Graham Rahal
| Graham Rahal | |
|---|---|
 Rahal at Sonoma Raceway in 2014 | |
| Nationality |
 American |
| Born |
January 4, 1989 Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Related to |
Bobby Rahal (father) Courtney Force (wife) |
| IndyCar Series career | |
| Debut season | 2008 |
| Current team | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| Car no. | 15 |
| Former teams |
Newman/Haas Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chip Ganassi Racing Sarah Fisher Racing |
| Starts | 129 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Best finish | 4th in 2015 |
| Previous series | |
| 2007 2006 2005 |
Champ Car World Series Champ Car Atlantic Star Mazda Championship |
| Awards | |
| 2011 | 24 Hours of Daytona winner |
Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team part-owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500.
Racing career
Rahal was born in Columbus, Ohio.
Early racing
In 2005, he won the Formula Atlantic class at the SCCA Runoffs and finished fourth in Star Mazda Series standings. He drove in the last two rounds of the 2005–2006 A1 Grand Prix season for A1 Team Lebanon as he is of Lebanese descent. He moved to a full-time ride in the Champ Car Atlantic Series in 2006, where he won five races and finished second in the season standings. He also drove in the Indy Pro Series event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in conjunction with the 2006 United States Grand Prix and finished second. SpeedTV reported in August 2006 that Rahal would drive for Newman/Haas Racing in the Champ Car World Series in 2007.[1]
2007
On January 27 Rahal drove in the 24 Hours of Daytona. One of four drivers of the Southard Motorsports Lexus Riley, the car ran into early troubles and finished 62nd out of 70 entries. On March 18, he drove in the 12 Hours of Sebring American Le Mans Series race for his father's Rahal Letterman Racing team. He drove a Porsche 911 GT3-RSR with two other drivers, finishing 6th in the GT2 class and 15th overall.
On March 27 news reports from the previous summer were finally confirmed when he was announced as the second driver for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in the Champ Car World Series[2] and drove the No. 2 Panoz DP01 sponsored by MEDI|ZONE alongside his teammate, three-time series champion Sébastien Bourdais. On April 8 in his debut in the Champ Car World Series at the Vegas Grand Prix, Rahal hit the wall on the front stretch on the first lap, and retired from the race. On April 15 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach he finished his first Champ Car race, ending up 8th. On April 22, in just his 3rd Champ Car race, he became the youngest ever podium finisher in Champ Car history after finishing 2nd in Houston. Rahal completed his rookie season in 5th place in series points with four podium finishes but without a race win.
2008
With the creation of a single American open wheel racing series for 2008, Rahal and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team became part of the IndyCar Series, including Rahal's first Indianapolis 500.
He missed the Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300 due to a crash in testing after which his team could not get his car repaired in time for the race. He made his series debut at the second race of the season, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and despite an early spin in the race, Rahal won the race by 3.5192 seconds from two-time defending winner of the race, Hélio Castroneves. He is currently the youngest[3] person to win a major American open wheel race – aged 19 years, 93 days – and the fourth to win in his first appearance in the IndyCar Series. The best finish Rahal would manage the rest of the year was a pair of 8th places at Watkins Glen and Sonoma and he finished 17th in points, 4th among series rookies.
2009
Rahal returned to Newman/Haas/Lanigan for the 2009 IndyCar Series season, taking over the No. 02 car with McDonald's as his sponsor. He began the season by taking pole position at St. Petersburg, his first in his IndyCar career, thus becoming the youngest ever polesitter aged 20 years, 90 days. This was the first time a Rahal had won an IndyCar pole since his father started first at Toronto in 1992, which was Bobby's third in a row that season.[4] He finished seventh after damaging the car in a first lap clash. His season was also undermined by bad relations with his team-mate Robert Doornbos – when Doornbos left midseason, Rahal commented "We could certainly have a second driver who is more of a team player."[5] He finished the season 7th in points with two podium finishes.
Rahal was linked with the US F1 Team, the American-based Formula One team, that was set to debut in the 2010 World Championship. The team's sporting director, Peter Windsor, mentioned Rahal as a potential candidate for a seat with the Charlotte-based outfit.[6] However, Windsor later decided against hiring either Rahal or Marco Andretti due to fears that they would not be able to get their FIA Super Licences in time for the 2010 season. Eventually, the team failed to compete in the 2010 Formula One season.
2010
Rahal did not return to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the 2010 IndyCar Series season, due to McDonald's discontinuing their sponsorship to focus on the 2010 Winter Olympics.
On March 10, 2010, Sarah Fisher Racing announced Rahal would pilot Fisher's No. 67 Dollar General car in the first two North American events of 2010, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Fisher was originally planning on driving the races herself, in addition to seven oval race, before deciding that putting Rahal in the car could be a benefit to everyone, including Dollar General, who are based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.[7] On April 6, 2010, Sarah Fisher Racing announced the addition of the Grand Prix of Long Beach to Rahal's schedule. Rahal's placing in those three races were 9th, 17th, and 22nd (retired) respectively.
After the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Rahal was signed to drive for his father's team, Rahal Letterman Racing, in the 2010 Indianapolis 500. Rahal qualified in the seventh position for the race, and finished 12th. On June 10, 2010, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced the signing of Rahal for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway, filling in for the injured Mike Conway in the No. 24 entry on a one-off basis. Rahal returned to Newman/Haas Racing for 6 of the remaining 8 races of the 2010 season, starting with Toronto and returned to Sarah Fisher Racing for the Kentucky Speedway race. Rahal's 2010 totals included 12 starts for four different teams and a 20th-place finish in points.
On October 10, 2010, Rahal finished runner-up at the RoboPong 200 all-star kart event at the New Castle Motorsports Park with teammate Conor Daly.[8]
2011
Rahal signed to drive the No. 38 car for Chip Ganassi Racing with Service Central sponsorship beginning in 2011 as the team expanded from two to four cars.[9]
Rahal, co-drove the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates car to victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona along with Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, and Joey Hand. It came 30 years after his father, Bobby won the race, partnering with Brian Redman and Bob Garretson.
Personal life
Rahal attended New Albany school systems in Ohio and graduated in June 2007 with plans to attend Denison University. Rahal started the Graham Rahal Foundation in 2009 to support Alex's Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer and The Association of Hole in the Wall Camps (known as SeriousFun Children's Network as of April 2012).[10]
He is married to NHRA drag racer Courtney Force, daughter of 16-time NHRA drag racing champion and legend John Force.[11]
Motorsports career results
Career summary
* Season still in progress.
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
| Year | Track | Car | Engine | Class | Finish | Start | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Mid-Ohio | Swift 014.a | Toyota | Formula Atlantic | 1 | 1 | Running |
Complete A1 Grand Prix results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | Lebanon | GBR SPR |
GBR FEA |
GER SPR |
GER FEA |
POR SPR |
POR FEA |
AUS SPR |
AUS FEA |
MYS SPR |
MYS FEA |
UAE SPR |
UAE FEA |
RSA SPR |
RSA FEA |
IDN SPR |
IDN FEA |
MEX SPR 13 |
MEX FEA 14 |
USA SPR Ret |
USA FEA Ret |
CHN SPR 18 |
CHN FEA 11 |
23rd | 0 |
| 2006–07 | NED SPR |
NED FEA |
CZE SPR 12 |
CZE FEA 12 |
CHN SPR |
CHN FEA |
MYS SPR |
MYS FEA |
IDN SPR |
IDN FEA |
NZL SPR |
NZL FEA |
AUS SPR |
AUS FEA |
RSA SPR |
RSA FEA |
MEX SPR |
MEX FEA |
CHN SPR |
CHN FEA |
GBR SPR |
GBR SPR |
23rd | 0 |
American open–wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)
Champ Car Atlantic
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Mi-Jack Conquest Racing | LBH 5 |
HOU 15 |
MTY 1 |
POR 27 |
CLE1 1 |
CLE2 1 |
TOR 15 |
EDM 2 |
SJO 12 |
DEN 1 |
MTL 1 |
ROA 20 |
2nd | 242 |
Champ Car
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing | Panoz DP01 | Cosworth XFE | LVG 17 |
LBH 8 |
HOU 2 |
POR 9 |
CLE 8 |
MTT 7 |
TOR 11 |
EDM 3 |
SJO 6 |
ROA 3 |
ZOL 3 |
ASN 9 |
SRF 11 |
MXC 4 |
5th | 243 |
IndyCar Series
(key)
* Season still in progress.
- 1 Run on same day.
- 2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
- 3 The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.
| Years | Teams | Races | Poles | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Indianapolis 500 Wins |
Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 5 | 129 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 52 | 0 | 0 |
Indianapolis 500
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Dallara | Honda | 13 | 33 | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing |
| 2009 | Dallara | Honda | 4 | 31 | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing |
| 2010 | Dallara | Honda | 7 | 12 | Rahal Letterman Racing |
| 2011 | Dallara | Honda | 30 | 3 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2012 | Dallara | Honda | 12 | 13 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2013 | Dallara | Honda | 26 | 25 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 2014 | Dallara | Honda | 20 | 33 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 2015 | Dallara | Honda | 17 | 5 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
References
- ↑ Miller, Robin, Graham Rahal Set for Newman/Haas Ride in '07, SpeedTV.com, August 13, 2006
- ↑ GRAHAM RAHAL TO DRIVE THE NO. 2 MEDI | ZONE RACE CAR FOR NEWMAN/HAAS/ LANIGAN RACING IN THE 2007 CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP, CCWS press release, March 29, 2007
- ↑ Cavin, Curt (April 6, 2008). "Rahal's victory sets open-wheel record". The Indianapolis Star (Gannett Company). Retrieved November 21, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/RahalBobby.htm
- ↑ "Doornbos out, Philippe in at IRL heads for Mid-Ohio". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). August 5, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ↑ Noble, Jonathan (February 24, 2009). "USF1 open-minded on engine partner". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved November 21, 2015.
- ↑ Ryan, Nate (March 10, 2010). "Graham Rahal to drive two IndyCar races for Sarah Fisher". USA Today (Gannett Company). Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ↑ "Jay Howard, Bill McLaughlin Jr. win all-star kart race". Autoweek (Crain Communications). October 11, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ↑ Spencer, Lee (December 16, 2010). "Chip Ganassi Racing expanding". Fox Sports (Fox Broadcasting Company). Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.grahamrahal.com/foundation/
- ↑ Associated Press (November 27, 2014). "Courtney Force, Graham Rahal announce engagement". Foxsports.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graham Rahal. |
- Official website
- IndyCar Driver Page
- Graham Rahal Un-official Fan Zone
- Graham Rahal career overview
- Graham Rahal career statistics at Driver Database
- IndyCar 11 in '11 video
- IndyCar 36: Graham Rahal - IndyCar documentary
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