Tracy on SPM's new 'Team Canada'

The last Canadian to win an IndyCar championship did so carrying the colors and support of Player's as part of its premier showcase for domestic open-wheel talent.

Paul Tracy's 2003 CART title for Team Player's, aka Forsythe Racing, was captured with French-Canadian teammate Patrick Carpentier in the sister Lola B02/00-Cosworth (pictured below), and Quebecois Alex Tagliani competing for Rocketsports Racing. Together, the trio also helped Canada to win CART's 2003 Nation's Cup.

Although CART's successor, the Verizon IndyCar Series, lacks a separate championship for the best collective performances by nation, there's every reason to believe its new #TeamCanada entry from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens will move the red and white maple leaf flag closer to the top of the Drivers' standings in 2018 and beyond.

Sprinkle in the possibility of having Montreal's promising Zachary Claman De Melo – who made his IndyCar debut at Sonoma with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – involved to some degree next year, and the series could find itself where young talent, new drivers, and an established star have rekindled some of the Canadian momentum that was lost when Champ Car folded.

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A fervent supporter of SPM's #TeamCanada move, Tracy says the potential has always existed for Hinchcliffe and Wickens to carry the torch for their homeland in IndyCar.

"Both Hinch and Wickens were in the Forsythe camp when I was there and I watched them come up through karting. I've seen their careers take off and saw they had tremendous potential," the West Hill native told RACER. "Hinch chose to focus on America and became a winner at every stage, and the doors never opened here for Wickens the same way.

"I think he was too young; he was 16 competing in Atlantics and just didn't get the kind of looks that Hinch did and so he went off to Europe. And now that he's back, he's here with a lot of success that's come from being a factory DTM driver for Mercedes and frankly, it's a big jump to go IndyCar racing, but he's joining [SPM] with a ton of experience as a professional. They can, I think, do a lot for Canadian drivers in IndyCar."

If there's one team-based concern for Tracy, it's the lack of equal results generated by SPM's second Honda-powered entry in recent years. Although Hinchcliffe has won a pair of races since joining the Sam Schmidt- and Ric Peterson-owned team in 2015, the sister entry piloted by a steady rotation of new faces has rarely looked like it was capable of securing consistent, front-running finishes.

Although the changes aren't complete, it's believed Schmidt, Peterson, and SPM general manager Piers Phillips have recruited a few new staff members with championship-winning pedigrees to fill some of the experiential voids that were identified.

"That's a big question for me, and it's a tough decision for Wickens to make knowing that the second car there hasn't been very competitive most of the time," Tracy added. "If I'm Wickens, I'm hoping Sam and Ric are going to do whatever they have to so they can put two truly competitive cars on track. Otherwise, if they don't, they're wasting the kid's talent and time."

Provided Canadian fans are able to celebrate the success of both SPM drivers, and Claman De Melo, if he's able to find a seat, Tracy is confident that some degree of increased support – like he and the other Player's drivers felt – will follow in the years to come.

From his perspective, the responsibility for any growth, however, will fall to those in charge of selling and distributing the #TeamCanada message at home.

"I would hope they make an impact in Canada like we once had, because these are guys who can win races and have a lot of personality to go with it," he said. "But don't forget that when the Player's program was going, there was heavy promotion throughout Canada – advertising all over the place, big promotion by the tracks we raced at, and it wasn't just the driver's responsibility to make the races popular.

"I think these guys can do a lot to help IndyCar grow more in Canada, but not as much as the track promoters, not as much as a bigger and better Canadian TV package that would enthusiastically bring the races to everyone. Since I retired, I don't think they've done as good of a job in those areas. And if they don't get behind this, get behind these guys now when it's so easy, it will be a big loss of an opportunity that doesn't come around very often."