Bobby Rahal leans over a concrete barrier clutching a pit board, moments before his son Graham zooms past the start/finish line at the most recent Champ Car Atlantic race.

The three-time Champ Car titleholder and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner then digs through a bag full of numbers, finds the right one and Velcros it to the rectangular blackboard with time to spare before Graham passes by again. Bobby repeats the process dozens of times.

Between counting down the laps, there’s time for Bobby to display something else — the face of a proud father. This is the “A-Team,” a moniker those in the shop of Rahal Letterman Racing’s IRL IndyCar Series team created for Bobby’s devotion to his son’s racing career.

But the career of the 17-year-old Rahal will be at a crossroads when the season ends in Atlantics, the main open-wheel developmental series for Champ Car. He has shown through his three victories (the first in May in Monterrey, Mexico, made him the youngest winner in the series’ 33-year history), three poles and second-place slot in the standings that he’s ready for bigger and better things.

It just hasn’t been determined to which side of the Atlantic those aspirations will carry him in 2007.

“It’s tough to say, but there is a very good possibility that I could be in Champ Car,” says Graham, who will receive $2 million toward a Champ Car effort if he overtakes points leader Simon Pagenaud and wins the series. “You have to look at what the pluses and minuses are of staying here vs. going to Europe.”

The choices come down to Champ Car and GP2, Formula One’s feeder series. Graham says heading over to his father’s IRL team — which has an obvious vacancy with Danica Patrick leaving for Andretti Green Racing — is not an option.

“My dad won’t let me race on ovals,” he says. The elder Rahal held that belief before Rahal Letterman Racing rookie driver Paul Dana was killed during the final warm-up in the season-opening IndyCar race in March.

“Our attitude is that if the interest is from the right (Champ Car) team, it would be hard to pass that up,” Bobby says.

“If it’s not with the right team, we have to stick to our plan, which is to go to Europe.”

USA Today