CART, INDYLIGHTS: Team Rahal Scoop - Fontana
25 October 1998
THE SCOOPNews You Can Use From CART's Team Rahal
Volume 4, Number 19
Fontana
Last Ride
Three-time CART FedEx Championship Series Champion Bobby Rahal's
driving
career will draw to a close with Sunday's Marlboro 500. Asked by a
reporter
this week if he fully realized that his record-breaking 17-year CART
career
was actually ending, Rahal said, "Ask me Monday!" "Saturday may be the
first bad night's sleep I get the night before a race," he said. "I'm
pretty sure it will be a nervous night. I don't think the real feeling
will
hit me until next year, though. When our drivers are scheduled to have
their seats made and I don't have a fitting, it will be pretty real to me
that I'm not a driver anymore. I think that will bring it to closure for
me."
Playing The Percentages
In the 264 races that have made up Bobby Rahal's Champ Car career, he
has
amassed a truly stellar record. A quick glance at his career numbers (24
race wins, 18 pole positions) bears that out, but perhaps the more
remarkable and telling statistics are the percentages. The 45-year-old
Rahal has scored 88 podium finishes since his 1982 debut. That means he's
finished on the rostrum in 33 percent of the races he's started. He's
finished in the top five 119 times (45 percent of his starts) and in the
top
ten 177 times (67 percent of the time).
Sign Of The Times
A couple hundred generous and fortunate race fans will have the unique
opportunity to sponsor Bobby Rahal's car for his last-ever race. For a
minimum $25 donation to The Bobby Rahal Foundation, fans attending the
Marlboro 500 will be able to add their signature to one of two special
four-square-foot decals that will be mounted atop the sidepods of Rahal's
car for his final drive. The program is an ironic one for Rahal, who has
taken part in Saturday afternoon autograph sessions at each CART event
during the 19-race Rahal's Last Ride campaign. "I thought it was time I
turned the tables," he said. Fans interested in sponsoring Rahal's Last
Ride may sign up at the Team Rahal merchandise trailer behind the
California
Speedway's main grandstand on Saturday.
Bobby Rahal, Esquire
Team Rahal owner/driver Bobby Rahal is a feature subject in the
November
issue of Esquire magazine.
Handford For Herta
Team Rahal driver Bryan Herta was impressed with his first race
experience
with the much-discussed Handford device, the high-drag rear wing CART
introduced for July's U.S. 500 and will use once again at Fontana. "I
think
we proved with the U.S. 500 that we can put on a pretty competitive and
entertaining show with (the Handford device)," he said. Herta, who was
one
of the initial series drivers to test the device, was surprised by the
marked difference he saw between the test and the race. "The car in front
of you punches a huge hole in the air, and that big draft sucks you in
like
a cult. It provided for a lot more passing than I initially anticipated."
It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times
Team Rahal's rookie Indy Lights team had its best showing of the season in
the series' last superspeedway race in July at Michigan Speedway.
Unfortunately, it also had its worst, most frightening moment there as
well.
Qualifying on the front row and running a solid second to eventual winner
Tony Renna with three laps to go, driver Mike Borkowski's Textron
Automotive
Lola and that of competitor Airton Dare came together on the high-speed
back
straight. The contact sent Borkowski's car into a surreal half somersault
which fortunately ended with driver and car right side up, though a little
worse for the wear. The team will attempt to replicate its performance at
the cookie-cutter California Speedway this weekend, "Except for that last
part," Borkowski said with a grin.
