The 1996 Molson Indy Toronto was a CART race held on the street course at Toronto Street Circuit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 14, 1996. The race was won by Adrian Fernandez, driving the #32 Lola/Honda for Tasman Motorsports (his first career win), but was marred by an accident late in the race which resulted in the deaths of rookie driver Jeff Krosnoff and a track worker.

Qualifying Twenty-eight drivers qualified for the race. The front row consisted of polesitter Andre Ribeiro, driving the #31 Lola/Honda for Tasman Motorsports, and Alex Zanardi, driving the #4 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Lineup Pos No. Driver Tires Chassis Engine Team 1 31 André Ribeiro Firestone Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports 2 4 Alex Zanardi Firestone Reynard Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 3 32 Adrián Fernández Firestone Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports 4 20 Scott Pruett Firestone Lola Cosworth Patrick Racing 5 99 Greg Moore Firestone Reynard Cosworth Forsythe Racing 6 49 Parker Johnstone Firestone Reynard Honda Comptech Racing 7 2 Al Unser Jr. Goodyear Penske Mercedes-Benz Team Penske 8 18 Bobby Rahal Goodyear Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal 9 8 Gil de Ferran Goodyear Reynard Honda Jim Hall Racing 10 6 Michael Andretti Goodyear Lola Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing 11 12 Jimmy Vasser Firestone Reynard Honda Chip Ganassi Racing 12 28 Bryan Herta Goodyear Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal 13 3 Paul Tracy Goodyear Penske Mercedes-Benz Team Penske 14 11 Christian Fittipaldi Goodyear Lola Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing 15 9 Emerson Fittipaldi Goodyear Penske Mercedes-Benz Hogan/Penske Racing 16 21 Mark Blundell Goodyear Reynard Cosworth PacWest Racing 17 17 Maurício Gugelmin Goodyear Reynard Cosworth PacWest Racing 18 5 Robby Gordon Goodyear Reynard Cosworth Walker Racing 19 1 Raul Boesel Firestone Reynard Honda Brahma Sports Team/Team Green 20 25 Jeff Krosnoff Firestone Reynard Toyota Arciero-Wells Racing 21 16 Stefan Johansson Goodyear Reynard Mercedes-Benz Bettenhausen Racing 22 34 Roberto Moreno Goodyear Lola Cosworth Payton/Coyne Racing 23 15 Scott Goodyear Goodyear Reynard Cosworth Walker Racing 24 10 Eddie Lawson Goodyear Lola Mercedes-Benz Galles Racing 25 98 P. J. Jones Goodyear Eagle Toyota All American Racers 26 44 Richie Hearn Goodyear Lola Cosworth Della Penna Motorsports 27 36 Juan Manuel Fangio II Goodyear Eagle Toyota All American Racers 28 19 Hiro Matsushita Firestone Lola Cosworth Payton/Coyne Racing

Media coverage ABC carried the race in the United States, with Paul Page as the race announcer and former open-wheel series regular Danny Sullivan as the color analyst, with Gary Gerould and Jack Arute as pit reporters.

In Canada, the race was carried live, flag-to-flag, on CBC with Brian Williams providing play-by-play and Bobby Unser as analyst. Jon Beekhuis and Ken Daniels served as pit reporters.

In Europe, the race was carried over Eurosport which utilized ABC's feed.

In Brazil, the race was carried live, flag-to-flag, on SBT with Teo José providing play-by-play and Dede Gomez as analyst. Luiz Carlos Azenha served as pit reporter.

Race recap Although Ribeiro started on pole, Zanardi (who went on to win the series Rookie of the Year award) quickly passed him and led the first lap. He stayed in front until lap 37 when Greg Moore took the point, but regained the lead two laps later and held until lap 65. Bobby Rahal led lap 66 and Adrian Fernandez took the lead on lap 67. Moore got back in front on lap 68 and led for ten laps until Fernandez once again moved to the front on lap 78.

Fatal incident On lap 91 of the scheduled 95-lap race, the accident that killed Krosnoff took place. With the field having been bunched up due to a restart a few laps prior, Krosnoff, Ribeiro, and Stefan Johansson were all multiple laps down at this point in the race but were still jockeying for position. Entering turn three of the track, the lapped car of Johansson tried to pass Gil de Ferran. Krosnoff was running next to Johansson and Ribeiro was ahead of all three of those cars.

As Johansson made his turn to pass de Ferran, he clipped Krosnoff's car and sent it flying into the catch fencing lining the side of the course. Krosnoff's car's chassis disintegrated on impact with a tree next to catchfence and split into two pieces. The cockpit of the car landed on the opposite side of the track while the rear wheels and engine rolled forward into the runoff area. When the dust finally settled, both Johansson and Ribeiro had come to rest in the runoff area along with Emerson Fittipaldi, who had been collected by Johansson's car and the remnants of Krosnoff's car, while de Ferran was able to limp around to complete his lap. As the IndyCar safety crew tried to attend to the accident scene, which was littered with debris from Krosnoff's car, Eddie Lawson came barreling toward the scene unaware of what had just taken place. CART officials frantically waved to Lawson to tell him to slow down, which he did just before he reached the scene, and he was able to continue on through the partially blocked track.

Shortly after this, CART officials threw a red flag along with the checkered flag, officially ending the race a few laps before its scheduled finish on lap 92. Krosnoff was removed from the wreck and transported to Toronto's Western Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Dr. Steve Olvey of the CART series and Dr. Hugh Scully of the race medical staff both spoke at the postrace press conference, where Olvey relayed the death was instantaneous and Scully reported that track worker Gary Arvin was also killed in the wreck as a result of being hit by Krosnoff's airborne car.

Box score FinishGridNameTeamChassisEngineTireLapsTime/Status 1 3 32 Adrián Fernández Tasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda 93 1:41:59.809 17 20 2 2 4 Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda 93 +1.951 63 17 3 8 18 Bobby Rahal Team Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz 93 +3.570 1 14 4 5 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz 93 +4.326 12 12 5 13 3 Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-25 Mercedes-Benz 93 +5.071 0 10 6 12 28 Bryan Herta Team Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz 93 +5.689 0 8 7 14 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford 93 +7.313 0 6 8 11 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda 93 +8.458 0 5 9 18 5 Robby Gordon Walker Racing Reynard 96I Ford 93 +18.321 0 4 10 4 20 Scott Pruett Patrick Racing Lola T96/00 Ford 93 +19.652 0 3 11 16 21 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Reynard 96I Ford 92 +1 Lap 0 2 12 17 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Reynard 96I Ford 92 +1 Lap 0 1 13 7 2 Al Unser Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-25 Mercedes-Benz 92 +1 Lap 0 0 14 15 9 Emerson Fittipaldi Hogan-Penske Racing Penske PC-25 Mercedes-Benz 90 Crash 0 0 15 24 10 Eddie Lawson Galles Racing Lola T96/00 Mercedes-Benz 90 +3 Laps 0 0 16 20 25 Jeff Krosnoff Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 96I Toyota 89 Fatal crash 0 0 17 21 16 Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Mototsports Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz 89 Crash 0 0 18 9 8 Gil de Ferran Hall Racing Reynard 96I Honda 89 +4 Laps 0 0 19 23 15 Scott Goodyear Walker Racing Reynard 96I Ford 89 +4 Laps 0 0 20 25 98 P. J. Jones All American Racers Eagle Mk-V Toyota 89 +4 Laps 0 0 21 1 31 André Ribeiro Tasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda 88 Crash 0 1 22 10 6 Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford 82 Engine 0 0 23 22 34 Roberto Moreno Payton-Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford 52 Clutch 0 0 24 19 1 Raul Boesel Brahma Sports Team Reynard 96I Ford 50 Electrical 0 0 25 26 44 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 95I Ford 50 Fatigue 0 0 26 6 49 Parker Johnstone Brix Comptech Racing Reynard 96I Honda 38 Suspension 0 0 27 28 19 Hiro Matsushita Payton-Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford 23 Water pump 0 0 28 27 36 Juan Manuel Fangio II All American Racers Eagle Mk-V Toyota 10 Clutch 0 0 Source:1996 Molson Indy Toronto1996 Toronto Champ Cars

Race scheduled for 95 Laps, but ended two laps early due to Jeff Krosnoff's fatal accident.

Race statistics Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–36 Alex Zanardi 37–38 Greg Moore 39–65 Alex Zanardi 66 Bobby Rahal 67 Adrián Fernández 68–77 Greg Moore 78–93 Adrián Fernández

Aftermath Krosnoff's death was the second in American open-wheel racing series in 1996, after Indy Racing League driver Scott Brayton was killed in practice for that year's Indianapolis 500. It was also the last death in what eventually became the Champ Car World Series until 1999- coincidentally, that year also featured two deaths as Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed in a practice crash at Laguna Seca and Greg Moore was killed during the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway.

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