Bobby Rahal
Rahal in 2021
Born	Robert Woodward Rahal (1953-01-10)January 10, 1953 (age 72) Medina, Ohio, U.S.
Championship titles
CARTChampionship Car (1986,1987,1992) Major victories 24 Hours of Daytona (1981) Indianapolis 500 (1986) 12 Hours of Sebring (1987) Pocono 500 (1988)
Champ Car career
265 races run over 17 years
Best finish	1st (1986,1987,1992)
First race	1982Kraco Car Stereo 150 (Phoenix)
Last race	1998Marlboro 500 (Fontana)
First win	1982Cleveland Grand Prix (Cleveland)
Last win	1992Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix (Nazareth)
Wins Podiums Poles 24 88 17
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1978
Teams	Wolf
Entries	2
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Careerpoints	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1978 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1978 Canadian Grand Prix
NASCAR driver
NASCARCup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	91st (1984)
First race	1984Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1980, 1982
Teams	Barbour,Garretson
Best finish	DNF (1980,1982)
Class wins	0

Robert Woodward Rahal (/ˈreɪhɔːl/RAY-hawl; born January 10, 1953) is an Americanracing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in theCART open-wheel series, including the1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner ofRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, he won the Indianapolis 500 in2004 and2020 with driversBuddy Rice andTakuma Sato, respectively.

After retiring as a driver, Rahal held managerial positions with theJaguar Formula 1 team and also was an interim president of the CART series. Rahal was also a sports car driver during the 1980s, and made one NASCAR start for theWood Brothers.

Rahal began his career in SCCA feeder categories, eventually finishing second toGilles Villeneuve in the1977 Formula Atlantic championship. The following year, he competed in the1978 New Zealand Grand Prix withFred Opert Racing (Formula Pacific) and in EuropeanFormula Three withWolf Racing. Near the end of the season, Rahal raced for the Wolf Formula 1 team in the1978 United States Grand Prix and the1978 Canadian Grand Prix.^[1] The deal with Wolf did not continue into the 1979 season, as Wolf signed upJames Hunt for the one and only car available. Rahal began the 1979 racing a Chevron inFormula Two, but returned to America mid-season and raced in theCan-Am series. During the next few seasons, he competed in various sports car events, including the24 Hours of Le Mans and theIMSA GT Championship.

In 1982, Rahal entered theCARTIndy car series with theTruesports team, winning two races and finishing second in the championship behindRick Mears. He continued racing for Truesports through the 1988 season, winning at least one race every year. In 1986, Rahal dramatically passedKevin Cogan on a restart with two laps to go to win theIndianapolis 500, only days before his team owner,Jim Trueman died of cancer. Later that year, Rahal won his first CART championship, and successfully defended it the following year.

In 1988, Rahal won the last race theTruesports team ever won, theQuaker State 500 at Pocono, the first and only Indy car victory for theJudd engine.

During his CART career, Rahal also won races inIMSA andIROC. By 1989, Rahal had ended his occasional forays into sports car racing and focused solely on CART. He moved over to theKraco race team, but this association produced only two wins over three seasons.

Rahal competed in one NASCAR race in his career. In November 1984 he drove the 7-11 sponsored Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford (substituting for Buddy Baker) to a 40th-place finish in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Speedway, completing only 44 laps before breaking a rear end gear.^[2]

After losing the championship toMichael Andretti in1991, Rahal (with partner Carl Hogan) acquired the assets to the formerPat Patrick Racing team, with Rahal becoming an owner-driver. The team was an immediate success in1992, producing four wins for Rahal and his third CART championship, making him the last owner-driver to win the CART title, and the last driver to win a race with his own team untilAdrian Fernandez did so in2003. In1993, Rahal attempted to develop his own Rahal-Hogan chassis, but reverted to theLola chassis after failing to qualify for the1993 Indianapolis 500. In1994 the team brought theHonda engine into the CART series. Except for a second-place finish atToronto, he and teammateMike Groff struggled to show the full potential of an engine that would soon dominate the series. In1995 atLong Beach Rahal became the tenth driver inChampionship Car history (includingAAA,USAC, andCART) to start 200 races in his career.^[3] Despite no wins, Rahal finished a strong third in the 1995 standings using theMercedes engine.

Rahal continued as a racing driver until his retirement in1998. Meanwhile, Hogan left to form his own team andtalk show hostDavid Letterman became a minority owner in1996. The team became known as Team Rahal in 1996 andRahal Letterman Racing in2004, when Rahal switched from CART to theIRL full-time.

From 1997 to 1999, Rahal co-owned a team in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with sportscar-racing veteranTom Gloy.^[4] The team, calledGloy-Rahal Racing, competed part time in 1997 and full time for the remainder of existence.

In 2000, Rahal joined theJaguar Formula One team in a managerial capacity. During this time, Rahal attempted to hire championship-winning aerodynamicistAdrian Newey, briefly believing that the deal had been completed, but was unsuccessful. However, Rahal was fired after reportedly attempting to sell driverEddie Irvine to rivalsJordan.^[5] Ironically, the team fired Irvine little more than a year after firing Rahal, while Newey joined in 2006, a year after the team was sold to Red Bull.

Rahal was the interim President and CEO ofCART for six months during the 2000 season.

His business interests include Bobby Rahal Automotive Group, a network of car dealerships in western and centralPennsylvania sellingAcura,BMW,Honda,Jaguar,Land Rover,Lexus,Mercedes-Benz,Toyota andVolvo.

In 2021, Rahal began to venture into race promoting with the help of former IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway ownerTony George.^[6] Rahal's first move in race promotion was to return the popularIowa Speedway round to IndyCar after it had been left off of the2021 calendar. Rahal was able to recruit Iowa supermarket chainHy-Vee as a sponsor and secured a multi year agreement between IndyCar and Iowa Speedway to run a double header event at the track starting in2022.^[7]

• International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2004)
• Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2004)^[8]
• SCCA Hall of Fame (2013)^[9]
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame (2014)
• Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award (2014)^[10]

AtWeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the back straight leading up to the corkscrew was named the "Rahal Straight" in his honor.^{[citation needed]}

He is the son of Barbara and Michael Rahal (1924–2017) who raced autos for over two decades.^[11][12] His father is ofLebanese descent and his mother is ofEnglish descent.^[13] His father owned a wholesale food distribution business.^[11] Rahal was raised in the Chicago suburb ofGlen Ellyn and attendedGlenbard West High School as class of 1971. Rahal is a graduate ofDenison University,^[13] where his father also graduated.^[11]

Rahal formerly lived inNew Albany, Ohio. He now lives in theLincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. His son isGraham Rahal, who races in theIndyCar Series.^[12]

Rahal owns a 1975Lola T360 which he occasionally races at vintage racing events.

In 2023, Rahal had knee surgery which he is currently recovering from.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position / Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1980	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Garretson Allan Moffat	Porsche 935 K3	IMSA	134	DNF	DNF
1982	Garretson Developments	Skeeter McKitterick Jim Trueman	March 82G	C	28	DNF	DNF

• Rahal Letterman Racing website
• Rahal's automobile dealerships website
• The Greatest 33
• Bobby Rahal driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• Living people
• 1953 births
• Sportspeople from Medina, Ohio
• Racing drivers from Ohio
• American Formula One drivers
• Wolf Formula One drivers
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• Indianapolis 500 winners
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• Champ Car champions
• Champ Car drivers
• Atlantic Championship drivers
• European Formula Two Championship drivers
• NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR team owners
• International Race of Champions drivers
• IndyCar Series team owners
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees
• Formula One team principals
• Auto racing executives
• Denison University alumni
• American people of Lebanese descent
• American people of English descent
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners
• SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers
• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
• Force family
• 12 Hours of Sebring drivers
• Jaguar in Formula One
• Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers
• USAC Gold Crown champions
• American motorsport people

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2023
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2025