Robert Woodward Rahal was born on January 10,1953 and is an American former auto racing driver and team owner.
24 Facts About Bobby Rahal
2.
Bobby Rahal won the 2004 and 2020 Indy 500s as a team owner for Buddy Rice and Takuma Sato, respectively.
3.
Bobby Rahal was a sports car driver during the 1980s, and made one NASCAR start for the Wood Brothers.
4.
Bobby Rahal, speaking about his Formula One debut at Watkins Glen.
5.
Bobby Rahal began his career in SCCA feeder categories, eventually finishing second to Gilles Villeneuve in the 1977 Formula Atlantic championship.
6.
Bobby Rahal began the 1979 racing a Chevron in Formula Two, but returned to America mid-season and raced in the Can-Am series.
7.
In 1982, Bobby Rahal entered the CART Indy car series with the Truesports team, winning two races and finishing second in the championship behind Rick Mears.
8.
Bobby Rahal continued racing for Truesports through the 1988 season, winning at least one race every year.
9.
In 1986, Bobby 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.
10.
Later that year, Bobby Rahal won his first CART championship, and successfully defended it the following year.
11.
In 1988, Bobby 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.
12.
Bobby Rahal moved over to the Kraco race team, but this association produced only two wins over three seasons.
13.
In 1993, Bobby Rahal attempted to develop his own Bobby Rahal-Hogan chassis, but reverted to the Lola chassis after failing to qualify for the 1993 Indianapolis 500.
14.
In 1995 at Long Beach Bobby Rahal became the 10th driver in Championship Car history to start 200 races in his career.
15.
Bobby Rahal continued as a racing driver until his retirement in 1998.
16.
In 2000, Bobby Rahal joined the Jaguar Formula One team in a managerial capacity.
17.
However, Bobby Rahal was fired after reportedly attempting to sell driver Eddie Irvine to rivals Jordan.
18.
Bobby Rahal was the interim President and CEO of CART for six months during the 2000 season.
19.
In 2021 Bobby Rahal began to venture into race promoting with the help of former IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George.
20.
Bobby 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.
21.
Bobby 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.
22.
Bobby Rahal is the son of sports car racer Mike Rahal and the father of Graham Rahal, who now races in the IndyCar Series.
23.
Bobby Rahal owns a 1975 Lola T360 which he occasionally races at vintage racing events.
24.
Bobby Rahal grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended Glenbard West High School as class of 1971.