the second-generation NSX to market this year<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 appropriate since Acura is no longer an exotic import, but made right in Rahal\u2019s Columbus backyard.<\/p>\nThe 573-horsepower, 2017 NSX is a mid-engine hybrid-electric cyborg capable of neck-bending performance on the race track, yet comfortable enough to drive home. Credit Graham for some of its bravado.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first program I\u2019ve been involved with on the development side,\u201d he said at California\u2019s Thermal Raceway, where he emceed the car\u2019s media introduction. \u201cEarly on (they\u2019d ask) my sense of the way things needed to be. I can tell driving today vs. even two months ago they continue to tweak the car and get it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does it share anything with his race car? \u201cNo GT car reminds me of an Indy car,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the performance of the car is tremendous for the ($157,000) price point. The torque in this car is instant \u2013 the turbo and electric motors complement teach other. That\u2019s what\u2019s cool about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though a generation apart, we are both sons of racers. I\u2019ve known his dad, now 64, for years on the vintage race circuit where our fathers became fast friends after Bobby\u2019s competitive days were done.<\/p>\n
Graham racing success was meteoric. He rose from a 10-year-old go-karter through Formula Atlantic to be the youngest-ever winner of an IndyCar race at age age 19 in 2008.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got myself up to the top level fast,\u201d he reflects. \u201cBut in hindsight, the experience of taking more time maybe would have been a better thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father was supportive every step of the way, but when Graham made it to the pro ranks, he wanted to carve his own path. \u201cWhen I started my career, I drive for Newman-Hass and Ganassi. I did that on purpose to build my own name away from my dad,\u201d he says. \u201cBut every time I would go to a sponsor to pitch, the first question was \u2018Why don\u2019t you race for your dad?\u2019 It became obvious that using the names together was the most beneficial for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since uniting under the same flag in 2013, Team Rahal has met with success, finishing fourth in the championship last year. Yet, father and son have never raced together, even in the BMW M6 that Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan entered for this year\u2019s Daytona 24 Hour endurance race \u2013 and that Graham co-piloted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to get him to race,\u201d says Graham. \u201cBut when my dad stepped away, he stepped away. He never did a Michael Jordan. All you do is risk looking worse than you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hands are full. I\u2019m always in the drag-racing world with her,\u201d he says of a life split between his home in Indianapolis, her pad in SoCal and the constant race travel. \u201cBetween her schedule, my schedule, chasing sponsors \u2013 there\u2019s no off time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his marriage to Courtney in Santa Barbara late last year, Graham has gained a new racing family.<\/p>\n
Has he ever been tempted to jump in a dragster and race her down the strip? \u201cNever. And she has never driven an Indy car. It\u2019s a different world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grahamney does share a passion for cars, however. He\u2019s had a variety of steeds including a million-dollar Porsche 918 \u2013 and he has an NSX on order. But there is one car that he won\u2019t be selling: a classic 1966 Mustang 289.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Courtney\u2019s baby. She won\u2019t let me sell it,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Forget Brangelina. Never mind Willkat. The hot celebrity couple in autodom these days is Grahamney. The marriage last fall of IndyCar racer Graham Rahal and drag racing\u2019s Courtney Force united two of the hottest rising stars in auto sport from two of racing\u2019s greatest family dynasties. The talented, dashing Graham, 27, is the son of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18421,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420\/revisions\/18421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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