“I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids, can’t whatever.”
Graham Rahal’s done listening to that hate and he relished taking his first IndyCar pole position in six years on Friday at the Indianapolis road course.
It was fitting it came at the home of the Indy 500. In 2021, Rahal was taken out of a possible race-winning opportunity – one he thinks may haunt him for a long time – when a wheel wasn’t attached properly after a pitstop and he crashed.
This year, he was bumped out of the 500 by his team-mate Jack Harvey and failed to qualify for the event, giving an interview that was both tearful and about as classy as is possible under the circumstances. He later got into the race as Stefan Wilson’s injury stand-in.
“Clearly this weekend is very different than the 500, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t carry a lot of significance and importance to our team and to me personally,” Rahal reflected after qualifying on Friday.
“I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids, can’t whatever.
“To be able to silence some of that, and I thought we did a bit at Mid-Ohio [where he qualified second], it’s nice to see a good step forward finally in the car the way I want it to drive.
“It’s starting to come together.
“The mystique of Indy and the things that happen and all of that are alive and well, but the reality is we still had to make it happen this weekend or today.
“Everything is kind of slammed in here [with this weekend’s NASCAR double bill schedule]. We’ve done a pretty good job so far.”
It’s hard to understand any hate towards Rahal, if his perceptions are correct.
Does he have strong opinions on things? Yes. Does he sometimes give opinionated quotes at questionable times? Perhaps.
But watching Rahal giving a post-qualifying interview in his race suit, at least three of the logos visible on those overalls were brought to the team by Graham.
Because he races for his father’s team, Bobby often gets the credit but too often how hard Graham works goes under the radar, finding and perhaps even more importantly keeping sponsors engaged with Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
His role in all of that is totally undervalued by people on the outside.
It’s one of the reasons, despite results, RLL’s one of the best-backed teams in the paddock.
Alongside that, Rahal has worked tirelessly to expand his own automotive and motorbike business, with a move to a new $15million headquarters. He’s showing he has all the fire and desire to continue and crucially excel in IndyCar alongside his own personal commitments.
It’s true that Rahal’s own on-track results are lacking and he’s been waiting since 2017 for another win as well as a pole. For much of that time he’s had team-mates who have been able to win. Across 2018-20 Takuma Sato won at least one race each season (including the 2020 Indy 500), this year Christian Lundgaard – who completes an all-Rahal front row this weekend – has arguably taken a step forward to become the team’s top performer, ending the RLL win drought in Toronto last month.
But even if Rahal hasn’t demonstrated the peak performance that equals wins and poles, he’s always one of the best race drivers. His racecraft is impeccable and his tyre management is top-class.
To use another Indy race as an example, in the May road course race he was punted into a spin by Kyle Kirkwood at Turn 1, went to the very back of the field, and promptly turned that into a top 10 finish.
Obviously his team-mates occasionally achieving top results proves that it’s not totally the team’s fault, but it’s been clear that RLL has been going backwards since 2021 when it had the best average finish in the series across three cars.
Last year it went down a rabbit warren on set-up. That took a lot of the year to come back from. This season it has been marginally better save for the Indy 500 disaster, where Bobby Rahal admitted the event was tough on his health and he had to let some personnel go following the disastrous results.
“The individuals that are no longer with us are tremendous people, and I have a lot of respect for them,” Graham Rahal adds.
“I personally do not point the finger at them. Unfortunately in the position that we were in, something’s got to change. That’s what happened.
“I would say the biggest evolution, frankly, is I think when it comes down to the shocks, to damping, we were way, way, way, way, way behind.
“I think we’re still behind. I know it’s a little weird to hear me say that sitting here [having scored pole].
“Compared to what we know some other teams are doing, I think we were way, way off target. Those things have been accelerated recently.
“Not only that, but truly utilising the technology we had more, whether it’s simulation technology, whether it’s all the people together to do data analytics, stuff we were only scratching the surface of that we’re doing much deeper now.
“I think those things are all just starting to show, which is a positive.”
Rahal had questioned if he would stay at the team back in May but has now indicated his intention is to do so.
To the people who regularly discuss him retiring – usually as part of a storyline where he takes over the RLL team – he said: “I’m only 34, I know I’ve been here for a hundred years, but I still feel like I’ve got a little while left”.
Saturday’s qualifying shows that when the car is in the window that Rahal is still capable.
And qualifying higher up should only help improve some of those brilliant race drives he puts together fairly regularly, but that often stall because he’s started so far back and there’s only so much progress he can make.
Now is the perfect time to deliver this form because Lundgaard is beginning to excel at the level that makes him one of IndyCar’s elite.
With a win and two poles under his belt, he’s showing what can be done and Rahal and Harvey have been slower to adapt.
But there are signs Rahal can step it up and match him. Proving he can do that consistently starts with a strong run on Saturday, which he’s more than capable of.
Keyword: IndyCar’s surprise poleman has been under-appreciated too long