The IndyCar Series is one of the most popular racing series in de USA. Currently one of the best drivers in the series is Graham Rahal. Son of the legendary Champ Car champion Bobby Rahal. During CarWeek back in august we spent some time with Graham and talked about his car collection, racing and his ambitions.
Who is Graham
I drive IndyCars for a living, I drive for my dads team and I've been driving for about 9 years now. Right now we're second in points with two races to go chasing along Montoya, who is one of the best ever, in any form of motorsport. Hes won in everything hes done so we're trying to chase him down! Interview was taken in August. Currently Graham is on place 4th in the IndyCar Series.
But, my family background is that my grandfather started racing as a hobby, my dad raced professionally and was very successful with it and through that our family owns a big group of car dealerships. So my love of cars runs through the family and I think people are beginning to see that my passion of cars goes beyond just racing. What you find then is kind of funny. There's not a lot of race car drivers that like cars, which is a weird thing. For me cars are extremely important and something that's a big part of my life.
So it's not that because youre around cars all day that at the end of the day you get tired of them?
Well it's funny. My fiancé would tell you that I'm probably too obsessed with cars and she finds me often looking at all the car websites and forums and eBay looking up cars. Looking for things to buy and sell. But whatever it is, cars are definitely an addiction of mine but I never get enough of it, I love it!
So would you say your love of cars got you into the racing scene? I know your family has been racing but what brought you in it, and how did you rise to the position you are in right now?
Well, when I was a little kid I loved everything about it. My nickname as a little kids was actually 'the shadow' because I followed my dad everywhere so my passion was always indy car racing. I liked Formula One and I liked race cars and drag racing occasionally but the truth was that IndyCar racing was my true love because of my dad. So when started coming up, going through go-karts and got into Junior Formulas I never drove for my dad, I always drove for other teams. And I got an opportunity to drive for Newman-Haas, which is one of the best teams ever so thats something you don't turn down and so off it went when I was 18 and that's how I started. Go-Karting, Formula Cars and then Indy.
And if you would have to describe yourself as a driver, how would you do that? In the sense that would you also describe yourself as a racer driver off the track or would you describe yourself as that guy that aways does 50 in a 65?
No not at all! I probably drive a little bit quicker than I should, I hate traffic, I probably have a little too much road rage in the sense of getting caught up in traffic. In particular in the Southern California traffic where I am now. Over there you're always in traffic and I can't stand it, it drives me nuts. I wouldn't say I'm an aggressive driver or an unsafe driver but when I see a good opening I'm going to take it!
Talking about taking openings, are there any goals that you have as a racing driver? Is there one thing in particular that you'd like to achieve?
For sure, obviously a championship. I'd like to win more than one but youve got to start with one to get the ball rolling. The biggest thing here but I guess also world wide, but certainly the most important race here is the Indy 500. That's the one race that Id love to win. My dad won it and to this day, no matter where we go, no matter what we do hes introduced as the Indianapolis 500 Champion so to me thats the most important one of them all.
Then my goal off the track would be to grow the family business, to grow the dealerships. I love cars and I love the dealerships. We have a great group of people, our dealership-awards are unbelievable so I take it really serious and Id like to grow that and see how far we can get.
So you mentioned earlier that you have a Range Rover dealership, are there any other brands you work with?
Yes, many brands as a matter of fact. Weve got Range Rovers but really anything ranging from Mercedes-Benz to Scions, Smart-Cars, Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Acura, Honda, a couple actually of all of those and were building another Lexus dealership soon. Weve got Jaguar, two Range Rover, two Mercedes-Benz, Maybach (which is now part of Mercedes). So weve got a pretty good group going and like I said theyre great people that work there so weve had a lot of success and hopefully you can keep the good thing going!
With the passion for the dealerships, you must love to buy and/or sell cars. You now have a pretty substantial list of cars, including a Carrera GT, 918 Spyder etc. but are there any other cars that youd like to add to that list? Lets say money is not an object at all, what would you add to your garage?
Well here's the truth, my favourite car ever is the Carrera GT, it always has been. Second favourite car is probably a match between the 288 GTO and the F40, those two I love mainly because of the raw purity of the cars. I like the little details and the intricacy of the new Pagani and the new Ford GT is pretty spectacular to me. I like newer things. I could sit here all day and I'm sure I can come up with other things but these are probably on the top of my list.
One of my favourite cars that I've ever owned is the 599 GTO and I know it's not the latest or greatest, I know it's not the smallest or the fastest but that car does all the right things. The noises and everything else make that car very special to me. I went on a road trip through Vermont in the GTO. Vermont has a lot of hills als small roads and I've never had so much fun turning traction control off, sliding it around through the forest. I did everything I could do to downshift just to hear the engine. Behind the Carrera GT, because I think the Carrera GT is the best sounding car ever, put straight pipes on it and it's amazing, but behind the Carrera GT, the GTO is definitely the car for me.
So in the current hypercar class there's the Pagani, the 918, LaFerrari, P1 etc. What made you choose the 918, and on top of that, what made you choose this color (viper green), it's not one of the common colours?
No you're right, It's the only one [in viper green, AG]. Here's the thing: I had the opportunity to buy a P1 or a 918, the LaFerrari was out of the question just due to the fact that I dont have the connections at Ferrari like I do at the other two. The P1 is a car I see as a pure race car, when you drive it down the road the rocks cling and you hear noise all the time so its very cool but to me, everything I have, everything I own I use. So the 918 was the most comfortable, the most usable, the best quality and the most refined, but really the emphasis was on most usable. Now you who read this interview may thing "that guy's crazy, who uses a 918 that much" but I've been known to go on 2000 mile road trips and stuff in my cars and so I want a car that I can do that with. Even my in my Carrera GT, I've had three of them, but every single one of those I've put miles on and I havent been shy about that, it just makes sense. A car is built to be used.
So, the color. I'm a Porsche nut, my family has been Porsche nuts forever. The heritage of the '73 RSs in the Viper Green, in the true Viper Green color, is something I loved. So I was looking at a variety of old colors and I talked to the guys at Porsche and I asked what color hadnt been ordered by anybody and there were a whole bunch of colors but body had ordered Viper Green. It didnt make any sense to me because Viper Green was one of the most classic colors for Porsche. So I did that, with the black interior and did every green accent I could. I even have carbon fiber floor mats with green leather piping, which I dont actually use, they are in the trunk, but I just loved it. The color is phenomenal. You see so many people ordering them in silver or black but I dont understand that. It looks so much better with a color like this. I also have the Weissach package and the accents just make the car. When they sent me the rendering, last January or something, I just though it was perfect, magnificent.
I love the heritage colors. If you look back on the old colors you see yellow and red, blue and green. Funky colors but it was cool. As I look at my GT3RS, and my order now is locked but I havent specced it yet, it would be pretty cool to see what they have to offer. I want to do something different. Right now I have my mind on this color that is out of this world crazy but I think it may be too crazy. Im thinking of Gelbgrün and its like highlighter green. But its not like the one Michael Fux has, its more green.
So you mentioned that you had three Carrera GTs, why three?
My first one was red, sadly after I sold it, it was also the car Roger Rodas and Paul Walker died in. That car I bought, it was perfect, absolutely perfect. I bought it and owned it for about a year and a half and then sold it for a 599 GTO. I got the GTO, I liked it and loved it but I missed that pure feeling of the Carrera GT. Then I found a Faience Yellow Carrera GT and I went back to that. I had that one for a year and drove it a lot, I put almost 10.000 miles on it. Then I sold that because I knew it was already a higher mileage than anywhere else. Then I came across a Sand White one, the only one in North America and Im told only one of two in the world. Some people say theres more but Ive seen the pictures that people post online when they say Sand White but the color definitely isnt sand white. Its more Carrera GT white, in which the majority were made. Anyways, this one came available, it had never been registered, it was owned by a Porsche Dealership from new and it had all the major service done. It had less than 3000 miles on it and the car is spectacular. Its the best example that you can find of a Carrera GT. So, I went with it and that one Ive had almost for two years and I dont plan on it being replaced in the near future. The only reason Id sell it would be for business interest, if it would be a better investment to sell it but truthfully thats about it.
So you do see cars as business assets. Fun business assets but none the less business assets?
Yes, you do need to look at these cars responsibly from a financial point of view. At least at my age. If I were older and wealthier I could keep them forever but for me, Im getting married soon and you have to look forward 15 or 20 years and sometimes you have to sell something.
So as a racecar driver and obviously a great car fanatic, how do you look at the current development in motorsports and the tight link between motorsports and the street legal cars? The 918 being the perfect example of this.
Yes, that or the new Acura NSX. The engine of that was pretty much directly developed off the IndyCar engine, V6 twin turbo. The Cadillac CTS-V engine is built off the IndyCar Chevy and the thing is, they are very late. I think Formula One has gone too far, its too much. The technology is too far and it needs to get back to more pure racing. Its just like driving cars, why do we like the Carrera GT versus the super modern cars? Its because one is like driving a computer and the other one is more raw. I see that in racing, even in IndyCar, the global push is towards green. With hybrids, everything is about fuel efficient and electric and as even though the environment is important I'd like to see it go back towards actual cars with actual engines, where its actual racing.
With many thanks to Graham Rahal for his time.
