July 18, 1993
(Photo; www.sportsnet.ca)
Paul Tracy of Toronto crossed the finish line 13.023 seconds ahead of his Marlboro Team Penske teammate Emerson Fittipaldi to take victory in the 1993 Molson Indy Toronto. Known as the “Thrill from West Hill,” Tracy became the first Canadian to win an Indy car race in his home and native land. It also marked the first major international racing victory for a Canadian driver in Canada since Gilles Villeneuve had won the 1978 F1 Grand Prix of Canada.
It was a wildly popular victory in front of a hometown crowd of 66,225. “It’s just a great feeling to win here and I’m going to need a few days for it to sink in, that I actually have won this race,” Tracy said afterward. “I can’t really get it into words what the day was like. The fans were tremendous and right from the time I got to the track, I could feel them pulling for me. On the last lap, I could just sense that they were really cheering me to the line, but I had to keep my concentration on the race because I had a couple of slow cars in front of me. “But when I crossed the line, I could look and see them going a little wild. It was just a great day and I’m glad I could bring it home for the people of Toronto and Canada.”
It was a wildly popular victory in front of a hometown crowd of 66,225. “It’s just a great feeling to win here and I’m going to need a few days for it to sink in, that I actually have won this race,” Tracy said afterward. “I can’t really get it into words what the day was like. The fans were tremendous and right from the time I got to the track, I could feel them pulling for me. On the last lap, I could just sense that they were really cheering me to the line, but I had to keep my concentration on the race because I had a couple of slow cars in front of me. “But when I crossed the line, I could look and see them going a little wild. It was just a great day and I’m glad I could bring it home for the people of Toronto and Canada.”
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