Racing royalty: Rahal, Force engage in motorsports
- Graham Rahal, the son of Bobby Rahal, is in the midst of his best season as an IndyCar pro.
- Rahal is engaged to NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force, daughter of drag racing’s John Force.
- Rahal won for just the second time of his career earlier this summer in California.
- The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will be Sunday at 2 with practice Friday and qualifying Saturday.
LEXINGTON – When Graham Rahal sees the back end of his fiancee’s car get squirrelly, his heart seems to skip a beat.
When Courtney Force sees her fiance slice between a pair of open-wheel cars in the middle of a turn, she feels like she’s losing her breath.
Such is life for America’s racing royal couple. Rahal — the son of a racing legend and a driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series — and Force — the daughter of a racing legend and a Funny Car standout in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series — would rather race than watch.
“I’m not very good when I go to her races,” Rahal admitted. “It makes me very nervous. Obviously, she’s far more than just another person to me, so it’s tough. You’re praying for the best all the time and hoping everything goes well and that I don’t need to worry. Luckily thus far everything has gone well. Most of all I’m proud of her.”
Force echoed his thoughts.
“In IndyCar, it’s more nerve wracking because I don’t know if his car is OK; I don’t know if he ran over a piece on the track. There are so many things you are nervous about. I’m out of my element there,” she said.
Force was trackside earlier this year when Rahal won the second race of his career, earning it at Auto Club Speedway, a California super speedway.
“Watching them go three-wide and then at one point four-wide, my mom goes, ‘Well that’s something different than our four-wides in Charlotte,’ We don’t get that close to one another,” Force said. “We’re going 320 mph, but to watch them be that close with tires just inches apart, that makes me the most nervous. Luckily I’m between a guardrail and the center line (in a Funny Car), so I know the distance between the two.”
A couple weeks later, Rahal came to Ohio to return the favor and be a spectator on his off-weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk.
He stoically watched as Force posted her best event of the 2015 season, making her way to the final round. In the last race against veteran Jack Beckman, Force jumped to an early lead, but the wheels started to smoke and she fishtailed to the point she almost lost it. She didn’t win the race, but Force kept the car off the wall and out of Beckman’s lane, showing an innate skill in car control.
She also showed a skill in making her future husband scared.
“With Courtney, she’s always sideways like that,” Rahal said, recalling the Norwalk race. “I tell her you make me too damn nervous, but she’s like her dad. She doesn’t want to give it a quarter of a second to let it settle. She’s right back on the throttle pedal sliding all over the place, but she was out ahead of him and I think she saw nothing but win No. 8 coming straight at her. All of a sudden it went awry.”
A year ago, Force posted her finest season as a pro, winning four events and finishing fourth in the Funny Car standings behind her father and team owner John Force, a 16-time world champ in the class. This year, she’s in the midst of her most trying season, currently 11th in the standings and 23 points away from a spot in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.
Her biggest cheerleader is Rahal, probably because he knows too well the ups and downs of motorsports.
“This year, frankly, has been terrible for her,” Rahal said. “I’ve told her all season that you’ve got to keep your head down and you’ve got to keep working hard. I use myself over the last couple of years and what I’ve gone through, and I just tell her time and time again that you’ve been there with me through the tough times and now you’re seeing me in the good times.
“Last year, she had the best year of her career and couldn’t do anything wrong, and this year what could go wrong has gone wrong. I think she’s finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She’s done a great job. I think even her guys would tell you she’s been driving better this year than she ever has before. I’ve got no doubt she’s going to get a win this season. I’d be surprised if she doesn’t get a couple and I think she’ll have a good finish to the year.”
In 2014, his second season with the racing team owned in part by his father, former Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, the younger Rahal was frustrated as results were few and fleeting. He ended on just one podium and finished a distant 19th in the standings.
This year, despite some obvious performance issues with Honda’s power and aero packages compared to Chevrolet, Rahal is closing in on the best season of his career. After a mediocre start, he has surged with one win and five podiums to climb into second place in the standings with three races left, including this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
In California for the MAVTV 500, Rahal qualified 19th, but Force was there to reassure him.
“He wasn’t too positive about it, but I said you never know what’s going to happen, and he pulled it off,” Force said of his victory. “It was awesome to see his car just work through the field.”
So for better or worse, through wins and slumps, they’ll be there for each other, even if it means watching the other with eyes closed and breath held.
rmccurdy@gannett.com
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Twitter: @McMotorsport
Verizon IndyCar Series Top 20 Points Standings
1. Juan Pablo Montoya (2 wins) 445.
2. Graham Rahal (1) 403.
3. Scott Dixon (2) 397.
4. Helio Castroneves 391.
5. Will Power (1) 390.
6. Sebastien Bourdais (2) 366.
7. Marco Andretti 358.
8. Josef Newgarden (2) 352.
9. Tony Kanaan 324.
10. Simon Pagenaud 294.
11. Carlos Munoz (1) 281.
12. Ryan Hunter-Reay (1) 278.
13. Charlie Kimball 275.
14. Takuma Sato 240.
15. James Jakes 213.
16. Gabby Chaves 211.
17. Jack Hawksworth 202.
18. Sage Karam 172.
19. Luca Filippi 161.
20. Stefano Coletti 160.
Source: Verizon IndyCar Series