Toronto race sponsor to renew for 10 years
The fact that the beer tents at Exhibition Place, the site of the Toronto Grand Prix, almost ran out of suds Friday night, forcing D'Angelo to call for "an emergency run" from his Steelback Brewery undoubtedly added to his enthusiasm.
In fact, D'Angelo was so upbeat yesterday that he said he's ready to extend his contract as title sponsor.
"We're going to go the full five years (of his current pact) and then we're going to go for another five years," he said.
That was music to the ears of race organizer Charlie Johnstone, the event's president and CEO.
"I'm having lunch with (D'Angelo) 20 minutes from now, so I'll bring a new contract with me," quipped Johnstone.
D'Angelo said he might also consider purchasing the rights to the race from Champ Car.
"We've just started this," he said. "It's like dating someone. First you take her out and buy her dinner. You don't buy a diamond ring the next day. We're basically dating right now. We'll see if there's eventually a marriage."
Despite the zeal of the two men, Champ Car World Series, which took over ownership of the event when Molson Brewery bowed out as the event rights holder following the 2005 race, declined to put a number to that implied success.
Johnstone, on instructions from his Champ Car bosses, would only say that attendance was up by 12 per cent over last year.
The Star has learned, however, that the reason Champ Car refused to give out hard attendance numbers is that those figures are instrumental in the series attempting to secure Steelback as the primary sponsor, as well as an unnamed secondary sponsor, to long-term deals.
"Those are figures being used in private and face-to-face negotiations and they don't want them bandied about in public, especially because of the way previous attendance figures were given out," a source said. The Star
06/23/07 Expect to see a renewal signed to extend the Champ Car deal in Toronto