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Snap-on Stars of Karting Graduate Graham Rahal Takes First IndyCar Win in St. Pete |
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Written by Dave Lewandowski (IndyCar.com)
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Monday, 07 April 2008 |
Standing next to his battered car on a humid night at Homestead-Miami Speedway less than two weeks ago, Graham Rahal didn't wear disappointment well.
The No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps car had careened into the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier on the oval, transforming the Dallara's suspension into metal spaghetti. Already short on parts because of the quick turnaround since the announcement of American open-wheel racing unification under the IndyCar Series banner, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing principals decided not to chance further damage - to the car or potentially the novice oval racer.
So Rahal watched from pit lane what would have been his IndyCar Series debut. Only 10 laps of testing - cut short because of rain - early last week at Sebring International Raceway didn't exactly inspire confidence heading to the concrete cavern that is the St. Petersburg temporary street course.
But if there's one mental motorsports note he remembers via osmosis from his famous father, it's perspective. "Keep moving forward," he said in an earlier interview.
Low and behold, 13 laps shy of the halfway mark of the scheduled 100-lap Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Rahal's car spun when tapped by the No. 8 car driven by Will Power in Turn 14 and dropped him to 23rd place.
If ever there was a time for perspective. So he pressed on - and moving forward. When most of the field pitted under caution on Lap 60, he remained on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit and was running second to Ryan Hunter-Reay's No. 17 Team Ethanol entry - a car co-owned by Bobby Rahal.
On the Lap 64 restart, Rahal ducked inside Hunter-Reay in Turn 1 to assume the point. There were 19 cars on the lead lap, and two-time defending race winner Helio Castroneves was bearing down. But the young man who graduated high school last June remained calm, poised as time was running out in what was turning into a timed event.
Disappointment now seemed light years ago as Rahal took the checkered flag with 83 laps completed to become the youngest (19 years, 93 days) winner of a major open-wheel racing series race.
"After getting hit by Will in the rain and everything, it was going to be a tough start," said Rahal, who is the fourth to win in his IndyCar Series debut and the 12th to win in his first season. "It doesn't get any sweeter than this; to expect a win in our first race. We had the pace and we pulled away from them, so it wasn't like we lucked into it. This is just awesome."
Castroneves finished 3.5192 seconds behind in the No. 3 Team Penske car. Pole-sitter Tony Kanaan wound up third and two other drivers who have transitioned to the IndyCar Series from Champ Car - HVM Racing's Ernesto Viso and Conquest Racing's Enrique Bernoldi - were fourth and fifth, respectively. Andretti Green Racing rookie Hideki Mutoh finished a career-best sixth and KV Racing Technology's Oriol Servia was seventh. Power, who started on the front row in the Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia car for KV Racing Technology, recovered to finish ninth. Danica Patrick also recovered from two early spins off course to post a 10th-place finish.
"Do you think he'll ever listen to any advice from me again?" said Bobby Rahal, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner. "He really thinks he knows everything now. He drove a phenomenal race and the crew did a great job.
"I'd hire him, but I can't afford him."
Mainly because the first 10 laps were run under caution on a rain-soaked race course, the fourth annual race turned into a two-hour timed race. It was the longest 120 minutes in the younger Rahal's life, punctuated by a tense final few laps of green-flag racing after a late full-course caution.
"Obviously, Helio is very successful and has won a lot of races. But, at the same time, I knew we had the pace and I knew if I could just keep calm we could pull away," said Rahal, who started ninth and led a field-high 19 laps (one more than teammate Justin Wilson). "We were pulling away before and we were aggressively fuel saving, so I knew if I could attack the car we could pull away.
"I just needed to keep calm and make it through the last set of corners, especially since there was a yellow out on Turn 11. I just wanted to be cautious but I knew we had quite the gap, so I wasn't too worried. This has just worked out so well. It's awesome."
Castroneves, who started fourth, took a 10-point lead in the series championship standings.
"It was so close," he said. "Team Penske did everything we could to get that car set up well and I'm extremely happy to be a part of this organization. But in the slow section, the car was really pushing and I couldn't just take a chance. Second place is good. Obviously, I want to win the race but I'll take it. In terms of the season championship, second is worth a lot."
Kanaan first overtook Viso and then Hunter-Reay in the waning laps to score a third-place finish for the third year in a row.
"Finishing third is not bad, but I think there is a curse on me here at St. Pete," said Kanaan, who was second in the inaugural event. "I've finished on the podium every time I've been here but not in the right spot."
In this hard-fought race, Rahal found himself in the center spot of the podium celebration.
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