TRACK: 43,816 fans on Friday. A workday for crying out loud. What a love affair this city has with this event.

RACE: For any circuit, never mind a street circuit, this race was full of passes and daring moves of all sorts throughout the field all race.

STRATEGY: There is a disturbing trend starting to take place -- screw up the beginning of the race, get to pit a number of times early on, and be rewarded with a victory. That's what happened to Dixon at Nazareth (in that case, it was a poor qualifying effort), Franchitti at Cleveland, and now Andretti at Toronto. Sure, it's nice to see guys drive hard through the field instead of saving fuel, but the way things are going, we may be seeing guys qualify poorly on purpose and hope for some early yellows. Somehow, that just doesn't seem right.

ANDRETTI: They may as well make Michael an honorary citizen of Toronto. After all, he already owns the place.

TAGLIANI: A long overdue solid performance. He looked sharp all weekend.

FERNANDEZ: Some very aggressive moves coupled with the usual steady Adrian, gives his new team a much needed podium finish. And if not for a stall on the last pit stop, it could have been a victory.

PENSKE: Watching the red and white cars come out of Turn 3 and accelerate up the hill sure was, shall we say, an eye opener, to be as politically correct as possible. While nearly everyone else was sliding around and/or spinning wheels, the Penske machines were on rails.

ZANARDI: He looked hopelessly slow the first two days, clearly being outpaced by his teammate. But come Sunday, the old charging Alex was back.

DIXON: Another fine run by the rookie.

TRACY: Proof once again that on a street circuit you should never give up. You never know what might happen.

PAPIS: Don't be fooled by his finishing position. Max was terribly off the pace all weekend while his teammate, once again, was much faster. Despite his Portland victory, don't be surprised to see Buddy Rice in this car next year.

NAKANO: The fastest practice time before qualifying. Shinji, and the Fernandez Team, has shown moments of brilliance this year, and based on Toronto's performance, expect even better things before the season is out.

KANAAN: An unfair result for such a solid run.

MORENO: Maybe Roberto should give those two points to his teammate...

FITTIPALDI: Hey Christian, despite your overinflated ego, when the guy on the inside is even with you, it's his turn, not yours. Do all the sarcastic clapping you want, but you should have backed off. With ten laps to go and fighting for position, Junqueira had every right not to back off.

DE FERRAN: This race clearly belonged to Gil.

HERTA: An excellent run by Bryan until his engine let him down.

CASTRONEVES: A fast car bites the dust.

BRACK: Another fast car bites the dust.

TAKAGI: Was he a kamikaze pilot in a previous life?

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Michael Andretti has won 43.75% of the races held in Toronto.

HISTORICAL FACT OF THE WEEKEND: Michael's father also dominated another track in Canada. Mario won all four races held at St. Jovite, Quebec, winning both heats in 1967 (leading every single lap) and 1968.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: The headlines in the Toronto Sun the day after the city lost their 2008 Olympic bid, "Beijing, Shmeijing ... Toronto's Caught Indy Fever!" Compare that to Nazareth (There's a race this weekend?), and it is no wonder why some venues are so successful and others are not.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: To the young woman (late teens or early 20's) in Turn 3 watching the Indy Lights race while talking to her friend on the cell phone, "I'm at the Indy. It is awesome! It is so awesome!"

SCHEDULE: It's the last year, so don't miss it -- Michigan with its gazillion passes.

Copyright © 2001 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.