1996 Molson Indy Toronto

Last updated
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 1996 Toronto
Race details
Race 11 of 16 in the 1996 IndyCar season
DateJuly 14th, 1996
Official name 1996 Molson Indy Toronto
Location Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
CourseTemporary course
1.786 mi / 2.874 km
Distance92 laps
164.312 mi / 264.408 km
Scheduled Distance95 laps
169.67 mi / 273.03 km
Pole position
Driver André Ribeiro  (Tasman Motorsports)
Time58.06 seconds
110.616 mph (178.0191959 kph)
Podium
First Adrián Fernández  (Tasman Motorsports)
Second Alex Zanardi  (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third Bobby Rahal  (Team Rahal)

The 1996 Molson Indy Toronto was a CART race held on the street course at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 14, 1996. The race was won by Adrian Fernandez, driving the #32 Lola/Honda for Tasman Motorsports (his first career win), but was marred by an accident late in the race which resulted in the deaths of rookie driver Jeff Krosnoff and a track worker.

Contents

Qualifying

Twenty-eight drivers qualified for the race. The front row consisted of polesitter Andre Ribeiro, driving the #31 Lola/Honda for Tasman Motorsports, and Alex Zanardi, driving the #4 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. [1]

Lineup
PosNo.DriverTiresChassisEngineTeam
131 Flag of Brazil.svg Andre Ribeiro FirestoneLolaHonda Tasman Motorsports
24 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Zanardi Firestone ReynardHonda Chip Ganassi Racing
332 Flag of Mexico.svg Adrian Fernandez FirestoneLolaHondaTasman Motorsports
420 Flag of the United States.svg Scott Pruett FirestoneLola Cosworth Patrick Racing
599 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Greg Moore FirestoneReynardCosworth Forsythe Racing
649 Flag of the United States.svg Parker Johnstone FirestoneReynardHondaComptech Racing
72 Flag of the United States.svg Al Unser Jr. Goodyear Penske Mercedes-Benz Team Penske
818 Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Rahal GoodyearReynardMercedes-Benz Team Rahal
98 Flag of Brazil.svg Gil de Ferran GoodyearReynardHondaJim Hall Racing
106 Flag of the United States.svg Michael Andretti GoodyearLolaCosworth Newman/Haas Racing
1112 Flag of the United States.svg Jimmy Vasser FirestoneReynardHondaChip Ganassi Racing
1228 Flag of the United States.svg Bryan Herta GoodyearReynardMercedes-BenzTeam Rahal
133 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy GoodyearPenskeMercedes-BenzTeam Penske
1411 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi GoodyearLolaCosworthNewman/Haas Racing
159 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi GoodyearPenskeMercedes-Benz Hogan/Penske Racing
1621 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell GoodyearReynardCosworth PacWest Racing
1717 Flag of Brazil.svg Maurício Gugelmin GoodyearReynardCosworthPacWest Racing
185 Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon GoodyearReynardCosworth Walker Racing
191 Flag of Brazil.svg Raul Boesel FirestoneReynardHonda Brahma Sports Team/Team Green
2025 Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Krosnoff FirestoneReynard Toyota Arciero-Wells Racing
2116 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson GoodyearReynardMercedes-Benz Bettenhausen Racing
2234 Flag of Brazil.svg Roberto Moreno GoodyearLolaCosworth Payton/Coyne Racing
2315 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear GoodyearReynardCosworthWalker Racing
2410 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Lawson GoodyearLolaMercedes-Benz Galles Racing
2598 Flag of the United States.svg P. J. Jones GoodyearEagleToyotaAll American Racers
2644 Flag of the United States.svg Richie Hearn GoodyearLolaCosworthDella Penna Motorsports
2736 Flag of Argentina.svg Juan Manuel Fangio II GoodyearEagleToyotaAll American Racers
2819 Flag of Japan.svg Hiro Matsushita FirestoneLolaCosworthPayton/Coyne Racing

Media coverage

ABC carried the race in the United States, with Paul Page as the race announcer and former open-wheel series regular Danny Sullivan as the color analyst, with Gary Gerould and Jack Arute as pit reporters.

In Canada, the race was carried live, flag-to-flag, on CBC with Brian Williams providing play-by-play and Bobby Unser as analyst. Jon Beekhuis and Ken Daniels served as pit reporters.

In Europe, the race was carried over Eurosport which utilized ABC's feed.

In Brazil, the race was carried live, flag-to-flag, on SBT with Teo José providing play-by-play and Dede Gomez as analyst. Luiz Carlos Azenha served as pit reporter.

Race recap

Although Ribeiro started on pole, Zanardi (who went on to win the series Rookie of the Year award) quickly passed him and led the first lap. He stayed in front until lap 37 when Greg Moore took the point, but regained the lead two laps later and held until lap 65. Bobby Rahal led lap 66 and Adrian Fernandez took the lead on lap 67. Moore got back in front on lap 68 and led for ten laps until Fernandez once again moved to the front on lap 78.

Fatal incident

On lap 91 of the scheduled 95-lap race, the accident that killed Krosnoff took place. With the field having been bunched up due to a restart a few laps prior, Krosnoff, Ribeiro, and Stefan Johansson were all multiple laps down at this point in the race but were still jockeying for position. Entering turn three of the track, the lapped car of Johansson tried to pass Gil de Ferran. Krosnoff was running next to Johansson and Ribeiro was ahead of all three of those cars.

As Johansson made his turn to pass de Ferran, he clipped Krosnoff's car and sent it flying into the catch fencing lining the side of the course. Krosnoff's car's chassis disintegrated on impact with a tree next to catchfence and split into two pieces. The cockpit of the car landed on the opposite side of the track while the rear wheels and engine rolled forward into the runoff area. When the dust finally settled, both Johansson and Ribeiro had come to rest in the runoff area along with the remnants of Krosnoff's car. As the IndyCar safety crew tried to attend to the accident scene, which was littered with debris from Krosnoff's car, Eddie Lawson came barreling toward the scene unaware of what had just taken place. CART officials frantically waved to Lawson to tell him to slow down, which he did just before he reached the scene, and he was able to continue on through the partially blocked track.

Shortly after this, CART officials threw a red flag along with the checkered flag, officially ending the race a few laps before its scheduled finish on lap 92. Krosnoff was removed from the wreck and transported to Toronto's Western Hospital where he was pronounced dead. [2] Dr. Steve Olvey of the CART series and Dr. Hugh Scully of the race medical staff both spoke at the postrace press conference, where Olvey relayed the death was instantaneous and Scully reported that track worker Gary Arvin was also killed in the wreck as a result of being hit by Krosnoff's airborne car.

Aftermath

Krosnoff's death was the second in American open-wheel racing series in 1996, after Indy Racing League driver Scott Brayton was killed in practice for that year's Indianapolis 500. It was also the last death in what eventually became the Champ Car World Series until 1999- coincidentally, that year also featured two deaths as Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed in a practice crash at Laguna Seca and Greg Moore was killed during the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway.

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References

  1. "1996 Molson Indy Toronto - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  2. "Jeff Krosnoff and Gary Arvin Die in Car Wreck at Molson Indy Toronto". theautochannel.com. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
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