Car FYI

Winner of the 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Pato O'Ward celebrates (Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment) IndyCar’s only visit outside of the states, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto has been a classic attraction where some of the greatest open wheel racers tested their talents on a tricky, tight temporary street course nestled within Exhibition Place. The 2025 edition of the event headlined by the NTT IndyCar Series drew a consistently large crowd of Canadian race fans throughout the weekend who were rewarded with plenty of off-track and on-track excitement.  By virtue of a magnificent defence of pole position for a third consecutive year, Colton Herta and his Gainbridge #26 Andretti Global team earned the honours of leading the field to the green flag for Sunday’s main event. Whether or not he would be able to defend his 2024 victory would depend on the outcome of 90 laps on the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometer (1.786-miles) race track. Following time trials, ...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IMS The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 was destined to provide a Memorial Day weekend worth remembering in the United States. Not even a long anticipated rain shower was enough to bring silence the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Showers did press the green flag back from its usual early afternoon start close to 4:45 pm eastern time but the sounds of Chevrolet and Honda engines propelling Dallara race cars did fill the air.  Among the 33 competitors starting the 2024 Indianapolis 500 was NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson driving for Arrow McLaren. Larson had planned to compete for 1,100 miles during Sunday as he would have run 500 miles at Indianapolis before boarding a private jet to Charlotte, North Carolina to drive his familiar #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in the Coca-Cola 600. The temptation to run the prestigious event on the yard of bricks was just too much for Larson causing him to remain at the track.  ...

Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski For the 30th occasion, the City of Toronto has welcomed a majestic show of competitive technology alongside the waterfront within the Exhibition Place grounds. Since 1986, open wheel Indy-style cars have been the highlight to major auto racing held on a temporary street course. With exception to 2008, the racing activities has been an yearly occasion that attracted some of the largest crowds for an annual sporting event in Ontario and ranks high within the country of Canada. As the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series arrived in Toronto for the longstanding engagement of thrilling Canadian fans, this year's race demonstrated a revamped flavour compared to the 29 races that preceded this year's race. Not immune to the hotel/condo construction fever that Toronto has been weathering for the past decade, the 30th anniversary of the Honda Indy Toronto was marked by some key changes. The movement of the pit road to the left side of the track was noted for th...

Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/NASCAR via Getty Images The Toyota Camrys prepared by Joe Gibbs Racing were the toast of Texas for much of the Duck Commander 500 on Saturday night. In a race where three of the four Joe Gibbs owned cars and the associated Furniture Row Racing #78 car led for all but 15 of 334 laps, the one who triumphed at the end only truly showed his hand late on the fast Fort Worth, Texas track. The 500-mile race at the Texas Motor Speedway started after a roughly two-hour delay. Leading the field to green, the Stanley-sponsored Toyota wheeled by Carl Edwards led 57 of the first 57 laps of the race. On lap 59, Edward’s main adversary for the night emerged in the form of the black #78 Toyota Camry. Martin Truex Jr started 3rd in the field and kept his Furniture Row Racing car in the top-5 for almost the entire race. Thanks to a long green flag running from lap 34 to 136 (totalling more than half the race’s scheduled distance), Truex Jr held the lead for an impre...

Photo Credit: Chris Jones St. Petersburg, Florida once again serves as the launching pad for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ 2016 campaign. The 1.8-mile street course in the vibrant tourist hot spot provided the first opportunity for open wheel drivers in the North American-based series to compete with a clean slate. The first race of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series would be contested by 22 drivers (18 returning veterans and 4 rookies to the Series) for a 110-lap main event on Sunday. Two drivers for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Canada’s James Hinchcliffe and Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin made competitive returns to the cockpit for a full season. Hinchcliffe’s 2015 season came to an end at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway following a severe crash in practice for the Indy 500. Aleshin’s suffered injuries in a practice crash in the 2014 race at Auto Club Speedway that took the driver out of the car for a year. Mikhail Aleshin was back in Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car for IndyCar...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images The first 200 laps of competition for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2016 season took place at the crown jewel of stock car racing. A facility recently renovated under the Daytona Rising initiative focused on greater fan comfort (a plan also including the reduction of seating from the 2014 capacity of over 145,000 to approximately 101,000), the track configuration contributing to high-speeds and multi-car drafting remained the same. This year's Daytona 500 saw the race decided in a matter of less than half the distance of the 2.5-mile track on the final lap. Before the Green Flag Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the stage to start of the Cup Series season. Ahead of the green flag for the 58th annual 500 mile race at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway oval, several radical changes have been instituted for the new Sprint Cup Series season. A new charter team structure guarantees 36 teams will start every race this seas...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy Car collectors enjoy no only the thrill of owning a vehicle but the culture surrounding the popular brands that have driven our passions and emotions. When collecting Ferrari, the love can be enjoyed with the possession of a multimillion dollar classic like a highly rare 250 GTO or something as little as a one dollar die-cast car. Ferrari aficionados also take pleasure the in full range of merchandise surrounding the ‘Prancing Horse’ brand. Hats, jackets, sunglasses, watches and picture frames are just a few officially licensed items offered to collectors of the Ferrari brand. Ferrari is one of the most coveted brands when it comes to merchandising. Now, for the latest collectible item, why not own a piece of the company ambitious founded by the legendary motorsport figure Enzo Ferrari? Selling 10 percent of the Ferrari company in an IPO (Initial Public Offering) release on the New York Stock Exchange, the first shares will be offered at $52 a share s...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The auto racing equivalent of the David versus Goliath story has taken place in the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series. Late last year, two small teams of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing merged to form CFH Racing. Able to campaign as a multi-car team, CFH Racing has still been perceived as lacking the resources of major teams such as Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing. However, earlier this year, young American driver Josef Newgarden drove the team's #67 car to victory at Barber Motorsport Park. At the 2015 Honda Indy Toronto, CFH Racing proved that perhaps a David effort has Goliath strength. While the 1.755-mile race course along the Canadian waterfront remained the same, the 2015 Honda Indy Toronto contained several changes compared to event of other recent years. Bumped from its typical July date by Toronto's hosting of the 2015 Pan-Am Games, the Honda Indy's temporary course was shaped a month ahead of ...