TORONTO — The Thrill from West Hill is back.
Paul Tracy grew up in suburban Toronto and quickly earned that nickname with his aggressive driving style. Racing Sunday before his hometown fans, he accomplished something extraordinary — he incited them to boo popular Brazilian driver Helio Castroneves in the IndyCar Series’ first race in Canada’s biggest city.
Racing hard for second place behind eventual winner Dario Franchitti in the closing laps, Tracy challenged Castroneves for the spot entering curve 4, diving hard to the inside.
Their front wheels rubbed as they sailed through, but before the 40-year-old Tracy could complete the pass Castroneves swerved right. That sent Tracy hard into the concrete barrier, ended the day for both drivers, and elicited a cascade of boos from the partisan crowd.
“I think I’ve shown I can run with these guys. I guess that’s why they call me the Thrill,” said Tracy, who was poised to give KV Technology Racing a strong finish in only his third race for the team. “It was a racing thing. I’m not going to say he did it on purpose.”
“It was close. I’m never going to second-guess his (Tracy’s) moves in the car,” said Jimmy Vasser, co-owner of KVRT. “He got good position on Helio. It looked like Helio moved him over a bit.”
Castroneves smiled after climbing from his No. 3 Penske Honda and said he didn’t know what had happened.
“He’s the last guy I would have taken out here in Canada,” Castroneves said. “I thought he had enough room. I just lost control. I hear the boos, but I still love Canada. It’s the way it is. People hate you, people love you.”
The two definitely have a history. Tracy, who has 31 career open-wheel victories, tops among active drivers, finished second to Castroneves in the controversial finish of the 2002 Indy 500. Tracy appealed the final decision that he had passed Castroneves under caution on the final lap, claiming he had made the winning move before the caution flag flew, but the appeal was denied.
DANICA SHINES: Danica Patrick had reason to smile on Sunday — she started 18th in the 23-car field in the Honda Indy and finished sixth after running the 85-lap street race on just two sets of tires.
“You definitely have to be aggressive on street courses, and today we were,” Patrick said after her seventh top-7 finish of the season kept her fifth on the IndyCar Series points list. “It’s a great result considering the weekend we had.”
GLOVE POWER: Tomas Scheckter has only raced six times this season for Dreyer &Reinbold Racing, and on Sunday he was poised for his second top-10 finish in three starts.
Canada’s Alex Tagliani, also seeking a permanent ride in the IndyCar Series, was desperate for a good finish, too.
Their desperation led to a big crash with 10 laps left.
Tagliani dove hard to the inside on curve 3, locking his brakes and colliding with Scheckter and Mario Moraes of KV Racing Technology.
“Tagliani just hit me straight up from behind,” said Scheckter, who threw his glove angrily at Tagliani after exiting his No. 23. “Just uncalled for, people racing with no brains.”
Tagliani was smart enough to finish ninth, a big boost for his Conquest Racing team, Moraes was 11th, and Scheckter 16th.
“We were having a great race,” Moraes said. “I just feel sorry for the crew. To have it end the way it did is a shame.”
SPARKPLUGS: Dario Franchitti’s margin of victory over Ryan Briscoe was 1.67 seconds. … There were five cautions for 15 laps, and Franchitti’s average speed was 86.240 mph. … Franchitti’s victory was his 11th in the IndyCar Series. Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon and Sam Hornish Jr. are tied for the lead with 19. … Will Power has two podium finishes in four starts for Team Penske and has finished sixth or better in each race. … Franchitti leads the points with 347, Dixon has 345, and Briscoe 334. Helio Castroneves is fourth, just three points ahead of Danica Patrick.
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