News

Andretti + The Thrill from West Hill

The Race Winners:

July 22, 1990 – Al Unser Jr.
July 21, 1991 - Michael Andretti
July 19, 1992 - Michael Andretti
July 18, 1993 – Paul Tracy
July 17, 1994 – Michael Andretti

July 16, 1995 – Michael Andretti
July 14, 1996  – Adrian Fernandez
July 20, 1997 - Mark Blundell
July 19, 1998 - Alex Zanardi
July 18, 1999 – Dario Franchitti

Al Unser Jr., another Indy car driver with a famous racing father, started off the new decade claiming victory, but no one did it more often or dominantly, especially in the first half of the 1990s, than Michael Andretti, son of the legendary Mario. He won four of five on the streets of Toronto.

Sandwiched evenly between Andretti’s four wins, Paul Tracy, the Scarbourgh, Ontario native nicknamed “the Thrill from West Hill” became the first Canadian to win the race in 1993 for Marlboro Team Penske. Long-time The (Toronto) Star motorsports journalist and expert Norris McDonald has dubbed it the most memorable race at Exhibition Place still today.

“I can’t really get it into words what the day was like. The fans were tremendous and right from the time I got to the track, I could feel them pulling for me. On the last lap, I could just sense that they were really cheering me to the line, but I had to keep my concentration on the race because I had a couple slow cars in front of me,” said Tracy afterwards. “But when I crossed the line, I could look and see them going a little wild. It was just a great day and I’m glad I could bring it home for the people of Toronto and Canada.”

Relive Paul Tracy’s “wildly popular” win from 1993.

An international flavor took over the top of the podium after the American Andretti’s fourth win in 1995. The drivers to claim victory in succession were Adrian Fernandez of Mexican, Mark Blundell of England, and Alex Zanardi of Italy. In 1999, Tracy’s then Team KOOL Green Honda teammate Dario Franchitti of Scotland would go on to win the final race of the decade. Paul finished 2.624 seconds behind Dario in second place.

Topping out at an all-time race high of five Canadian drivers in 1994, eight different Canadians would take the green flag in the Molson Indy Toronto during the 1990s: Ross Bentley (1992-1994), Claude Bourbonnais (1994), Patrick Carpentier (1997-1999), Scott Goodyear (1990-1994, 1996), John Jones (1991), Paul Tracy (1992-1999), Greg Moore (1996-1999), and Jacques Villeneuve (1994, 1995).