Motorsport has a long history at Exhibition Place, dating back over 100 years with automobile demonstrations and displays. The first appearance of an Indy car at the Canadian National Exhibition was in 1918, with the 1916 Indianapolis 500-winning Peugeot. From 1952 to 1966, the Exhibition Stadium hosted stock car racing on a paved quarter-mile circuit, attracting crowds of up to 20,000, often broadcast on CBC. In 1958, the venue hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race, the Jim Mideon 500, marking Richard Petty’s first of 1,184 NASCAR starts; the race was won by his father, Lee Petty.
Following the 1977 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix, a proposal to move the race to Exhibition Place was considered, but was rejected by Toronto City Council. Within hours, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau negotiated with the race’s sponsor to move the race permanently to Montreal. In 1984, Molson Breweries acquired the rights to CART-sanctioned IndyCar races in Canada and ran the first Molson Indy at Sanair Speedway outside Montreal, but the tight tri-oval proved unpopular with teams after Rick Mears suffered a severe injury during the event. Molson revived the idea of a street circuit through Exhibition Place in 1985, and Toronto City Council approved the race in July 1985.
The first Molson Indy Toronto was held on July 20, 1986, and was won by Bobby Rahal. The event quickly became Canada’s second-largest annual sporting event, surpassed only by the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, with three-day attendance figures routinely reaching around 170,000 people.
In 1996, Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a crash with four laps remaining. In the same incident, volunteer corner marshal Gary Avrin was also killed, and marshal Barbara Johnston was injured but released that evening. Adrián Fernández won the race. The race was renamed the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto in 2006 after being purchased by the Champ Car World Series from Molstar Sports and Entertainment, distancing Champ Car from the Indy Racing League (IRL) which had exclusive rights to the "Indy" name after 2002. In 2007, Steelback Brewery became the event’s title sponsor, renaming it the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto after Molson dropped their sponsorship.
The unification of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League was announced on February 22, 2008, and the Grand Prix of Toronto’s future was uncertain. The race was cancelled in 2008, but Andretti Green Racing purchased the assets of the former Grand Prix of Toronto on May 15, 2008. On July 30, 2008, it was confirmed that the race would return to Toronto on July 12, 2009, with Honda Canada Inc. as the title sponsor, renaming it the Honda Indy Toronto.
In 2013, the race weekend format was changed to feature two races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, with a standing start for the Saturday race and a rolling start for the Sunday race. After an aborted standing start on Saturday, teams agreed to try the standing start again on Sunday, which proved successful, marking the first successful standing start in unified IndyCar series history. However, in 2014, weather forced both races to be run on Sunday, creating logistical challenges. By 2015, both standing starts and the two-race format were abandoned.
In 2016, the track layout was modified to accommodate the newly constructed Hotel X Toronto, moving the pit lane to the opposite side of the race course. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the event were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, resulting in restrictions on non-essential travel and bans on mass public gatherings.
The Indy Toronto circuit is based around Exhibition Place, which also has a history with NASCAR. In 1958, a NASCAR Grand National (now Cup Series) race was held at the third Exhibition Stadium, marking Richard Petty’s Cup Series debut. The circuit has also hosted races from the SCCA Trans-Am Series, Pirelli World Challenge, CASCAR Super Series, and NASCAR Pinty's Series, as well as support races from the Road to Indy series.
During Molson’s ownership, the Molson Indy Festival Foundation raised $5.6 million for community groups and charitable organizations as of 2004. In 2010, the race introduced Fan Fridays, encouraging attendees to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, raising $820,000 for the organization as of 2019.
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