Rahal focused on the positive

It’s so easy to kvetch about situations in racing when the rules aren’t exactly going your way. As such, there’s been a lot of discussion about the disparity between Honda and Chevrolet engine and aero packages in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Most of the bitching is coming from the Honda camp, who were certainly behind the Bowtie brand in 2015 in aero capabilities. Much of that is due to Honda Performance Development’s (HPD) reliance on Wirth Research’s computational fluid dynamics  (CFD) program to devise their aero kit.

As a result, the top car/driver combination Honda had last year belonged to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), a single-car entity for driver Graham Rahal. With two wins to show for their hard work, RLL managed to flummox many teams larger than they and were fighting with eventual champion Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing and runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya (Team Penske) up until the final two contests. Then, Rahal suffered issues with two French drivers, Tristan Vautier and Sebastien Bourdais, ending up fourth for the year.

Rahal knew his team was behind the eight-ball early on in the 2015 campaign and emphasized to his crew that they – and he – needed to do the best they could and not worry about what anyone else was doing. If they performed to their highest level, he told them, everything would be fine. And until the two French fiascos, well, yes everything was just fine.

That was then, this is now.

Two races into the 16-contest campaign, Rahal has a 16th place finish at St Petersburg and a fifth place result in Phoenix; he stands seventh in points. Two very different contests and, yes, two very different starting and ending positions.

At the season opener in St Pete, site of his first Indy car victory and first pole in consecutive years, Rahal was caught in a multi-car accident initiated by Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz. Despite a good starting position of sixth, he finished well back in the 22-car pack.

At the Phoenix one-mile oval, it was the opposite situation as Rahal began the race in 19th and drove hard to earn a top-five result.

Now, here at Long Beach he’s hoping to have as good a starting spot as the first race and, who knows, a better finish than the second? It’s somewhat of a local contest for the second-generation racer, as his wife, Courtney hails from Southern California.

And there's additional pressure as the legendary Yip family, have added the Theodore Racing name to the #15 here and for the GP of Indy and the Indy 500.

Based on the first practice at Long Beach, though, Graham - and no doubt many others - think Montoya’s in another area code, more than 2/10ths ahead of second-placed teammate Will Power. Power assumed the top spot in the afternoon’s second session.

“We just didn’t get to complete a lap,” Rahal said of the first practice.  In the second practice, Rahal was P3, a big improvement for him from 12th in the morning.

And Rahal is definitely looking forward to the 100th Indianapolis 500 the end of May. 2016 marks 30 years since Graham’s father Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500 (1986). Graham won his Rolex 24 at Daytona 30 years after his father performed the feat and won his Atlantic championship 30 years after his dad did that deed and won MId-Ohio 30 years after his dad.

“For me, it’s a big anniversary, for our family,” at Indy. “I just want a fair shot. I just want a fair shot,” and he’s sure the wizards at HPD in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles, will be doing their utmost to provide him with the power and aero capabilities he needs to perform to snuff.

After finishing fifth at Indy last year - the best Honda result - Graham Rahal has every right to think he’ll have another opportunity to perform at that level or better in 2016. Much of that depends on what Honda does, of course, but Rahal knows he’s got the team to compete with the big guns, here, at Indianapolis and everywhere the Verizon IndyCar Series competes. And he’s not about to kvetch about a deficiency in engines or aero; he’s just going to put his focus forward and do his best.