A bitter-sweet end to an action-packed racing event

By Elisabeth Rae Collett

Like I said before, I'm bummed that Tracy didn't make it to the final grid and I'm a little depressed that the weekend is over already. Oh, and my only gripe is that the event was sponsored by Budweiser, which meant there was no champagne at the end of the race! I'm a fan of champagne flying all over the place, but the tall bottles of Bud that were given to the top three winners just didn't cut it.

All pain-points aside, it was a fantastic weekend. Edmonton is next to rock the trackside action at the Edmonton City Airport and I'm extremely excited about the fact that IRL is here in Canada to stay.

Winners' press conferences

By Elisabeth Rae Collett

Second and third place race winners, Ryan Briscoe and Will Power, barely took a breath after the race. Right after their podium fun, they were rushed to the media room for a press conference.

"That's what I call a real race," he says as he speaks to us. The two teammates seemed happy to both have made it this high in the ranks today.

It's official: The new Honda Indy Toronto winner is Dario Franchitti

By Elisabeth Rae Collett

After 85 laps around the street course here in Toronto, the driver wth the fastest time is Dario Franchitti!!!

In the top five are Franchitti, Briscoe, Power, Dixon and Wilson. Danica Patrick is sixth and Alex Tagliani is ninth. My two faves, Patrick and 'the underdog' hit the top ten - I think I should buy a lottery ticket tonight. ;)

Here are the official results:

1. Dario Franchitti, car #10, of Target Chip Ganassi Racing (53 points in Toronto, 347 points in the IndyCar Series, 1st in IndyCar Series standings)
2. Ryan Briscoe, car #6, of Team Penske (40 points in Toronto, 334 points in the IndyCar Series overall, 3rd in IndyCar Series standings)
3. Will Power, car #12, of Penske Racing (35 points in Toronto, 134 points in the IndyCar Series, 19th in IndyCar Series standings)
4. Scott Dixon, car #9, of Target Chip Ganassi Racing (32 points in Toronto, 345 points in the IndyCar Series, 2nd in IndyCar Series standings)
5. Justin Wilson, car #18, of Dale Coyne Racing (30 points in Toronto, 217 points in the IndyCar Series, 9th in IndyCar Series standings)

Danica Patrick, car #7, of Andretti Green Racing came in 6th today and is 5th in the IndyCar Series standings.

It was a rough weekend with weather and crashes, as the Toronto street course really gives a good punch, but that doesn't take anything away from the experience.

"You definitely have to be aggressive on street courses, and today we were," said Danica Patrick in an interview this afternoon. "We started in the back of the field and fought our way up to the front."

It's unfortunate that Paul Tracy didn't make it through to the end of the race. Seven other cars also did not finish the race, including Helio Castroneves, who took out Tracy.

"I thought I had given (Paul Tracy) enough room to get by but we got together and that was it," Castroneves said in an interview with reporters right after the crash. "It's too bad...if there's one guy that I didn't want that to happen with, it's PT, especially here in Canada. I feel bad for the fans. They were great and I still love Toronto."

The cars are parked now and a crowd has taken over the track in excitement, cheering for Franchitti and all the other drivers.

Now, we're all just waiting now for the podium to be driven onto the track.

Franchitti crosses the checkered line first!

The checkered flag has been waved and Dario Franchitti has just crossed the finish line, grabbing the win for the 2009 Honda Indy Toronto!

Yellow flag again

Tagliani just took out Tomas Scheckter as three cars got tied up around one of the corners.

Tracy and Castroneves out of the race :(

Paul Tracy just got knocked into a wall by Helio Castroneves. Their wheels got tangled and Tracy's car is now a write-off.

Castroneves, car #3, has now arrived back at the pits. The crowd is booing at him for his part in taking out Tracy. Castroneves' car doesn't look too damaged, but he's called it quits for the day.

Tracy has just made it back to the pits now also. What a sad way to end it for our local icon, Tracy. 

At least we still have Tagliani in the race and he seems to be doing well.

Back on track

The cars are at full speed again and the yellow flag has been lifted.

I'm at a straight stretch where the cars are trying to overtake each other. Up until this point it was single file pretty much.

Four cars just went into turn one at the same time, and narrowly missed each other.

The drivers put so much faith in each other to trust that they'll all know how to pull out of a dangerous situation before it even happens.

I still haven't heard who crashed earlier in the race. You only get one perspective when you're in a photobox area, because you're so fenced off.

Yellow flag

The caution flags are out and the pace car has slowed the crowd right down as they do three laps at a slow speed. Now I can get a shot of them at least, as they're so fast at full speed!

Bang!

Holy crap! Just passed turn one, it sounds like someone just hit something...hard!

An amber light flashes to warn the unsuspecting drivers and they slow down drastically just before the turn.

Green flag waved

The cars have done the first few warm-up laps at a slower speed, and led by the pace car. To really kick of the race there are more fireworks and two more fighter jets fly overhead!

I'm now standing trackside, past the finish line and just before turn one, so the smoke of the fireworks is stinging my nose.

Wow! The cars are at full speed now, heading into turn one. They're so powerful and fast, and there's only a chain-linked fenced between me and the speed demons. I wouldn't have a fighting chance if one of them spun at me!!! I love the thrill of them racing by at such a close distance (although my ears don't, so I'm glad I remembered my earplugs today). They're driving so fast that I barely see them going by - but I sure can feel them!