grand Prix

Driver Katherine Legge was in Toronto on Feb 21, 2007 for an autograph session. The race training will be underway soon with the season's first race in April in the great city of Las Vegas.

Here are some more pictures of the 2006 Toronto Grand Prix.

Andrew Ranger readies himself prior to running some practice laps. The picture below shows him in his race car - protected by the umbrella guy.

AJ and Lynne drive to their pits.

Some of the drivers walk from the paddock to the track, some use bicycles or scooters.

AJ doesn't wait for no stinkin traffic signals.

Paul waits in the race car.

Paul in the pits - checking with the crew.

The popular driver Katherine Legge was a sunshine girl and was also placed on the front page of the Toronto Sun newspaper. She walks by the newstand and notices her picture, stops and checks it out.

Won a prize

I won something! While at the Toronto Grand Prix website I filled out a survey - they contacted me by email and said I was one of a 100 people that won a prize of GP merchandise.

I hope it is either a race car or tickets to the 2007 race!

UPDATE: Well I received my prize in the mail - it was a crummy 2006 Toronto Grand Prix hat and it was cheesy!

What's Up

The season ground on - Paul T crashed into a few people and Sebastien remained in top spot. Here is a random girl that wandered around the race track in her see through skirt - she liked to pose for the photos.

2006 Toronto Grand Prix - the end

Bummer, dude. We shall see what happens at next year's race!

Some final Grand Prix thoughts

I have heard that the attendance was down from previous years and it could have been the FIFA soccer championship which drew people away. Or it could have been the reduced advertising and excitement that didn't attract people to the event. My brother definitely noticed a difference between the Molson run event and the CHAMP run event.

He is not to sore about the lack of track access but why go if you can't take pictures of the race? The lack of additional track events - like CASCAR, makes off track stuff even more important. However they did not have a lot of great exhibits along Thunder Alley - except for the fight network sponsored area.

At least one of the long standing attendees to the race has voiced his displeasure and first time complaints to me and questions whether he will attend the race next year (with his son).

A. J. Allmendinger wins 21st Toronto Grand Prix

A. J. Allmendinger, beat out of the pole position by Justin Wilson in Saturday's qualifying session, has captured the victory flag at Toronto's 21st Grand Prix race on Sunday July 9, 2006. This victory continues A. J.'s victory streak to three (Portland, Cleveland and now Toronto).

Canada's Paul Tracy built on his excellent showing in the qualifying laps and finished in second place. Paul will advance his Champ car point standings with the 27 points awarded to the second place finish and move upward from his current 11th place position.

Champ car points leader Sebastien Bourdais completed the race in third position with Justin Wilson coming in just after Sebastien.

Start of the race - Sunday

The 7th race of the Champ 2006 season - the Toronto Grand Prix, begins at 12:30 PM today (Sunday July 9, 2006).

Saturday's events

Joe and I are back at the media centre at 9:10 AM to pickup the latest information, some Tim Horton's donuts and some water and we head over to get ready for the drivers coming into the pit area for the first practice round.

We get some great personal shots of the drivers and are position near the johnny on the spot quickly becomes a gathering point of the drivers who need the facilities before they strap themselves into their cars.

At lunch we fuel up with prepackaged sandwiches at the media centre (Champ goes all out), watch some "drifter" racing and then we head to the National Trade Centre building for the GPT Auto Expo. Billed as the "largest Automotive Lifestyle event ever held in North America" the building is full of Champ support vehicles and trailers and the "tuners." Tuners take some average cars (although there are a few BMWs and the like) and create an impressive looking vehicle with features like gull wing doors, LCD televisions, stereo systems that take up have the car - they look both fast and furious.

Back in Thunder Alley we catch the Bikini Wrestling match and use our press passes to get through the crowds and photograph ringside. The fight models are also out in full force so cameras at the ready - fire.

We return to the pits for the afternoon's Champ qualifying session. After the session I download my 512 MB flash card onto a Nikon downloader so that I can format the card and shoot again if required and lose my 1 Gig card (not downloaded) which I don't notice until we return to the media centre. In a panic I search all my personal stuff and can't find it. I go back to where I downloaded and the card was not there! I grab my brother and I begin the search thinking that I would have to go to Thunder Alley but knowing that the card and all it's contents would be gone.

I ask a security guard who had been sitting near where I had been sitting during the download process and he told me someone had found it and brought it to the medical trailers. A quick visit and I was reunited with my memory card - what a great feeling.

Thinking of the lost pictures and replacement costs of the memory cards is enough to put you into a heavy sweat. To reduce the possibilities of losing your precious cards you may consider going with the largest cards you can buy instead of using a bunch of the earlier smaller memory cards you may have lying around. The downloader is another great invention. Back up the cards to the downloader and don't format the card unless you need it for shooting more pictures. Also use a special pocket or holder only for your cards. You can always do a quick check and now if your cards are safe.

I calmly leave the race grounds and await the afternoon's shuttle to the media hotel. I was going to take a picture of the traffic people near the shuttle area - there was one guy who was horrible. He was mean and abusive to people and in one case he almost jumped though the window to pound one driver that wasn't respectful enough to him. This guy should definitely not been given the job - thank god they didn't pass out weapons to them!

All in all the race day was adventure packed and the weather remained perfect. The cooling Lake Ontario breeze kept temperatures very reasonable and attendance is pretty high at all the events.

Pole position after Saturday qualification session

England's Justin Wilson, winner of last years Toronto Grand Prix, captured pole position with a lap speed of 58.182 seconds. This puts him and A. J. Allmendinger in the front row with Sebastian Bourdais and Paul Tracy behind them in the second row.

Three of the four (not including Paul) are currently at the top standings within the Champ car points standings so it is good to see Paul put up a great fight to try to win this Canadian race.

Fridays events

After the Champ practice round we head through "Thunder Alley" which is along the straight away opposite Lakeshore Boulevard. The cars scream at top speed in this section and provides the nickname for the area.

Booths are setup for amusement, sales and autographs and it is a little early on this first race day so the crowds are small.

The heat of the day is tempered by the breeze from Lake Ontario - but we are still very thirsty and retire to the media centre to top up on drinks and await lunch (packaged sandwiches). Joe meets several of his fellow professional shooters and we have a great time out of the sun.

The afternoon qualifying race is won by A. J. Allmendinger - who has the tentative pole position (which will be decided after tomorrows qualifying session. A. J. has his sights set on that third win in a row.

Off the track we look for some photogenic events and watch some trick motorcycle racing, some "rumble at the race" demonstrations and fights (Muay Thai Match). Luckily we also see plenty of girls, girls, girls - including the fight ladies, the party poker models and of course the Miss Grand Prix girls. Brandi Latimer is the winninng face of Grand Prix. Our media pass proved very fruitfull in obtaining right there coverage of the ladies. Jamie from PRN magazine along with Atto insurance helped gather the Miss Grand Prix contestants in front of the CASCAR vehicle.

After a long day we return to the media room to rest and take the media shuttle bus back to the race hotel. Then we begin the long journey to Brampton through rush hour traffic. A good first day.

First day - Friday July 7, 2006

Early Friday we are back at the race hotel in downtown Toronto to take the media shuttle to the exhibition grounds - site of the race and at 8:35 AM we pass through the entrance and are immediately hit up to get a free shirt and hat if only we would sign up for a new credit card. Somehow we get by and head to the automotive building where the media centre holds court.

We pick up some media guides, some free liquid refreshments and proceed to the pits. A Champ car Atlantic Championship practice is underway. We walk the pits taking pictures of the Champ setup and some of the Atlantic racers.

At about 9:45 AM the Champ drivers start to show up for their scheduled 1 hour practice run at 10:15 AM. They walk, are driven, or drive bikes and scooters into the pits. The drivers that walk are busy signing autographs and getting their photos taken. Riding into the pit frees them from having to sign anything. For some famous drivers it is quite a production, for some of the less well know drivers it is like a stroll in the park - a very nondescript entrance devoid of drama.

The tight pits are bursting with equipment, hoses, tires, crews and mini command posts. The drivers pull up their coveralls and place their colourfull helments and hans (head and neck safety) on and squeeze into the cockpits. The tight fit requires the steering wheel to be removed for the drivers access.

Media Pass

Thursday July 6 - Joe and I head into Toronto to pick up the Toronto Grand Prix media and pit pass at the race hotel. It took an hour to get into Toronto and only 20 minutes to get the pass. The conference room is full of activity as workers and marshalls all pass through this area.

We present photo ID to get the pass and cycle through the photos and lamination of the pass and we are set to go. However we do not receive the coveted trackside access lock and our photo opportunities are severely restricted (still the passes are cool and do show us as media). Joe is upset because he covers so many races, concentrating on CASCAR, and has many published photos - including a two page spread in Inside Track for last years Molson Grand Prix.

Joe argues with the pass people and we head to the exhibition to discuss the issue with the race representatives - no go.

We decide we will go Friday and Saturday but not attend the actual race day (Sunday July 9, 2006).

Who will win

In a packed field with an average of 18 cars competing to win each grand prix race - just who will win?

The top points leaders Sebastian Bourdais (166 pts), Justin Wilson (140 pts) and A. J. Allmendinger (135 pts) will certainly look to carry on their winning ways. Sebastian has won 4 of the last 6 races although he will have to forget about having been run over by Paul Tracy in the last race in Cleveland (which proves that anything can happen). A. J. has won the last two races and will see if he can hit the trifecta. Justin claimed victory in last years Toronto Grand Prix race and this fact should motivate him to once again claim Toronto's checkered flag.

Also contending are Bruno Junqueira who's finishes have been improving since the Time Warner race in Wisconsin and Oriol Servia who, while inconsistent, is certainly capable.

The racing positions will be set by the two CHAMP qualifying laps on the Friday and Saturday leading up to Sundays race scheduled for 12:30 PM. The leader of each qualifying session will lead the track in the first row. Don't forget that the top qualifiers have better odds for winning the race.

Local Torontonians and tourists will also win as they enjoy the main event and all the other fantastic entertainment scheduled for the Grand Prix weekend. Autographs and GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS will be a highlight for many fans. I also look forward to the drift mania event.