View Full Version : Graham Rahal geared up for Formula One
Napoleon
06-22-06, 06:47 AM
Saw this AP report in the local paper
Graham Rahal geared up for Formula One
6/20/2006, 5:18 p.m. ET
By CLIFF BRUNT
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Graham Rahal doesn't want to follow his father into open-wheel racing in the United States. He wants to drive in Formula One in Europe.
First, he'll take what he hopes is a minor detour. At 17 he'll be the youngest driver in the Indy Pro Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Liberty Challenge on July 1.
The IRL developmental series event is the day before the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix, and Rahal knows the F1 teams will be watching. He hopes to impress them, then catch on with a European developmental program next year.
"I'm looking forward to my future," Graham said during a news conference Tuesday at the Speedway. "Obviously, the (Indianapolis) 500 is something I want to do. I always have since I was a kid. But my ultimate would be to compete here in Formula One."
His father, Bobby Rahal, won the 1986 Indianapolis 500, and Graham appears on his way to a successful racing career. He became the youngest to win a Champ Car Atlantic series event this year in Monterey, Mexico.
Graham knows Marco Andretti, the 19-year-old Indy 500 runner-up, but he wants to go another route.
"It's nice to see (Andretti) perform well, but at the same time, it doesn't swing my opinion toward going to Formula One," Graham said. "F1 is at the top of the sport. No matter what Marco's success is, Marco's got to make his own path and I've got to make mine. Certainly, he has gotten the recognition this year because of Indy. I hope to go to Europe and make a mark, and that's what's most important to me."
Graham will compete for the Kenn Hardley Racing with teammate Bobby Wilson, who won the Indy Pro Series' most recent event at Watkins Glen, N.Y.
"This is a great opportunity for Graham," Bobby said. "He's on a good team, and his teammate is obviously one off the best guys in the series. I think the team as a whole has got a good chance to be successful."
Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Racing in the IRL, is glad to support his son's Formula One ambitions.
"Ever since he was a little boy, that has been what he has wanted to do," he said. "I've got the reins pulled back half the time, but he's doing such a great job, who knows where he's going to end up?"
trauma1
06-22-06, 08:30 AM
he's now scheduled to test a GP2 car next week, but it's telling either he goes to Gp or i see bobby buying him a new Dp for 07, booby is as good as gone from earl just who he takes with him is the next question,
Spicoli
06-22-06, 08:57 AM
what a load of crap. just like micro Andrutty.
last name hanger-oner. i races carts against this kid 2 years ago. he's no SeaBass, JPM, etc.....just a ****tard with a last name. :shakehead
What are you gonna do when Grahamania runs wild over you?!
Spicoli
06-22-06, 10:22 AM
What are you gonna do when Grahamania runs wild over you?!
Nelsonmania! :thumbup:
cameraman
06-22-06, 12:38 PM
what a load of crap. just like micro Andrutty.
last name hanger-oner. i races carts against this kid 2 years ago. he's no SeaBass, JPM, etc.....just a ****tard with a last name. :shakehead
So you are saying that you would have won the Monterrey race if you were in the car :rolleyes:
So you are saying that you would have won the Monterrey race if you were in the car :rolleyes:
Spickly likes to whoop @ss on 12 year old kids. Hence his fixation on Danica as a 12-year old Korean boy. :gomer: :p :D
-Kevin
and Rahal knows the F1 teams will be watching.
good God, WHY?!?
The IPS??
Spicoli
06-22-06, 04:31 PM
So you are saying that you would have won the Monterrey race if you were in the car :rolleyes:
nope.
Spicoli
06-22-06, 04:32 PM
Spickly likes to whoop @ss on 12 year old kids. Hence his fixation on Danica as a 12-year old Korean boy. :gomer: :p :D
-Kevin
well, old and smartass can easily beat young and stupid. :thumbup:
I never saw this kid race, but his cousin (Ian's son) raced at the local kart track a few years ago. Definitely nothing special, but after spending his summers turning laps 3-4 days a week with a full time mechanic, Ian's kid became pretty good. Lots of practice and having the best equipment will get you pretty far, but to get to f1, you better have some natural talent.
oddlycalm
06-26-06, 01:51 PM
The real question isn't what can he do with the top equipment and the best race engineers but rather what he can do without it.
We've seen that the Rahal kid can drive the top equipment he's been given pretty well, but after he cryed his eyes out for half an hour after getting turned around on the opening lap in Portland I wonder if he doesn't have a sense of entitlement. If so, he's going to get his tail handed to him in a big way as he moves up the ladder.
oc
GP2 could be an eye opener. It seems (so far anyway) that you can't just buy success in that series like is possible in F3. Unless of course you buy your way into whatever ASM has figured out.
see Piquet jr, Nelson
Dr. Corkski
06-26-06, 05:05 PM
Unless of course you buy your way into whatever ASM has figured out.Even then you still need to have some talent or your teammate will smoke you year after year.
see Premat, Alexandre
cameraman
06-26-06, 05:13 PM
... after he cryed his eyes out for half an hour after getting turned around on the opening lap in Portland...
Pretty high up there on the list of ways not to impress an F1 team. :shakehead
Even then you still need to have some talent or your teammate will smoke you year after year.
see Premat, Alexandre
A lot of good drivers turn down that ride. :laugh:
Gangrel
06-27-06, 10:22 AM
what a load of crap. just like micro Andrutty.
last name hanger-oner. i races carts against this kid 2 years ago. he's no SeaBass, JPM, etc.....just a ****tard with a last name. :shakehead
Say what you want about Bobby. Say what you want about IPS. Say what you want about IMS, the USGP, or the hat dance everyone is doing there to try to make it all look like one big happy family.
But the kid sits third in the Atlantics standings. This would be the same Atlantics series that is running a brand new chassis and engine package and has close to 30 cars on the grid in any given week. He's won three races so far. Three. Including two in two days at Cleveland. He's accomplishing this at 17 years old. So, let's hear why this doesn't sound like something special.
Come on folks...The news stories are starting to break now that the war is coming to an end. That means somehow we will eventually have to find a way to be one big happy family again. We might start by not belittling drivers on the basis of them being descended from someone who you view as a traitor. Even if that is your view, give Graham his due regadless of what you think of Bobby. :rolleyes:
TKGAngel
06-27-06, 12:18 PM
Rahal Misses Flight, GP2 Test (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/more/27585/)
oddlycalm
06-29-06, 08:34 PM
give Graham his due regadless of what you think of Bobby. Fine, but how a driver handles adversity is part of the package in any series. I realize he's just a kid, but having an emotional meltdown that went on for an hour after getting turned around doesn't look too promising. Maybe he learns from it and grows, maybe he doesn't. BTW, Sciuto is 17 as well.
oc
Gangrel
06-30-06, 10:26 AM
Fine, but how a driver handles adversity is part of the package in any series. I realize he's just a kid, but having an emotional meltdown that went on for an hour after getting turned around doesn't look too promising. Maybe he learns from it and grows, maybe he doesn't. BTW, Sciuto is 17 as well.
oc
Hmm...you mean kind of like Mikka Hakkinen melting down after an engine failure and running into the woods to throw a crying tantrum? Where was that again? I'll track it down. I can't even think of the word "meltdown" without that image coming to mind. So, would you say that Hakkinen was handling adversity ok there?
On the Cleveland Roundtable on champcar.ws, Gordon Kirby said that Jackie Stewart kept asking him about Marco Andretti. When Kirby told him that Graham Rahal was another one to watch, Stewart said that the Rahal name meant nothing in F1 and that everyone there is watching Marco.
On the Cleveland Roundtable on champcar.ws, Gordon Kirby said that Jackie Stewart kept asking him about Marco Andretti. When Kirby told him that Graham Rahal was another one to watch, Stewart said that the Rahal name meant nothing in F1 and that everyone there is watching Marco.
How many GP2 tryouts has Micro been offered?
Jackie Stewart is a self-important twit.
How many GP2 tryouts has Micro been offered?
Jackie Stewart is a self-important twit.
I'm just repeating what Kirby said. I'm not trying to make a point with it. Personally, I would love to see both of them go on to long and prosperous Champ Car careers.
FanofMario
07-01-06, 12:57 AM
Though I missed their run Friday(Catching shade and some brews in between practice sessions...my buddies were all commenting how slow and how bad they sounded!), Graham is on the pole in those absolutely s***** sounding POS cars. Regardless of the car, Friday was only the second day the kid was in the car. The kid obviously has some talent to be in third in Atlantics and to then jump in one of those boats to grap pole. Hope he does get somebody to look at him, but I doubt it will happen at this race and venue. I don't know how any F1 guy could think those cars offer any kind of yardstick---they suck bad! The BMW cars looked and sounded better than those crapwagon juniors. :shakehead
Gangrel
07-01-06, 01:35 AM
:rofl:
crapwagon juniors
I think we may have just found the new OC codename for IPS!
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