Photos by Nate Toering
As the 2010 IndyCar season began a few weeks ago, one of the sport’s rising stars found himself without a car to drive. Meanwhile, a team owner had a perfectly good car but no one to drive it.
Two fan favorites came together to form a feel-good partnership for the Grand Prix of Long Beach when Graham Rahal signed on to drive the event for Sarah Fisher Racing.
Rahal was one of the most promising young drivers in the country and became the youngest driver to ever win an IndyCar event two years ago in St. Petersburg.
Fisher is a well-known commodity among the racing constituency, as much for her passion as her skills on the track. An extremely accomplished oval driver, Fisher started her own team a few years ago when she couldn’t find a ride and was the feel good story of the 2008 Indianapolis 500 when sponsors dropped her and Fisher put up her own money to stay in the race.
So it makes sense that Fisher just couldn’t keep herself out of the most glamorous race on the IndyCar schedule, the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The problem is that Fisher is an oval-driving specialist and is not known for her skills on street circuits like the tricky track at Long Beach. She decided to seek out someone that could represent her team on the oceanfront course. One call to main sponsor Dollar General was all it took
“Graham’s name came up and they were extremely excited and we called Graham and it all worked out,” Fisher said on Thursday.
Rahal will race the Long Beach course for the fourth time in his young career on Sunday, and challenged for the lead several times while encountering some poor luck in other outings. Still, no matter how highly-decorated or –regarded Rahal is for his skills, the word around the track is that he’s driving a car suited for high speed ovals on a twisty street course.
“Going into the season we spent all our efforts R&D-wise [research and development] on ovals and the Indy 500 because that’s my forte,” Fisher explains. “Originally we weren’t even slated to do Long Beach, but then Dollar General picked us up because it’s such a great race and Graham really wanted to do it.”
Rahal, the son of racing legend and 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby, lost his 2009 ride when McDonald’s pulled sponsorship from his team to focus on the Winter Olympics. Rahal flirted with a jump to NASCAR and other series, but ultimately landed in the lap of Sarah Fisher Racing. It’s unclear how many more races he’ll drive this season beyond Long Beach – Fisher will drive the car at higher speed tracks – but Rahal is enjoying the ride for now.
“It’s a great opportunity and I think everybody’s especially excited about here,” he said. “This is a great venue and I’ve had a little bit of success here in the past so I’m just really happy and looking forward to being back here, enjoying a good weekend.”
Rahal set the 19th fastest lap time out of 25 drivers on Friday, due in part, he says, to a lack of grip on the course. Other drivers mentioned the same problem due to heavy use on the track from drifting events, but Rahal may be at a particular disadvantage because the #67 Sarah Fisher Racing car is simply not built to handle the tight curves of Long Beach.
“I think we could’ve been a little bit more prepared on the road course side had we known this opportunity was coming,” says Fisher. “But plans change and the people who change their plans wind up being the most successful. We’re digging everyday to try to come up with the best scenarios.”
