Drive into ‘Three Days of Wild’ when the Rexall Edmonton Indy fires up in July as the lone Indy car race on the Canadian circuit this summer. See the top racecar drivers in the world as they compete on a track designed for thrills from July 24-26, 2008 -- and make your own driving tour.
Jim Haskins, General Manager of the Rexall Edmonton Indy, says Edmonton is the only city in Canada that’s got the action this summer and this year will be the best Indy the city has staged.
“If you want to see an Indy race in Canada, Edmonton is the place to be, so people coming from afar are going to see something special,” he says adding that the drivers say it is the fastest and most physically demanding track.
You can find scenic drive holidays in Alberta that you could roll into your trip to the Indy, but for more information about just this event, read on.
Demanding Track Heightens Thrills
“It is an extremely fast, high speed course with very demanding tight corners,” says Jim. “There are straights in some spots three to four cars wide. A real bonus is that you can follow the whole race around from eighty five per cent of the seats.”
The Rexall Edmonton Indy is in the top three races in attendance, with 185,000 plus for the three days. You will see the biggest names – Danica Patrick coming off a big win in Japan, Marco Andretti, grandson of Mario, the powerful Penske team and much more.
Lots to Do
If you’re looking for more to do than watch the race, you’ll have plenty of activities to choose from right there at the track.
“We have tons of off track activities,” says Jim. “We are very family friendly but we know how to party. We have lots of areas where you can sit down and have a cold one under the shelter and shade of an umbrella, and two entertainments areas where you have bands playing.”
“There’s a merchandise row where many of the teams will have their own wares for sale along with other vendors, and there’s a huge food court that this year includes a healthy living section. We have huge value when you take a look at the price of the ticket.”
More Cars, More Action
“We expect to have twenty seven to thirty cars, which makes for more action and passing and mishaps,” says Jim.
Of course, weather always plays a part in races like this, but the Rexall Edmonton Indy takes place when summertime rain usually holds off and temperatures are comfortably warm.
“We have been very lucky with the weather and it’s usually very good at this time in Alberta,” says Jim. “We had one year it was hot and we learned from that, so we have more areas of shade for people and misting tents throughout the sites. We expect it to be about 25 C (77 F) degrees and nice and sunny.”
Ticket Packages Offer Full Range
“If people go to our website for tickets we have all the different packages laid out there and we offer more value this year than we ever have,” says Jim.” We are very cognizant of the high cost of everything, and this year due to synergies, we have actually reduced the cost of some of our ticket packages.”
There are gold, silver and bronze packages, as well as pit and paddock passes. The pits pass allow you to get up close and smell the ethanol and burning rubber and watch pit stops unfold, and the paddock is also very exciting, where you get to see the cars and drivers.
Every three-day ticket gets you a Capital EX summer festival ticket as well.
NASCAR Canadian Tire Series
The Rexall Edmonton Indy features the NASCAR Canadian Tire series this year, and the Atlantic series, which is one of the feeder series for the Indy car race. They will race on Friday and Saturday and the NASCAR Canadian Tire will race on Saturday with top Canadian and some U.S. stock racer cars. There are additional races featuring hot machines including Porches.