Rahal to D&R

[GRW1983]

Although not officially confirmed, Wikipedia are reporting that D&R will announce today (June 10th) that Graham Rahal will drive the #24 car at Iowa. At present, it is a one-race deal, but with five road courses coming up after Iowa, it wouldn't surprise me to see Rahal drive the car until Mike Conway is fit again.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Wikipedia reporting?

[00steven]

If this is true I hope to see Graham do well.

[EagleEye]

Wikipedia reporting?

That is what I was thinking. Anyone could go in and change it.

That being said, that is the word here in Indy, though it might be for the year, not just one race.

[TURN3]

DRR has made it official and J-Dub has tweeted it. Probably the right move and for Rahal it is probably his best case scenario to finish out this year.

I was noticing how the championship is about to be shaken up (and has been with events from Indy). RHR is currently 6th and seemingly out of a ride. I figure the result at Indy didn't much impact him as he ran out of gas. Weazy took the real spill because he was looking at probably 3rd, if not a potential W. Now that he's missed Texas and the rest of the year he's dropped back out of the top 10 where he was solidly placed. Graham hasn't been full-time this year obviously so he won't really have a shot at the top 10 now.

So obviously the top 5 spots are taken, the championship for the 2nd group starts at 6th. Who benefits from all of this most!? Yep, you know who! She'll end up between 9th and 12th in the championship and we'll spend another year listening to how great she did as the 4th to 7th best driver not with Penske or Ganassi. Oh, and she finished 3rd on her team ahead of RHR!

[Chris R]

Pardon my ignorance but, who's "Weazy"??

[TURN3]

Pardon my ignorance but, who's "Weazy"??

Conway...it's a nickname several of his peers use regularly.

[DanicaFan]

I am glad to see this. I do hope they keep him in the car either until the season is over or Conway gets back, whichever comes first. Graham is their best choice for sure.

It's always good to keep 1 driver in a car instead of switching all the time.

[harvick#1]

tough break for RHR, running for a championship and now is basically waving the white flag, very sad for Ryan, hes such a good driver and getting shunted because of sponsors. good luck Rahal, but I hope Ryan gets a sponsor soon so he can race for the title

[Scotty G.]

Who benefits from all of this most!? Yep, you know who! She'll end up between 9th and 12th in the championship and we'll spend another year listening to how great she did as the 4th to 7th best driver not with Penske or Ganassi. Oh, and she finished 3rd on her team ahead of RHR!


With only 5 ovals left, I don't see her finishing in the top 10 in points.

Plus she is about to re-start her NASCAR career. Her focus won't be on Indy Cars anymore in 2010.

I think she ends up about 12th or 13th in points. Marco and TK both dust her and RHR would, if he wasn't out of a ride.

[Jag_Warrior]

So the fat lady is pretty much singing for Hunter-Reay? :(

Pardon my French, but that is VERY f'ed up. It looks bad on the series, the team and the title sponsor (since he's their guy).

I'm not throwing darts, because I don't know. But is Andretti Autosport really capable of finding a sponsor? I'm just asking. I just know they've had a lot of "gift" sponsorships over the years: NYSE was a holdover from the Archipelago merger (the owner was a big fan of the Andretti family), Go Daddy and Motorola are there because of The Danica, the Honda and Formula Dream money was from when they were a "factory" team and then they agreed to nurse Mutoh along, 7-11 I don't know about, but Izod was because of Hunter-Reay. From what I've heard (and I wouldn't blame him if it was true), Mikey is making sure that Marco has some decals on his car, but the family account has covered much of his running costs recently. So the question remains, apart from a sponsor approaching Andretti (or a ride buyer contacting them), is this an outfit that's shown any real ability to put a sponsor in the bag on their own? :confused:

[beachbum]

Actually, I'm beginning to doubt that the younger Rahal is deserving of all the credit he gets on internet boards. Is he really as good as some think? And deserving of a top ride? He's got a win, but so does Danica. In many situations he's been less than competitive. True that he hasn't been in a top car but you'd think that any driver deserving of attention could pull a few good ones out of the hat. Any one else have any thoughts on this?When Graham first showed up in the other series, I was very unimpressed. He seemed out of his depth and made a lot of unforced errors. He has gotten much better and has had moments of success, but IMHO the jury is still out. When he was running for SFR, he didn't seem to be able to adapt or give really good feedback. I think it was Long Beach were he was adamant on the radio that lowering the car would not help his problems. So they lowered the back of the car and he was noticeably quicker.

This probably isn't a popular opinion, but I think a lot of the support is because he is American. When you look at the Americans who could / should be in Indycar, he is one of the few with a resume. Most of the others have either disappointed (Marco), haven't had opportunities (Hildebrand , etc), are firmly established in other series (Patrick Long), or are simply too old (Alex Barron) for a team to take a chance. Graham may just be the "best of the rest"

[TURN3]

When Graham first showed up in the other series, I was very unimpressed. He seemed out of his depth and made a lot of unforced errors. He has gotten much better and has had moments of success, but IMHO the jury is still out. When he was running for SFR, he didn't seem to be able to adapt or give really good feedback. I think it was Long Beach were he was adamant on the radio that lowering the car would not help his problems. So they lowered the back of the car and he was noticeably quicker.

This probably isn't a popular opinion, but I think a lot of the support is because he is American. When you look at the Americans who could / should be in Indycar, he is one of the few with a resume. Most of the others have either disappointed (Marco), haven't had opportunities (Hildebrand , etc), are firmly established in other series (Patrick Long), or are simply too old (Alex Barron) for a team to take a chance. Graham may just be the "best of the rest"

Don't forget that at Long Beach he was slow with SFR because they had a cracked tub...of which he correctly diagnosed. Graham is fast and quite good, he's proven that through the feeder series. He was a fast rookie with NHL in the only year of the DP01, won under extraordinarly circumstances after the merge, and was the only guy consistently challenging the red cars last year in NHL's 2nd season with the equipment (in terms of speed but not necessarily results). If I'm not mistaken, I think he made every single fast 6 last year. Yes, the results need to start following on a consistent basis but this year hasn't been a year to analyze that.

[beachbum]

Don't forget that at Long Beach he was slow with SFR because they had a cracked tub...of which he correctly diagnosed. Graham is fast and quite good, he's proven that through the feeder series.Actually, the team determined the tub was "soft", no cracked. If you read his tweets and comments, Graham really didn't know what was causing the car to not react to changes. Of course, until after Long Beach, the team didn't know what was wrong either.

What sticks in my mind is the Las Vegas Champ Car race when another driver surprised him and he turned into the wall. He has come a LONG way since then. I think he is a good driver, but IMHO he hasn't shown the toughness to be a regular contender and not make mistakes. Graham is still young and has lots of potential, but there are many drivers with similar credentials.

[Hoop-98]

So the fat lady is pretty much singing for Hunter-Reay? :(

Pardon my French, but that is VERY f'ed up. It looks bad on the series, the team and the title sponsor (since he's their guy).

I'm not throwing darts, because I don't know. But is Andretti Autosport really capable of finding a sponsor? I'm just asking. I just know they've had a lot of "gift" sponsorships over the years: NYSE was a holdover from the Archipelago merger (the owner was a big fan of the Andretti family), Go Daddy and Motorola are there because of The Danica, the Honda and Formula Dream money was from when they were a "factory" team and then they agreed to nurse Mutoh along, 7-11 I don't know about, but Izod was because of Hunter-Reay. From what I've heard (and I wouldn't blame him if it was true), Mikey is making sure that Marco has some decals on his car, but the family account has covered much of his running costs recently. So the question remains, apart from a sponsor approaching Andretti (or a ride buyer contacting them), is this an outfit that's shown any real ability to put a sponsor in the bag on their own? :confused:

he will run with AA at Iowa





i

[chuck34]

he will run with AA at Iowa





i

I hadn't heard that yet. Sweet!!!!

[jwhite9185]

http://andrettiautosport.com/News_June_2010.html#News_June_15_2010

Still doesn't sound like a full season deal though.

[nigelred5]

I read one race deal from the ethanol group for the Iowa Corn 250. Sounds like smart money for the corn based ethanol producers to back a top driver in an important market for them. I'm still shocked Izod isn't stepping up. I suppose the same money could have bought a full season elsewhere.

[Mark in Oshawa]

When Graham first showed up in the other series, I was very unimpressed. He seemed out of his depth and made a lot of unforced errors. He has gotten much better and has had moments of success, but IMHO the jury is still out. When he was running for SFR, he didn't seem to be able to adapt or give really good feedback. I think it was Long Beach were he was adamant on the radio that lowering the car would not help his problems. So they lowered the back of the car and he was noticeably quicker.

This probably isn't a popular opinion, but I think a lot of the support is because he is American. When you look at the Americans who could / should be in Indycar, he is one of the few with a resume. Most of the others have either disappointed (Marco), haven't had opportunities (Hildebrand , etc), are firmly established in other series (Patrick Long), or are simply too old (Alex Barron) for a team to take a chance. Graham may just be the "best of the rest"

I am going to toss out anything that happened with Sarah's outfit and put it aside. No one has ever been competitive in that car, oval or road course, so to criticize him for what was going on at Long Beach isn't really worth condemnation. Will Power, Helio and Dario couldn't have probably dragged that car further up the grid with the engineering help Sarah can afford. They just don't understand enough about this car to make it competitive.

So we have to look past SFR with Graham, and go back to his Newman Haas days. The fact is he is a project. When he gets the car he wants, he is fast. He won a race, and didn't have to play the fuel mileage game on a foot to the floor 1.5 mile oval to do it. What is more, he can turn left all day, or turn right too. He isn't a one trick pony. That said, he looked pretty green at Indy, blocking but hey, you know who does it and gets away with it, so there you have why Graham figured it was legal.

I am not saying he is going to be the next best deal, but for D and R, he could be an inspired choice. The kid has good genes, and a good coach. That has to be something I guess...but really, things could go either way.

[beachbum]

I am going to toss out anything that happened with Sarah's outfit and put it aside. No one has ever been competitive in that car, oval or road course, so to criticize him for what was going on at Long Beach isn't really worth condemnation. Will Power, Helio and Dario couldn't have probably dragged that car further up the grid with the engineering help Sarah can afford. They just don't understand enough about this car to make it competitive.

So we have to look past SFR with Graham, and go back to his Newman Haas days. The fact is he is a project. When he gets the car he wants, he is fast. He won a race, and didn't have to play the fuel mileage game on a foot to the floor 1.5 mile oval to do it. What is more, he can turn left all day, or turn right too. He isn't a one trick pony. That said, he looked pretty green at Indy, blocking but hey, you know who does it and gets away with it, so there you have why Graham figured it was legal.

I am not saying he is going to be the next best deal, but for D and R, he could be an inspired choice. The kid has good genes, and a good coach. That has to be something I guess...but really, things could go either way.Mark, I have to agree with all you said. The potential is there and at 21 he has time to develop. SFR obviously thought he was a good choice and so does DRR. Is he as good as some like to project? Hard to tell-yet.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Mark, I have to agree with all you said. The potential is there and at 21 he has time to develop. SFR obviously thought he was a good choice and so does DRR. Is he as good as some like to project? Hard to tell-yet.

I do know this much. I think the series needs he and Marco to be better. If and when Danica leaves, they will be the biggest American NAMES in the eyes of many, and it would be nice if they assumed a leadership role in this series. Graham I think is very capable of it, Marco I am not 100 % sure. On the track, I think either one of them could go either way, but I really want Graham to join RHR as the faces of the American driver in this series. The kid speaks well....

[Jag_Warrior]

Not exactly cheery news to hear both Graham and Ryan Hunter-Reay say that they have no idea whether they'll be in the next race. :rolleyes: If not for the pit violation, Hunter-Reay would have likely been in the hunt for a win. And Graham was running very strong until a bum radio threw him off sequence. D&R's money issues I can sort of understand. But to have Andretti Autosport not be able to find a (consistent) sponsor for a driver of Hunter-Reay's caliber would be like Mercedes announcing that Nico Rosberg was race to race because of funding... or Hendrick announcing that Mark Martin was race to race because of funding. I've never heard the first bad thing about Hunter-Reay. And in addition to being the poster boy for the series sponsor, he's clearly a very talented racer - if AA was a two car team, you'd want Kanaan and Hunter-Reay (or is that just stating the obvious?). It would be a shame to see him not be able to race, while the weak kitten on that team (who wants to leave anyway) is bathing in funding.

Well, good luck to both Graham and Ryan in securing seats for the next race... and the rest of the season.

[beachgirl]

Speaking of the "weak kitten", there was no post-race TV interview with her at all yesterday, and yet the universe didn't collapse, the sky didn't fall, and we got to hear from some great racers, with some interesting things to say about their day. Good for Versus!

I really hate to see Graham and Ryan left hanging regarding any more racing this year. And not because of the usual "they're AMERICAN". Because they're both good racers, who give it their all on track every single time, and can be coherent in an interview about their race afterwards.

[TURN3]

It is a poor point in the season for race to race deals that is for sure. I hope like heck somebody realizes common sense. RHR is in the hunt for a longshot at a championship with 5 roadies coming up. Rahal is already out of the hunt based on his deal from the start of the year but still, any experience he can get with some of these lesser teams will only help him next year in my opinion. So with those that, I am excited that PT is in the next 3, albeit with 2 different teams (heck Rahal is on his 3rd already this year)! Pretty hard for those guys to get any chemistry and do well but PT made a pretty strong showing on a part time basis last year during this stretch.