The
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
Molson Indy Toronto
The Grand Prix of Toronto (known for sponsorship reasons as the Honda Indy Toronto) is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 t ...
was a
CART
A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people.
It is different from the flatbed tr ...
race held on the street course at
Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
on July 14, 1996. The race was won by
Adrian Fernandez
Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water".
The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...
, driving the #32
Lola
Lola may refer to:
Places
* Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama
* Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States
* Lola Prefecture, Guinea
* Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture
* Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands
People
* Lola (fo ...
/
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
for
Tasman Motorsports
Tasman Motorsports Group is a former racing team that was owned by Steve Horne, a long-time motorsport figure who spent most of his career in the United States. Its lead driver is championship winning New Zealander, Daniel Gaunt.
Previously the ...
, but was marred by an accident late in the race which resulted in the deaths of rookie driver
Jeff Krosnoff
Jeffrey John Krosnoff (September 24, 1964 – July 14, 1996) was an American race car driver. A competitor in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, he was killed in a racing accident during the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto.
Early life and caree ...
and a track worker.
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
Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and aga ...
, driving the #4 Honda for
Chip Ganassi Racing
Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...
.
:Lineup
Media coverage
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
carried the race in the United States, with
Paul Page
Paul Page (born November 25, 1945) is an American motorsports broadcaster who is best known for serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Indianapolis 500 for a total of 27 years across radio and television. Page was the radio ''Voice of th ...
as the race announcer and former open-wheel series regular
Danny Sullivan
Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...
as the color analyst, with
Gary Gerould
Gary Gerould, nicknamed “The G-Man”, is an American sportscaster, best known as the radio voice of the NBA's Sacramento Kings since 1985. The Sacramento Kings renewed his radio broadcaster contract for 4 years on September 15, 2017.
He is a ...
and
Jack Arute
Jack Arute III ( ; born September 28, 1950) is an American former sportscaster for the NFL and college sports for Sirius XM Radio. He used to be an auto racing pit reporter and college football sideline reporter for ESPN and ABC, and covered the I ...
as pit reporters.
In Canada, the race was carried live, flag-to-flag, on
CBC with
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for ''NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...
providing play-by-play and
Bobby Unser
Robert William Unser (February 20, 1934 – May 2, 2021) was an American automobile racer. At his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, he had the fourth most IndyCar Series wins at 35 (behind his brother Al, A. J. Fo ...
as analyst.
Jon Beekhuis
Jon Beekhuis (; born March 31, 1960) is an American former race car driver. Beekhuis was born in Zurich, Switzerland while his American father was studying at ETH Zurich, and grew up in California. The 1988 ARS (Indy Lights) champion, Beekhuis d ...
and
Ken Daniels
Ken Daniels is a Canadians, Canadian sportscaster. Currently the play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, NHL on Bally Sports Detroit, entering his 19th season as the voice of the Red Wings, he is best known ...
served as pit reporters.
In Europe, the race was carried over
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...
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.
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
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...
driver
Scott Brayton
Scott Everts Brayton (February 20, 1959 – May 17, 1996) was an American race car driver on the American open-wheel circuit. He competed in 14 Indianapolis 500s, beginning with the 1981 event. Brayton was killed in practice after qualifying ...
was killed in practice for that year's
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
. It was also the last death in what eventually became the
Champ Car World Series
Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...
until 1999- coincidentally, that year also featured two deaths as
Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed in a practice crash at
Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to:
* Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California
* Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London
* Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California
* Laguna Seca, Texas, United States
* Rancho La ...
and Greg Moore was killed during the
Marlboro 500 at
California Speedway
Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...
.
References
{{Honda Indy Toronto
Molson Indy Toronto
The Grand Prix of Toronto (known for sponsorship reasons as the Honda Indy Toronto) is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 t ...
Molson Indy Toronto
The Grand Prix of Toronto (known for sponsorship reasons as the Honda Indy Toronto) is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 t ...
Indy Toronto
1996 in Toronto