Graham Rahal’s favourite tracks are the ones with a lot of history, so it shouldn’t be a surprise why the Honda Indy Toronto ranks high on his list.
His father Bobby won the inaugural race in 1986 and finished on the podium in Toronto seven times during his legendary career.
Graham has plenty of fond childhood memories watching his dad race at the Exhibition Place street course (as well as playing at the old Legoland at nearby Ontario Place) and he’s revved up to add to his family’s legacy when the Verizon IndyCar Series returns July 14-16.
“It would mean a lot, without a doubt. It would mean a ton to me,” said Rahal, who drives the No. 15 Honda for the team co-owned by his father, former talk show host David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan. “For me, I try everywhere to add to the Rahal legacy. My dad certainly made that pretty tough, but I try the best that I can to fulfill that and to live up to it. To add to that history in Toronto would be extremely special.”
While Rahal admitted his previous Honda Indy Toronto results haven’t been spectacular — his best finish so far is fifth place in 2010 — this could be the year for the 28-year-old from New Albany, Ohio. His dominant performance earlier this season in Detroit, winning both races of a doubleheader, could be a sign of things to come should the success at that street course carry over to the one in Toronto.
“Detroit was awesome. I anticipate coming off of Detroit, how we performed there should carry over well into Toronto, but we’ve certainly had times where we need to be better, perform better than we have,” said Rahal, who sits seventh in the IndyCar championship standings. “Overall it’s been a strong season and hopefully we’re going to look to finish it off on a good note.”
[relatedlinks]
Rahal is the lone full-time entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing this season and although it has been a bit of a struggle not having teammates to exchange data, car setups and strategies with, he thinks there are benefits to his situation too.
“It does present a lot of challenges but it also presents some opportunities when it comes to just focusing towards one effort, that one effort being the 15 car wins races,” Rahal said. “We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to do that, but without a doubt it would help to have a second car as long as it’s a very well-performing and fast car that can help towards the end goal.”
Rahal is also a huge Columbus Blue Jackets fan and is optimistic for the team’s future just as long as they don’t keep facing the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs. The Blue Jackets posted a franchise-record 50 wins and 108 points in 2016-17, but once again clashed with the powerhouse Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. Pittsburgh ended Columbus’ season, taking the series in five games en route to winning a second straight Stanley Cup.
“We always run into Pittsburgh dammit,” Rahal said jokingly. “They always seem to be the thorn in our side. They’re just so good. [Sidney] Crosby, [Evgeni] Malkin, and obviously even Toronto’s old boy [Phil] Kessel, just when they need to turn it on those guys are animals.
“I think the Blue Jackets’ future is looking really bright, I do feel that way. It’s a very young team still, strong leadership and I think they’ll be a force to be reckoned with going forward.”
Columbus already made an off-season splash sending Brandon Saad back to the Chicago Blackhawks for 2016 Calder Memorial Trophy winner Artemi Panarin. Rahal believes Panarin, who tallied 31 goals and 43 assists this past season, should help out the Blue Jackets in a big way.
“We needed a good scorer,” Rahal said. “As much as I love Brandon Saad he just never really worked out in Columbus. He never seemed to perform at the level that I felt like he could. Hopefully Panarin will come in there — he’ll be there with Alex Wennberg and some of the younger guys — and they can be very, very strong together.”
