TOMAS TALES MOLSON INDY MEMORIES

It seemed altogether fitting that young Dane Christian Lundaard won this year’s Honda Indy Toronto, the 35th time the IndyCars roared about Exhibition Place in downtown Toronto. It fit the progression of the event and the historical timeline of The Raceline Radio Network perfectly!

Christian’s boss and Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan team co-owner Bobby Rahal claimed the very first race, then called The Molson Indy, 37 years ago in 1986 when the series was known as CART, an acronym for Championship Auto Racing Teams. Rahal was the hot hand in IndyCars that year. He preceded Toronto winning the 70th Indianapolis 500 and that season’s championship.

That first Toronto Indy was a whirlwind of emotion and excitement!

How incredibly cool was it to have Rahal, Fittipaldi, Mario and Michael Andretti, Rick Mears, Al Unser Jr., Danny Sullivan, A.J Foyt and the rest, the heroes of the Brickyard racing inside Canada’s largest city?

I co-called the Toronto Indy’s from that inaugural in 1986 on the public address system until we launched Raceline Radio in 1992 when we started a long run of trackside coverage right up until just before the pandemic.

Bobby was on with us when I asked him about that first Indy in 1986 and that wild blind, off camber Turn 11 just before the dash to the start-finish line. He remembered it vividly, saying that turn may have been the toughest on the entire schedule and it “really separated the men from the boys!”

We had him on again when he was interim President of CART just before the war with Tony George’s upstart Indy Racing League and eventual split of IndyCar racing in 1996. We were fearful the approaching sanctioning body storm would leave Toronto out in the rain and forgotten.

Rahal assured us Toronto was what he called a crown-jewel event the drivers and teams loved and that its future was as secure as they could make it at the time.

Thankfully, the only blank spot in the history of the Toronto Indy happened when the two sides eventually reunified in 2008, too late to secure an operative date to stage the Indy on the CNE grounds. COVID caused another gap years later.

Bobby Rahal stopped racing himself in 1998, but stayed involved, forming his own teams that eventually saw his son Graham drive for him. He still does.

Recent hire Christian Lundgaard ended a three-season winless drought for the struggling team with his dominating win this year, putting Bobby Rahal back in victory lane again in Toronto to come full circle.

Robert in the of the

Tale Pipes

holds

It

My Lakeport High School auto shop teacher and friend Nick Seminchuk called a while back to relay the sad news his friend, legendary IndyCar mechanic Jim Dilamarter had passed. Jim was involved when The Toronto Indy was conceived. From Welland, ON, Dilamarter learned his IndyCar chops from the winningest Indianapolis 500 chief mechanic of all time, George Bignotti, the winner of seven Indianapolis 500s starting with Graham Hill’s 1966 win.

When Vel’s-Parnelli Jones Racing was formed, Dilamarter turned wrenches for “Big” Al Unser Sr., who would capture the Indianapolis 500 in his Johnny Lightning Special backto-back in 1970 and 1971. He would also win the 1970 IndyCar championship.

On top of his IndyCar success in 1975, Dilamarter became the Formula 1 Team Manager for Vel’s-Parnelli Jones with driver legend Mario Andretti. Dilamarter’s cars also ran USAC Dirt, NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel drag racing, off-road racing and Formula 5000. God Speed Canadian Master Mechanic Jim Dilamarter! IT