Bobby Rahal, Road America, Indy Car, and ARCA. Just a few random thoughts and pieces of information as we head toward The Chase.
• Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, 1986 Indy 500 winner and multiple-team owner Bobby Rahal inherited his interest in racing from his father Mike Rahal who himself was an accomplished road racer.
The younger Rahal spent much time traveling with his family to race circuits and especially remembers his time spent at Road America in the 1960’s.
Speaking at a recent dinner held at Siebken’s Resort by the Elkhart Lake Historic Racing Circuits Preservation Society which works to preserve the history of the earlier 1950-52 Elkhart Lake road race circuits that ran through town and around the lake, Rahal remembered seeing things at the track that he said a 12-year-old kid probably shouldn’t have seen, referring to the days when the June Sprints were a post-school year cause for celebration by college youth.
Rahal, who raced in Can Am, Formula One, IMSA GT, CART and at Le Mans, holds a warm spot in his heart for the four-mile Road America course, listing it among his top-five circuits in North America along with Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Sebring and Mosport.
When asked in a Q/A session about son Graham testing the road course at Indianapolis recently in preparation for a proposed Indy Car Series race in early May, 2014, he reported that things went well but that modifications to some turns and the long Hulman Blvd. straight would likely need to be made. He also noted that the test tried running the circuit in both directions and his opinion was that the projected race would/should be run counter-clockwise around the combination oval/road course; this despite recent reports in the Indianapolis Star that he thinks it should be run clockwise.
Also in the audience at the well-attended gathering was Road America’s president George Bruggenthies. When Rahal was asked the popular question about when the Indy Car Series would return to the rolling Kettle Moraine track, Bruggenthies added that, “I talked to Mark Miles (Hulman & Co. CEO) today (September 5th) and you might see the Indy Cars here in a ‘different format’ (in 2014); stay tuned.”
• Rahal, a team owner in the ALMS series, was asked about the upcoming inaugural season of racing by the United SportsCar Racing group (the combined ALMS and Rolex Grand AM series). He noted that the USCR is still wrestling with some details regarding rules and scheduling. At that point Bruggenthies took the opportunity to tell the group that, “they’ll be here,” at Road America in 2014.
• As you read this, Firestone is wrapping-up testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with their sights set on breaking the all-time track record set by Arie Luyendyk in 1996. The goal is to challenge the four-lap record (236.986 MPH) and single-lap record (237.498 MPH) during the 100th running of the 500 in 2016. “Certainly we’re trying to lay a good foundation for being able to run laps like that for the future, and it’s going to involve a lot of work between ourselves and INDYCAR to make sure we understand the targets and that we’re working to achieve the same goals together,” said Dale Harrigle, Firestone Racing chief engineer. Six drivers, headed by 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, are involved in the testing.
• Fourth Turn has also learned that the 2014 running of the ARCA Midwest Series’ Howie Lettow Memorial race at the Milwaukee Mile might be held over the Labor Day weekend.
Also, it is highly likely that the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will return to Madison International Speedway in 2014 for another late-August event on the well-worn half-mile oval.
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