Molson Indy Vancouver

Molson Indy Vancouver was an annual Champ Car race held in a street circuit near BC Place and running past Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada held in July, August or September from 1990 to 2004.

Molson Indy Vancouver
IndyCar / CART / Champ Car
LocationConcord Pacific Place, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
49°16′34″N 123°6′24″W
Corporate sponsorMolson
First race1990
Last race2004
Most wins (driver)Al Unser, Jr. (4)
Most wins (team)Newman/Haas Racing (3)
Team Green (3)
Most wins (manufacturer)Chassis: Lola (7)
Engine: Ford-Cosworth (4)
Honda (4)
Circuit information
SurfaceAsphalt/Concrete
Length2.865 km (1.780 mi)
Turns15
Vancouver circuit from 1990-1997.
Vancouver circuit from 1998.
Vancouver circuit from 1999-2004 which removed the chicane at the old Turn 7 and added a chicane at Turn 13.

On September 2, 1990, the first race took place on the original circuit, which was won by Al Unser Jr. From 1998, a new circuit was created to the east of the old Pacific Place, where only a small part of the original circuit was used. The circuit was popular with drivers and often produced an entertaining race. For most of its fifteen years, the Vancouver Indy attracted in excess of 100,000 spectators over the course of its weekends, and in 1996 held the Canadian single-day sporting event attendance record until it was beaten by the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal that year. [1] The final event in 2004 had race day attendance of 63,000 with a total three day turnout of 158,420 spectators. [2] However, from 2004, Vancouver was left off the Champ Car fixture list, and no race has taken place since.

Controversy and cancellation

For much of its time in Vancouver, the Molson Indy was a source of considerable local controversy, as local residents complained of the noise and disruption caused by this major event. As the lands of the former Expo 86 site were developed into the billion-dollar condominium development by Concord Pacific, debates raged over whether the Indy made Vancouver a "world-class city" or an "urban nightmare." Such debates were chronicled by Mark Douglas Lowes in his 2002 book, Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares: Speed Merchants, Spectacle, and the Struggle over Public Space in the World-Class City.[3]

The official explanation for the cancellation came from Jo-Ann McArthur, president of sponsoring Molson Sports and Entertainment, who stated that "the bottom line is the business model couldn't work".[4] The race had just two seasons left in the city, due to the impending construction of the Olympic Village for the 2010 Winter Olympics on the south end of the course. She stated that the lack of a long-term commitment to holding the event made it difficult to attract sponsors to continue the race.[5]

Following the cancellation, Champ Car continued to race in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton as part of the 2005 season.

CART/Champ Car race winners
Season Driver Chassis Engine Team Report
1990 Al Unser Jr. Lola Chevrolet Galles-KRACO Racing Report
1991 Michael Andretti Lola Chevrolet Newman/Haas Racing Report
1992 Michael Andretti Lola Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing Report
1993 Al Unser Jr. Lola Chevrolet Galles Racing Report
1994 Al Unser Jr. Penske Ilmor Marlboro Team Penske Report
1995 Al Unser Jr. Penske Mercedes-Ilmor Marlboro Team Penske Report
1996 Michael Andretti Lola Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing Report
1997 Maurício Gugelmin Reynard Mercedes-Benz PacWest Racing Report
1998 Dario Franchitti Reynard Honda Team KOOL Green Report
1999 Juan Pablo Montoya Reynard Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing Report
2000 Paul Tracy Reynard Honda Team KOOL Green Report
2001 Roberto Moreno Reynard Toyota Patrick Racing Report
2002 Dario Franchitti Lola Honda Team KOOL Green Report
2003 Paul Tracy Lola Ford-Cosworth Team Player's Report
2004 Paul Tracy Lola Ford-Cosworth Forsythe Championship Racing Report

Indy Lights/Atlantic winners
Indy Lights
SeasonWinning Driver
1990 Vinicio Salmi
1991 Not held
1992 Mark Smith
1993 Bryan Herta
1994 André Ribeiro
1995 Pedro Chaves
1996 Claude Bourbonnais
1997 Cristiano da Matta
1998 Cristiano da Matta
1999 Not held
2000 Scott Dixon
Atlantic Championship
SeasonWinning Driver
1990 Claude Bourbonnais
1991 Stéphane Proulx
1992 Patrick Carpentier
1993 Claude Bourbonnais
1994 David Empringham
1995 David Empringham
1996 Patrick Carpentier
1997 Memo Gidley
1998 Andrew Bordin
1999 Will Langhorne
2000 Not held
2001 Joey Hand
2002
2003		 Not held
2004 Ryan Dalziel
gollark: One evil idea I had relating to that was to spoof GPS for specific IDs, so you could subtly mess up their location finding.
gollark: I use that for my WyattTracker system.
gollark: You can *associate* IDs with locations if you have 4 modems and a computer listening to GPS.
gollark: Hmm, a shame.
gollark: The anonymous GPS thing just makes the GPS *client* code in `/rom/apis/gps.lua` use`gps.CHANNEL_GPS` for pings, as it was already used for ping responses.

References
  1. Charters, David A. (2007). The Chequered Past: Sports Car Racing & Rallying in Canada, 1951-1991. University of Toronto Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-8020-9394-3.
  2. Sabine, Alex (2005). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2004–2005. Crash Media Group Press. pp. 110–113. ISBN 978-1905334001.
  3. Lowes, Mark Douglas (2002). Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 148. ISBN 978-0-8020-8498-9. Indy Dreams and Urban Nightmares: Speed Merchants, Spectacle, and the Struggle over Public Space in the World-Class City.
  4. "Molson ends Indy-car race in Vancouver". The Seattle Times. November 19, 2004. Archived from the original on 12 February 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  5. "Vancouver Molson Indy cancelled". CBC News. Toronto. November 18, 2004. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
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