TORONTO – Although last year’s Honda Indy Toronto was the 10th since it was added to the current NTT IndyCar Series schedule, this year is actually the 10th anniversary of the popular street race since it returned in 2009.

First, a little background.

Indy car racing on the streets of Toronto began with the Molson Indy Toronto on July 20, 1986 in CART with Bobby Rahal as its first winner. With Molson as the sponsor, the race remained one of the most popular on the CART schedule for years. The event continued through the Champ Car years until Will Power was the final winner of the race under that sanctioning body banner on July 8, 2007.

After nearly all of the existing Champ Car Series teams at that time merged with the Indy Racing League in February 2008 to create today’s IndyCar Series, the annual race at Toronto took a pause.

It soon became obvious that Toronto needed to be on the schedule and thanks to the efforts of Michael Andretti, Kevin Savoree and Barry Green, the race returned to the schedule in 2009. Savoree and Green reached a business agreement with Andretti to take over the promotional company and Green Savoree Promotions has become one of INDYCAR’s most loyal promoters.

Green Savoree promotes NTT IndyCar Series races in St. Petersburg, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Portland, nearly one-fourth of the 17 races on the schedule.

According to Savoree, Dick Eidswick of Champ Car helped connect the group with Toronto in 2008 to help get the race on the 2009 IndyCar Series schedule.

Although last year’s race was the “10th year” since it returned to the schedule in 2009, it was actually the 12th race. There were doubleheaders in 2013 and 2014 with Scott Dixon sweeping both in 2013. Sebastien Bourdais and Mike Conway won in 2014 when both races were held on the same day because of a Saturday rainout.

This weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto will actually be the 35th time an Indy car race is held on the streets of Toronto.

Numbers aside, the 10th anniversary of the Honda Indy Toronto illustrates how important this race is to the NTT IndyCar Series. Toronto is the fourth-largest city in North America at 2.8 million. Toronto is the largest city hosting an NTT IndyCar Series race this season, and it is held against the backdrop of the beautiful Toronto skyline just over the Prince’s Gate.

“It really shows the long-time sustainability of INDYCAR and the Honda Indy Toronto and how we’ve been able to partner with the city of Toronto and Exhibition Place,” Green-Savoree Promotions President and CEO Kevin Savoree told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “The city is massive, not only Toronto proper, but the Golden Horseshoe is 7.5 million people. It’s big.

“Toronto, for sure, is one of the cornerstone events on the IndyCar Series schedule.”

It’s the loyal support of Honda Canada that has helped the event prosper since its return to the schedule.

“One of the key pieces to us was having a title sponsor and Honda Canada wanted to have first crack at this thing,” Savoree said. “That’s been a very important thing.”

It has also become a tremendous event to help showcase and highlight Canada’s largest city.

“The Honda Indy Toronto is very important to the city,” Honda Indy Toronto President Jeff Atkinson told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I think what INDYCAR and the support series bring from a fan standpoint as well as an economic impact is very important to the city. When you look at 2008 when the race wasn’t held, there was a hole in the hotel inventory that didn’t exist before.

“I was involved in the 2008 transition in what was then the Grand Prix Association of Toronto and helped in the sale when Kevin and Barry took it over. I’ve been lucky enough to be along on the ride with them.”

Atkinson believe the event has changed between the previous Molson days and the current Honda days.

“When people make comparisons to the early to mid-1990s with CART, Molson ran the event as a beer promotion,” Atkinson said. “The focus of the Honda Indy was to make it a family friendly festival. Honda’s core values want to be reflective of that. We have been able to grow in a much younger demographic than the previous event.”

Kids 12 and under are allowed to attend free. In 2010, the Ontario Honda Dealers Fan Friday was added. Over $700,000 has been contributed to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“It’s much more of a community event than it was 20 years ago and much less of a beer promotion,” Atkinson said. “It celebrates all that Toronto has to offer.”

Over the years, the circuit has changed, mainly to the construction of Hotel X inside of the course. That also meant a change to pit lane.

“I think it makes the race less predictable because the track has a lot of different surfaces and pit lane is a challenge now for the drivers because it isn’t straight like it used to be,” Atkinson said.

Savoree said one of the goals of the redesign was to keep the challenge of the last corner of the race track. The group worked with Tony Cotman and INDYCAR on that, with pit lane moved from driver’s right to driver’s left.

“That’s not an easy undertaking when you start moving pit lane around,” Savoree said. “That meant a change to grandstands and suites. But it has worked out really well. It makes the 9-10-11 complex of turns really important.

“That’s what street racing is. The guys that get it right, it’s incredible to watch and the guys that struggle with it, it’s still incredible to watch. Hopefully, this design will last a while.”

Sunday's 85-lap NTT IndyCar Series race can be seen at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.