Toronto Saturday Notebook

Heavy wind, rain with lightening and thunder has swamped the Toronto race circuit not long after IndyCar practice got underway. A dozen drivers completed just one lap before the rains hit. One driver went off heavy into the barriers but the rain is so heavy we cannot determine who it was……The good news is that the fast moving rain cell is moving fast and could mean it stops raining before qualifying and tomorrow looks to be a perfect day for racing……We have learned that just 15,000 grandstands seats were erected for this event – the 6,700 they own on the backstraight plus another 9,000 they erected on the pit straight and one other corner, so with yesterday's sparse crowd, coupled with today's washout, 50,000 for the 3-day weekend may be all they can hope for……..We were able to confirm that Andretti Green race promotions got at least $2M in government grants for this event and it could be as high as $4M. We did hear they sold out their corporate suites, meaning they don't need to sell a lot of tickets to break even……….Former American Honda boss Tom Elliott flew in from Sacramento after a 2-month cross-country camping trip he and his wife Anne like to do in their big camper….. Mark C. reporting from Toronto