Comments on: Graham Rahal Completes Day 1 of Champ Car Test with Newman Haas http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/ The place for NASCAR news and rumors where the discussion rages... Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:46:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Glenstapo http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-717 Glenstapo Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:56:03 +0000 http://autoracingsport.com/champ-car/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-717 More on F1 - if they really want to give that a shot they will need to race in Europe. But it's absolutely essential you get in a top team in Europe or you go from hero to zero almost instantly. Look at guys like Phil Giebler (now racing go-karts) and Colin Fleming. Those guys have all sorts of talent. Colin finished second to Scott Speed in the Renault series their first year. Scott was older and had a year in Europe. When Scott went to GP2, Colin did the European Renault series and the team wasn't that great. Now he's running in Atlantics. Europe is brutal. Bobby knows this (raced there as a driver and got sent packing by the "Rat" as a Principal for Jaguar) and will do everything possible to make sure his son succeeds, no matter where they are. There were no top-flight GP2 teams that could run Graham, so NHR in Champ Car is an excellent opportunity and training ground for an 18 year old! If he does well there and a first-rate GP2 operation offers him a ride, they may well make that jump. How many 20 year old arrive in Europe with two Champ Car tours under their belt? That would be the way to do it. I hear the GP2 cars and Champ Cars are pretty similar, so it makes a lot of sense. More on F1 - if they really want to give that a shot they will need to race in Europe. But it’s absolutely essential you get in a top team in Europe or you go from hero to zero almost instantly.

Look at guys like Phil Giebler (now racing go-karts) and Colin Fleming. Those guys have all sorts of talent. Colin finished second to Scott Speed in the Renault series their first year. Scott was older and had a year in Europe. When Scott went to GP2, Colin did the European Renault series and the team wasn’t that great. Now he’s running in Atlantics. Europe is brutal. Bobby knows this (raced there as a driver and got sent packing by the “Rat” as a Principal for Jaguar) and will do everything possible to make sure his son succeeds, no matter where they are.

There were no top-flight GP2 teams that could run Graham, so NHR in Champ Car is an excellent opportunity and training ground for an 18 year old! If he does well there and a first-rate GP2 operation offers him a ride, they may well make that jump. How many 20 year old arrive in Europe with two Champ Car tours under their belt? That would be the way to do it. I hear the GP2 cars and Champ Cars are pretty similar, so it makes a lot of sense.

]]> By: Glenstapo http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-716 Glenstapo Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:49:28 +0000 http://autoracingsport.com/champ-car/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-716 First, Bobby's priority is his son - his career and safety. The IRL is a dead end if any F1 aspirations are in the mix. Safety-wise, the IRL is a 15 race Russian Roulette game and there's no way Bobby's going to put Graham in there. Bobby's not going to think "gee, how best to use my son to promote the merger?" Would you do that? Of course not. If anything, Rahal in Champ Car is good for the merger. Few people think that Tony George stays awake at night figuring out how to make this happen. He has people in his corner continually emboldening him to stay separate. The more power and draw CC has, the more TG is forced to deal with that. Peace through strength, brothers. As for why Bobby wouldn't put Graham in a car at RLR, NHR is the best team, save perhaps Penske, in American OWR. His team's a mess, it's in the IRL, and he has no sponsor to run his son. First, Bobby’s priority is his son - his career and safety. The IRL is a dead end if any F1 aspirations are in the mix. Safety-wise, the IRL is a 15 race Russian Roulette game and there’s no way Bobby’s going to put Graham in there.

Bobby’s not going to think “gee, how best to use my son to promote the merger?” Would you do that? Of course not. If anything, Rahal in Champ Car is good for the merger. Few people think that Tony George stays awake at night figuring out how to make this happen. He has people in his corner continually emboldening him to stay separate.

The more power and draw CC has, the more TG is forced to deal with that. Peace through strength, brothers.

As for why Bobby wouldn’t put Graham in a car at RLR, NHR is the best team, save perhaps Penske, in American OWR. His team’s a mess, it’s in the IRL, and he has no sponsor to run his son.

]]> By: nipplash http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-715 nipplash Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:14:34 +0000 http://autoracingsport.com/champ-car/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-715 From what I read Bobby Rahal didn't want his son racing in IRL because he is prepping him for a career in F1 and thought Champ Car is a better option. Honestly I would of sent him over to Europe to race if that's the case because Champ Car and IRL are dead end series if you ask me. From what I read Bobby Rahal didn’t want his son racing in IRL because he is prepping him for a career in F1 and thought Champ Car is a better option. Honestly I would of sent him over to Europe to race if that’s the case because Champ Car and IRL are dead end series if you ask me.

]]> By: Admin http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-714 Admin Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:40:06 +0000 http://autoracingsport.com/champ-car/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-714 Joe, We couldn't agree more with your assesment. It certainly doesn't help the potential merger and it also underscores something very interesting...Bobby Rahal doesn't want his son to race in an all (mostly) oval series because of the danger involved. But the next logical question arises....well why is Rahal in the IRL then? The answer is, of course, money, or more directly, HONDA money. The reality is team owners will go where the money is, for better or worse. Joe,

We couldn’t agree more with your assesment. It certainly doesn’t help the potential merger and it also underscores something very interesting…Bobby Rahal doesn’t want his son to race in an all (mostly) oval series because of the danger involved. But the next logical question arises….well why is Rahal in the IRL then? The answer is, of course, money, or more directly, HONDA money. The reality is team owners will go where the money is, for better or worse.

]]> By: Joe http://autoracingsport.com/uncategorized/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-713 Joe Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:57:41 +0000 http://autoracingsport.com/champ-car/graham-rahal-completes-day-1-of-champ-car-test-with-newman-haas/#comment-713 Why Bobby Rahal would have his son drive in Champ Car without the opportunity to participate in his own team, and the Indianapolis 500 for that matter, is beyond me. It doesn't do anything to help the open-wheel series merge. Those in open-wheel except for a few exceptions are shooting themselves in the foot, be it owners of teams or the series. It's frustrating as a fan to see this happen. Why Bobby Rahal would have his son drive in Champ Car without the opportunity to participate in his own team, and the Indianapolis 500 for that matter, is beyond me. It doesn’t do anything to help the open-wheel series merge. Those in open-wheel except for a few exceptions are shooting themselves in the foot, be it owners of teams or the series. It’s frustrating as a fan to see this happen.

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