Motorsport in Canada

Since the invention of the contemporary automobile, the first recorded instance of motorsport in Canada was a sixty-kilometre race dubbed as a ‘speed trial’ from the cities of Toronto to Hamilton in 1900. The first official race was held in Fort Erie, by the American Buffalo Auto Club. Other smaller races would be held throughout the early twentieth century, such as the Canadian National Exhibition championships in the 1920s. During this period, smaller, unofficial clubs were formed by locals who were interested in the auto racing industry that was developing in Canada.[1]

In the post-war economy present at the time, activities of leisure came to be and people utilized their technical skills learned from the war in regard to this. Individual vehicle ownership rose within the middle-class population, so self-repairs on one's car for the purpose of improving performance whilst saving costs became the norm, which eventually evolved to a hobby for many. With the various amounts of auto tinkering done, the act of racing of cars naturally occurred, leading to amateur racing events to become a growing sport within communities of enthusiasts.[2]

In hopes of being more internationally recognized and running an event of a larger scale than what currently existed, several members of indie automobile clubs, the St Lawrence Automobile Club, Sports Car Club, and Sport Motor Car Club gathered to form the Canadian Automobile Sport Committee (CASC) in 1951. It grew to be a larger and more professional club that catered toward motorsports throughout the country, where other smaller clubs amalgamated to it. By the 1970s, its membership had grown to over five thousand, from the hundreds of other independent clubs who had decided to follow in the footsteps of the club's founders' joining.[1][2]

Jim Gunn, one of the CASC's founders, played a vital role in its early development, through promoting the club and working to have it involved in the first Trans-Canada Rally. Within the next few years, more motorsport events debut, and the CASC was eventually acknowledged by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as a national authority of Canada's motorsports. Through this official approval, Canada was able to host its first international motorsport event, the Formula One World Championship.[2]

With the notion of motorsport becoming mainstream after this large addition to the roster of auto races within the country, by the end of the twentieth century, the defining characteristics of Canada's motorsports became one of professional competition and commercialization. Rather than the constant of amateur, small races that were once held, large competitions with sponsors and payments came to be. Due to this change, members of the CASC came into conflict regarding the club's ideals, and eventually, it lost its influence and position of leadership.[2]

After several years of contingency, Canada was finally recognized by the FIA in 1967. From its involvement in founding the Can-Am series to continuous years of hosting professional races and the like, it was decided that Canada would become the home of the newest Formula One Grand Prix. Its debut location would be at the Mosport Park circuit (now renamed the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), with a portion of the costs required covered by Imperial Tobacco as a first-time sponsor of the event.[3] Over the next few years, the Grand Prix locations would switch between Mosport Park and Circuit Mont-Tremblant until in 1977, the grand prix would be held at Mosport Park for the last time due to track safety concerns of dangerous turns.

Gilles Villeneuve driving a Ferrari 312T in the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix

The following year, the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix was held at the Circuit Île Notre-Dame in Montreal, a newly constructed track built that year where Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve became its first victor. Although he did not win again, Villeneuve continued to be a participant in the following Canadian Grand Prix races and Formula One World Championships, until his death in 1982, after a qualifying accident for the Belgium Grand Prix. In response, the Circuit Île Notre-Dame was renamed to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in honour of his participance and impact on the Canadian Formula One scene.[4]

Although the Canadian Grand Prix takes place each year, there have been five recorded instances where it did not occur.

• 1975 – reason(s) unconfirmed
• 1985 – legal issues of sponsors[2]
• 2009 – dispute between the circuit officials and commercial holders of Formula One[5]
• 2020/2021 - COVID-19 pandemic

As of today, the Montreal Grand Prix remains active at the same location. As of the 2023 Formula One World Championship, the Canadian driver who currently participates in the Formula One World Championship is Lance Stroll of the Aston Martin team, although there are also other less prominent Canadian test drivers.

Beginning in 1981, the Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (CASCAR) started the CASCAR EMCO Western Series, the CASCAR CARQUEST Sportsman Series, and its more prominent championship, the CASCAR Super Series, where stock cars would race across a mix of twelve different tracks and speedways across various regions of Canada each year.[6] In 2004, the American-based National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and CASCAR collaborated, in an effort to increase interest of the sport. The agreement between the two groups would span for the next few years, leading to the revival and remake of the CASCAR Super Series.[7]

As a result, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) was formed and debut in 2007, with the Canadian Tire company as the primary sponsor.[8] However, after nine years of partnership, Canadian Tire eventually pulled out in 2015, with the reason due to the little change and low coverage of the event.[9] The series continued the proceeding year in 2016, and the Pinty's Delicious Foods company became the top sponsor, leading to the series’ name change to the NASCAR Pinty's Series.[10] After being held on different tracks in Canada only, in 2018 the series added a race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the United States, the first location to host a race outside of Canada.[11]

Another form of popular motorsport in Canada is IndyCar racing. In the past, single, one-time events relating to American-based competitions have taken place in the country, such as races for the Indy Lights Series, or the Indy Pro 2000 Championships. However, event locations tend to vary from each year, with most races being held in the U.S. on a permanent basis. In 1985, after decades of protest from locals and some city councillors, the proposal for a major, more significant IndyCar race was approved, with the condition that certain noise and crowd-control restrictions were met. They included a traffic plan, noise control, an authorization of event overseers, as well as a maximum of sixty-thousand guests who could attend. With the Molson brewing company as the largest sponsor, the event was titled the Molson Indy Toronto, which later changed to the Honda Indy Toronto when the Honda Racing Corporation replaced Molson as the primary sponsor.[12]

Aside from the main international motorsport competitions that occur each year, Canada also hosts other motorsport races and events.

Motorsport has maintained a noticeable presence in Canada, from the various events and tracks that are ongoing or have previously existed.