Graham Rahal - Racing in and out His Father’s Shadow

By Dennis Krause

For as long as he’s been racing, whether it was in the junior categories, or in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Newman/Haas Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing or Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Graham Rahal has been driving in the long shadow cast by his father, Bobby, a three-time series champion and winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500.

As the series takes up residency at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month, first for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course, followed by the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on the legendary 2.5-mile oval later in the month, the younger Rahal feels there is some real opportunity for himself, and the RLL team.

“Yeah, I do,” said Rahal. “I feel like this is a big month for us. It is for everybody. Obviously the Grand Prix, we expect to go there every year and be very strong. It's really critical that we get the oval side kind of kicking off.

“In our car, we're in the top 10 in points. So it's a big month to carry momentum. Clearly we go right from here on to Detroit and everything else. Detroit we started in the top 5 last year. Hopefully we can carry that on, that performance that we had.

“This is a critical time for us in every regard because, when you're kind of in the hunt like this and you're not that far out, each and every race carries a lot of weight. When you come to a track like Indy, road course in particular, where we know we've been very strong, the expectation is very high.

“In my car we are going to try some new things this weekend compared to what we would have run here last year, and really the objective there isn't simply just to find speed, it's also to find tire life and consistency. If you look at RLL, this team, we've been quite fast in a lot of places, but we need to get our tire life to be better. So a lot of things we're focused on on the No. 15 car to start the weekend are dedicated to that, and fingers crossed we can make it happen.”

The weekend will also feature the debut of the documentary, “Bobby Rahal: True American Racer” on FS1 at 7:30 PM ET Friday. While the 37-year-old Rahal has yet to see it, he’s justifiably proud of everything his father has accomplished.

“I'm just really -- I'm interested to see what all they showcase. I'm very proud of him with everything that he's been able to accomplish, not only in this sport, but as a father, as a businessman, as an entrepreneur.

“A lot of what I do each and every day of my life is to strive to be like him, to build businesses, to do things outside of racing so that racing can continue for many years of my life to be a passion that I can be involved in after driving, which is exactly what he has done.

“I'm certainly very interested to see who's in it. I know a lot of it, but I'm interested to see what's said. Like I said, I'm very proud of him in everything that he's done. I'm excited about it.”

For some, carrying the name of a famous and successful father at Indy can be a burden for a next generation racer. For him, Rahal claims it has been anything but.

“Yeah, I don't think it's been much of a burden for me. What I look at is when you look at all the people that have competed in the Indy 500, very few have ever won it. It's just the reality. I don't sit here and be disappointed in myself that 19 tries at Indy and I haven't won it or whatever.

“Look, I've been close before. I've been closer than a lot of people have been, and it hasn't happened. It adds fuel to the fire each and every year to try to go and do it and get it off my back, but the reality is too that -- you know, this place, 500, I don't know what the ratio is, but probably 95 or more percent of the people that compete in it will never get the chance to sniff a win. So you can't look down upon yourself.

“Even the greats, the greatest of all time, Scott Dixon, has won once. You would think he's won ten with the amount of things that he's been able to accomplish, and yet, even it's turned its head on him many times.

“I certainly don't sit there and be disappointed in myself that it hasn't happened,” Rahal continued. Yes, do I think about 2021 (when a wheel came off following a pit stop causing him to crash)? You got that damn right. That haunts me. People don't realize we had them completely covered that day. I needed one more pit stop to go to the end. They all needed two. It had been a very green race. It was going to continue to be a green race because people needed to save the fuel to get home.

“The pace of that race had been so slow that I was able to run a yellow mixture and keep up with the group for 95 percent of the laps I completed, and I played it absolutely flawlessly, and we never had to say a word on the radio. We knew exactly what was going on.

“Unfortunately, things happen, and that's life. I mean, look, it's life. Am I disappointed in that year? For sure, it does haunt me a little bit because everything on that particular day had gone to plan. I mean, everything. Like I said, it didn't even need to be stated on the radio. We all knew. The whole team knew exactly what was going on.

“Yeah, I mean, that happens. Unfortunately, yeah, sometimes I do sit and wonder, am I ever going to get that close again? The reality is you just don't know. That year felt like the year.

“But like I just said, this place chooses its winners, and sometimes they make complete sense, and sometimes they don't. That's just the way that it goes. Here we are to fight again.”

In these days of social media, Rahal has come in for more than his fair share of criticism from fans. According to Rahal, it’s something that comes with the territory and fortunately has been able to block out.

“The reality is honestly I don't think it matters what I do. I'm always going to get those comments because even after we started on the front row -- started in the top three 2 out of 5 races this year, you go on social media, all you're going to read is how Graham can't drive, he's slow.

“No matter what you do in a person like my shoes,” Rahal maintains, “it's never going to be good enough. That's the reality. I'm okay with that because I don't -- if I've been blessed with one thing, it's that I've been blessed with a mindset and the ability to block out a lot of this stuff. I do know there are a lot of drivers that that's not the case. They get wound up. They see a comment or whatever.

“The accessibility of the fan today is a blessing and it's a curse. In my dad's day, if they had a bad race, you weren't going to hear anything about it because it was probably written in a newspaper and the reality was you weren't ever going to see that newspaper. Today's world is not that. Everybody has you at their fingertips.

“So you have to be able to mentally put all of that aside and stick to the plan, stick to the focus, and the reality is we've had a strong start to the year, and we've been fast in a lot of places. We've had some great results. I believe this weekend is an opportunity for us. That's all I'm focused on.

“We'll just keep pushing along, and I think everybody within my team knows my capabilities, and more importantly, go ask Will Power, go ask Scott Dixon, go ask all those guys that race wheel to wheel, I would firmly believe that they would say very positive things about me, and those are the people and the opinions that matter. That's all I really focus on.”

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

Graham Rahal - Racing in and out His Father’s Shadow

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