Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, he won the Indianapolis 500 in 2004 and 2020 with drivers Buddy Rice and Takuma Sato, respectively.
After retiring as a driver, Rahal held managerial positions with the Jaguar Formula 1 team and also was an interim president of the CART series. Rahal was also a sports car driver during the 1980s, and made one NASCAR start for the Wood Brothers.
Racing career
Rahal began his career in SCCA feeder categories, eventually finishing second to Gilles Villeneuve in the 1977 Formula Atlantic championship. The following year, he competed in the 1978 New Zealand Grand Prix with Fred Opert Racing (Formula Pacific) and in European Formula Three with Wolf Racing. Near the end of the season, Rahal raced for the Wolf Formula 1 team in the 1978 United States Grand Prix and the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix. The deal with Wolf did not continue into the 1979 season, as Wolf signed up James Hunt for the one and only car available. Rahal began the 1979 racing a Chevron in Formula Two, but returned to America mid-season and raced in the Can-Am series. During the next few seasons, he competed in various sports car events, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the IMSA GT Championship.
In 1982, Rahal entered the CART Indy car series with the Truesports team, winning two races and finishing second in the championship behind Rick Mears. He continued racing for Truesports through the 1988 season, winning at least one race every year. In 1986, Rahal dramatically passed Kevin Cogan on a restart with two laps to go to win the Indianapolis 500, only days before his team owner, Jim Trueman died of cancer. Later that year, Rahal won his first CART championship, and successfully defended it the following year.
In 1988, Rahal won the last race the Truesports team ever won, the Quaker State 500 at Pocono, the first and only Indy car victory for the Judd engine.
During his CART career, Rahal also won races in IMSA and IROC. By 1989, Rahal had ended his occasional forays into sports car racing and focused solely on CART. He moved over to the Kraco race team, but this association produced only two wins over three seasons.
Rahal competed in one NASCAR race in his career. In November 1984, he drove the 7-11 sponsored Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford (substituting for Buddy Baker) to a 40th-place finish in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Speedway, completing only 44 laps before breaking a rear end gear.
IndyCar owner
After losing the championship to Michael Andretti in 1991, Rahal (with partner Carl Hogan) acquired the assets to the former Pat Patrick Racing team, with Rahal becoming an owner-driver. The team was an immediate success in 1992, producing four wins for Rahal and his third CART championship, making him the last owner-driver to win the CART title, and the last driver to win a race with his own team until Adrian Fernandez did so in 2003. In 1993, Rahal attempted to develop his own Rahal-Hogan chassis, but reverted to the Lola chassis after failing to qualify for the 1993 Indianapolis 500. In 1994, the team brought the Honda engine into the CART series. Except for a second-place finish at Toronto, he and teammate Mike Groff struggled to show the full potential of an engine that would soon dominate the series. In 1995 at Long Beach, Rahal became the tenth driver in Championship Car history (including AAA, USAC, and CART) to start 200 races in his career.ChampCarStats.com Despite no wins, Rahal finished a strong third in the 1995 standings using the Mercedes engine.
Rahal continued as a racing driver until his retirement in 1998. Meanwhile, Hogan left to form his own team and talk show host David Letterman became a minority owner in 1996. The team became known as Team Rahal in 1996 and Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004, when Rahal switched from CART to the IRL full-time.
Other business roles From 1997 to 1999, Rahal co-owned a team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with sportscar-racing veteran Tom Gloy. The team, called Gloy-Rahal Racing, competed part time in 1997 and full time for the remainder of existence.
In 2000, Rahal joined the Jaguar Formula One team in a managerial capacity. During this time, Rahal attempted to hire championship-winning aerodynamicist Adrian Newey, briefly believing that the deal had been completed, but was unsuccessful. However, Rahal was fired after reportedly attempting to sell driver Eddie Irvine to rivals Jordan. Ironically, the team fired Irvine little more than a year after firing Rahal, while Newey joined in 2006, a year after the team was sold to Red Bull.
Rahal was the interim President and CEO of CART for six months during the 2000 season.
Rahal's business interests include Bobby Rahal Automotive Group, a network of car dealerships in western and central Pennsylvania currently selling Acura, BMW, Honda, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.
In 2021, Rahal began to venture into race promoting with the help of former IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George. Rahal's first move in race promotion was to return the popular Iowa Speedway round to IndyCar after it had been left off of the 2021 calendar. Rahal was able to recruit Iowa supermarket chain Hy-Vee as a sponsor and secured a multi year agreement between IndyCar and Iowa Speedway to run a double header event at the track starting in 2022.
Awards International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2004) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2004)Bobby Rahal at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America SCCA Hall of Fame (2013) Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame (2014) Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award (2014)
Tribute At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the back straight leading up to the corkscrew was named the "Rahal Straight" in his honor.
Personal life Rahal is the son of Barbara and Michael Rahal (1924–2017) who raced autos for over two decades. His father is of Lebanese descent and his mother is of English descent. His father owned a wholesale food distribution business. Rahal was raised in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn and attended Glenbard West High School as class of 1971. Rahal is a graduate of Denison University, where his father also graduated.
Rahal formerly lived in New Albany, Ohio. He now lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. His son is Graham Rahal, who races in the IndyCar Series.
Rahal owns a 1975 Lola T360 which he occasionally races at vintage racing events.
In 2023, Rahal had knee surgery which he is currently recovering from.
Motorsports career results
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status 1974 Road Atlanta Lola T290 Ford B Sports Racing 3 3 Running 1975 Road Atlanta March 75B Ford Formula B 1 2 Running 1977 Road Atlanta March 75B Ford Formula B 18 1 Retired
Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position / Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Formula One results Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts 1978 Walter Wolf Racing Wolf WR5 Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA NC 0 Wolf WR1 CAN
Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Formula Two results Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Chevron Racing Team Chevron B48 Hart SIL HOC THR NÜR VLL MUG PAU HOC ZAN PER MIS DON 11th 10
American Open Wheel Racing (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
PPG Indy Car Series PPG Indy Car Series results Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref 1982 Truesports Co. 19 March 82C Cosworth DFX V8t PHX ATL MIL CLE MCH MIL POC RIV ROA MCH PHX 2nd 242 1983 Truesports Co. 2 March 83C Cosworth DFX V8t ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MCH PHX 5th 94 Chevrolet V8 MDO CPL LAG 1984 Truesports Co. 5 March 84C Cosworth DFX V8t LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL 3rd 137 1985 Truesports Co. 3 March 85C Cosworth DFX V8t LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA 3rd 133 1986 Truesports Co. March 86C Cosworth DFX V8t PHX LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC MDO SAN MCH ROA LAG PHX MIA 1st 179 1987 Truesports Co. 1 Lola T87/00 Cosworth DFX V8t LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC ROA MDO NAZ LAG MIA 1st 188 1988 Truesports Co. Lola T88/00 Judd AV V8t PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG MIA 3rd 136 1989 Kraco Racing 18 Lola T89/00 Cosworth DFS V8t PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG 9th 88 1990 Galles-Kraco Racing Lola T90/00 Chevrolet 265A V8t PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG 4th 153 1991 Galles-Kraco Racing Lola T91/00 Chevrolet 265A V8t SRF LBH PHX INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG 2nd 200 1992 Rahal-Hogan Racing 12 Lola T92/00 Chevrolet 265A V8t SRF PHX LBH INDY DET POR MIL NHA TOR MCH CLE ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG 1st 196 1993 Rahal-Hogan Racing 1 Rahal-Hogan RH-001 Chevrolet 265C V8t SRF PHX LBH INDY 4th 133 Lola T93/00 MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH NHA ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG 1994 Rahal-Hogan Racing 4 Lola T94/00 Honda HRX V8t SRF PHX LBH MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA NAZ LAG 10th 59 Penske PC-22 Ilmor 265D V8t INDY 1995 Rahal-Hogan Racing 9 Lola T95/00 Mercedes-Benz IC108B V8t MIA SRF PHX LBH NAZ INDY MIL DET POR ROA TOR CLE MCH MDO NHA VAN LAG 3rd 128 1996 Team Rahal 18 Reynard 96i Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8t MIA RIO SRF LBH NAZ 500 MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG 7th 102 1997 Team Rahal 7 Reynard 97i Ford XD V8t MIA SRF LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG FON 12th 70 1998 Team Rahal Reynard 98i Ford XD V8t MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SRF FON 10th 82
Indianapolis 500 results
Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 1982 March Cosworth 17th 11th Truesports 1983 March Cosworth 6th 20th Truesports 1984 March Cosworth 18th 7th Truesports 1985 March Cosworth 3rd 27th Truesports 1986 March Cosworth 4th 1st Truesports 1987 Lola Cosworth 2nd 26th Truesports 1988 Lola Judd 19th 5th Truesports 1989 Lola Cosworth 7th 26th Kraco 1990 Lola Chevrolet 4th 2nd Galles/Kraco 1991 Lola Chevrolet 4th 19th Galles/Kraco 1992 Lola Chevrolet 10th 6th Rahal/Hogan 1993 Rahal ChevroletFailed to Qualify Rahal/Hogan 1994 Penske Ilmor 28th 3rd Rahal/Hogan 1995 Lola Ilmor-Mercedes 21st 3rd Rahal/Hogan
NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pts Ref 1984 Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford DAY RCH CAR ATL BRI NWS DAR MAR TAL NSV DOV CLT RSD POC MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT NWS CAR ATL RSD 91st 43
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1980 Dick Barbour Racing Bob Garretson Allan Moffat Porsche 935 K3 IMSA 134 DNF DNF 1982 Garretson Developments Skeeter McKitterick Jim Trueman March 82G C 28 DNF DNF
References
External links Rahal Letterman Racing website Rahal's automobile dealerships website The Greatest 33