A lot is on the line for Bobby and Graham Rahal in Sunday's 94th Indianapolis 500, both at the starting line and the finish line.
The odds are long against winning Sunday's Indianapolis 500 for Graham Rahal, left, and car owner Bobby Rahal. But the two men would be satisfied with a good-enough showing to solidify a spot in IRL fields for the rest of the season.
PREDICTIONS
Sunday’s race is considered a two-team duel between the six drivers for team owners Roger Penske (Helio Castroneves, Well Power and Ryan Briscoe) and Chip Ganassi (Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Townsend Bell).
But 500 miles in the cockpit of temperamental open wheel missiles can make strange things happen. Heat can be a problem for one car, humidity for another; traffic can turn a dialed-in bullet into a shuddering jalopy, and a jalopy into a ballet dancer floating in and out of trouble.
Considering all that, who is going to win?
1. Helio Castroneves: Shaker Heights native Penske has been racing at Indy since 1969. He’s won here 15 times including five of the last nine. It’s tough to see Castroneves, who’s already won in 2001, 2002 and 2009, anywhere but climbing the fence in victory.
2. Dario Franchitti: It seems few give the Scotsman his due at the Brickyard, but the 2007 winner has finished no worse than seventh in his last four races. The 2007 win came in a rain-shortened (166 laps) race; a win while going the distance will make the few who doubt him have second thoughts.
3. Tony Kanaan: In public all the drivers pick themselves to win, but in private, hands down, the choice is TK. The fact he is starting last will make his journey tougher. But if he wins the TV cameras better pan the pits because there will be a lot of thumbs up for a driver who has seen more than his fair share of tough luck without winning.
Rookie to watch: With all the drama around Danica Patrick’s Indy woes, few outside of the garage area have taken notice of Simona de Silvestro. She qualified 22nd. But if she can avoid the early trouble that often plagues rookies, a top-10 finish is not out of the question for this Brazilian.
— Elton AlexanderINDIANAPOLIS -- A lot is on the line for Bobby and Graham Rahal in Sunday's 94th Indianapolis 500, both at the starting line and the finish line. Bobby is looking to remain viable as a successful Indy Racing League team owner, while son Graham is looking to keep a promising career from stalling.
For Bobby, the 1 p.m. start will be the first IRL race of the season for the man who directed Buddy Rice to an Indy win in 2004 and introduced Danica Patrick to the world with a fourth-place start and finish at Indy in 2005.
But this year, the sponsorship money for Rahal to enter a competitive car just wasn't there -- at least until Indianapolis. For Graham, who has subbed in two races this season, Indy offers a chance to regain some lost momentum after losing his ride with Newman-Haas just before the start of the season.
"I don't like being in the position we're in," the elder Rahal said minutes before Friday's final Indy practice. "It's very expensive to run these cars. Even in 2008, we had a reasonably good budget, but not near the Penske and Ganassi or Andretti cars. I think we out-performed [our means], but that's really no way to go racing. I just concluded, if you can't do it right, I have no interest in just being out there."
Money woes also derailed Graham, who at age 19 in 2008 became the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race. His promising career came to an unexpected halt when funding within the prestigious Newman-Haas race team dried up and he was the odd man out when that three-car team cut back.
At one time father and son made it a point to stand on their own in auto racing, but now they stand together. With the help of a sponsorship for the Indianapolis 500 only from Quick Trim, the Rahals are betting on a strong run to get back into the game full-time.
"When we decided to do this program ... we needed to get the [top] stuff that was out there," Bobby Rahal said, "... different radiators, different this, different that. I think we could have qualified with the stuff we had. But we wouldn't be where we are, for sure. We do want to win the race.
"Either we are going to be funded properly, or we weren't going to do it. Now we're working hard to see if we can continue this to the remainder of the year. And I'd like to see it go beyond that."
Graham Rahal qualified seventh and is the fastest American in a 33-car field that has only nine Yanks, the fewest in Indy history.
The road to the top series in American open-wheel racing was not an easy one for Graham Rahal. From the start, he did not get a car handed to him. Bobby Rahal had his son write letters seeking sponsorship, and search for funding for his go-carts. As Graham worked himself up the ladder, he was led to get rides with other race teams.
Whatever success Graham Rahal earned, Bobby Rahal wanted it to be completely his, without the shadow of "daddy" hanging over him. So winning that first race for Newman-Haas showed that Graham could not only stand on his own, but also deserved the accolades that came his way.
Now, however, both are trying to survive, at least for 2010. But the battle is being fought without one looking over his shoulder at the other.
"I feel like we're both comfortable with it," Graham said. "[Dad] feels very confident. He wants to showcase what both the team and myself can do. Of course, it's easier for him to sit there. It's a little more difficult to actually sit in the car and get the job done. Dad's thought is to try, as much as we can, to turn this into something, long-term, to help both myself and to help the team."
Yet make no mistake, being competitive in the race is going to be tough. The good news is Graham turned in a fantastic qualifying effort at 225.617 mph to land inside the third row. Another plus is his father's history with young drivers at Indy. He is the one who nurtured the early careers of Patrick, Vitor Meira, Buddy Rice, who won in 2004, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. All but Rice are in this field and regulars in the IRL.
But the negatives include Graham's brief history at Indy. He exited early in his two appearances at The Brickyard, both races ending after aggressive moves in the fourth turn.
"I think I know the mistakes I've made the last couple of years," Graham said. "I heavily doubt you're going to see the same thing. I know there's one turn I'm not going to pass in is going to be four."
There's another cloud. While the qualifying effort was sterling, Graham's post-qualifying practice efforts have been less than stellar. In Friday's final one-hour tune-up, the Rahal car was the slowest in the field, the only one to clock in under 220 mph at 219.998 mph.
Yet, visions of winning it all fuel excitement within them.
"I know one thing that would help my driving career a lot is that we win this thing," Graham said. "And hopefully, he's involved. There would be no better story to tell, from both the team's struggles from last year and mine over the past six months. For us to come together and win this would be pretty amazing."
Now 21, Graham Rahal would be the youngest Indy 500 winner. And while they would not be the first father and son to win Indy -- Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. have won -- they would be the first father-son team to wear separate Indy rings.
Win or lose, Bobby Rahal is assured of a bit of satisfaction. One Indy tradition over the years has been watching the famous families of Indy walk side-by-side from the garage to start/finish line before the race: the Bettenhausens, the Unsers and the Andrettis. This year, for the first time, the Rahals will make that walk together wearing the same racing colors.
"That will be cool. That will be great," Bobby Rahal said.
Then they will turn their attention to the race, hoping the 500 brings a result that doesn't end their season, but keeps it going.