Graham Rahal on a roll,
Graham hopes to repeat father Bobby’s drive down Victory Lane at Honda Indy
In 1986, Bobby Rahal won the first Toronto Indy, which was then sponsored by Molson and known as the Molson Indy.
His son Graham, 26, wants to be the second Rahal to reach Victory Lane in Toronto and thinks there are two reasons why 2015 might be the year it happens:
One, as of June 1, he’d enjoyed a pretty successful season to date, and two, it was announced that Molson has returned as an associate sponsor of the event, now known as the Honda Indy.
First, that record. In the eight races run through last weekend, he’d always been in the Top 12 (except for the first Detroit race last weekend, when he was eliminated by a first-lap crash that was not of his making. He finished third in the second race on Sunday).
Going into the Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago, in which he finished fifth, Rahal had been second twice in the previous two races — at the Grand Prix of Alabama near Birmingham and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis that was held on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the 500.
In eight cracks at Big Indy, he’d only finished on the podium once — in 2010, when he was third. After that, this year’s fifth was his best result.
“Fifth was about as good as we were going to do this year (in the 500),” he said in an interview before last weekend’s Detroit doubleheader that could only be described as soggy.
“I hate to say that, because every race we go into we want to win. But the Chevrolets had our number (Rahal drives for his Dad’s team, Letterman-Rahal-Lanigan Racing, which is powered by Honda engines).
“Sometimes you’ve got to just make the most of what you’ve got and I think we did a pretty decent job of that.”
And the Molson connection? It came up during a discussion we were having about his father’s success in Toronto that he hasn’t been able to duplicate in the eight Exhibition Place Indy car races he’s started — a fifth in 2010 and a sixth in the first race of two that were held last year being his best results.
Asked if there’s any particular reason why he hasn’t enjoyed as much luck as he’d like while racing in Toronto, Rahal replied:
“It’s weird, you know. We’ve been quick there, a lot. We started up front one year — I think I went off third — and then something would go wrong. I mean, last year, I had a good finished in the first race (sixth) and then had mechanical trouble in the second. I was running third — I’d just passed Hunter-Reay for third — and the gearbox failed.
“But that was then. This year, it seems like things are coming together a little bit better. I think our team has performed to such a great level this year and the guys are doing such a tremendous job.
“I hope we have a good Honda Indy this year because I always love coming there and racing. And I see where Molson’s is back on board as a sponsor and I think that’s cool. I remember it being the Molson Indy when I was a little kid and I know it’s (the involvement) not at that level but it’s still very cool.”
Rahal, who’s engaged to Courtney Force, a drag racer in her own right and daughter of 16-time NHRA drag racing champion John Force, had a career climb very similar to Canada’s own James Hinchcliffe in making it to the top of the mountain.
Being of Lebanese descent, he drove for that country’s team in the A-1 Grand Prix league (Hinchcliffe drove for Canada) before moving on to the Champ Car Formula Atlantic Series (Hinch, ditto).
Like Hinchcliffe, he took a crack at the Indy Pro Series (it had been renamed Firestone Indy Lights by the time Hinch competed) before moving on to the big time with NewmanHaas Racing, which was the first Indy car team stop for Hinchcliffe as well.
And they’ve both taken a stab at sports car racing by sharing rides in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Rahal, however, has a couple of “firsts” all his own. He won that Daytona 24 race in 2011. In 2007, when he was18, he became the youngest podium finisher in Champ Car World Series history by finishing second in the race at Houston. In 2009, he became the youngest pole sitter in IndyCar Series history at 20 years and 90 days old when he qualified first at St. Petersburg.
Ironically, he won the St. Petersburg race the year previous (2008) but that was no big deal, apparently, so far as setting records was concerned.
Rahal is a big believer in IndyCar racing being a team sport and is reluctant — or appeared to be reluctant when we talked — to take any more credit than any other member of the Letterman-Rahal-Lanigan squad for the success the team has enjoyed so far this season.
“I feel good about it (his driving), for sure. There is no doubt about that. But I also will say I think the team has done an excellent job of bringing everybody together. The engineering staff has been exceptional in making the car more reliable. All in all, it’s a joint effort.”
After discussing amazing runs by drivers like Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr., who used to — literally — take turns winning Molson Indy races in the early years and his father winning the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) race at Laguna Seca five years in a row, Rahal suggested people won’t see that happening in future because today’s IndyCar Series is tougher.
“I think Indy car racing today as far more competitive than it ever has been. You don’t see drivers — I mean, the Penskes seem to have a leg up on everybody else, and the Ganassis, in particular — but you don’t see anybody dominate like they used to like that.
“You have to put it all in perspective. We do better on road and street courses than we do on ovals but our team has also done an excellent job this year improving our street course package. In St. Pete on race day, we really were one of the cars to beat.”
Rahal thinks the series has to help more to create storylines for drivers. While a driver like Hinchcliffe is a natural at promoting himself, his team and the IndyCar Series in general, other drivers aren’t.
“James does great (self-promotion), for sure,” he said. “Typically around him, there’s some sort of comedy act going on. There’s a lot of guys in this series that have that kind of personality — some better than others — but there are a lot of stories to go along with it all; it’s not just being funny. James is obviously a guy who has great potential and will be a big part of this sport for many years to come. But there’s a lot of young guys that need to be highlighted as well, to be made big names. Guys like (Josef ) Newgarden, you know. Guys like that could be the future stars of this sport.
When Graham’s father Bobby was in his prime, the Indy car series of the day, CART had a philosophy of taking racing to the people. It was the idea behind street races like Long Beach, Detroit and Toronto: if people wouldn’t go out to speedways or road courses on the outskirts of cities, the racing promoters would take the racing downtown to the people.
Graham Rahal is currently considering a promotion he first tried a few years ago and is being urged to resurrect this year: Hiring a bunch of buses and taking people from Indianapolis north to the IndyCar race in Milwaukee, Wisc. He did it first in 2012 and might do it again later this year. Question: why? “I think certain promoters are better than others,” he said. “There are promoters who spend more than others; they get it out there more than others.
“If I look at Milwaukee, that’s a great race track and it was a race that I felt very strongly about and led to me wanting to help as much as I could. I’m actually considering doing it again this year. It’s no sweat off my back.
“Yes, the series has an obligation to do some of that stuff, but I also think the drivers can help too. Drivers have the most power and the most pull so they need to be doing everything in their power to get more and more people into those grandstands.
“People are Tweeting me all the time, asking if I’m thinking of it again. So maybe I’ll have to do it.”