The teams and crewmembers continue to work away in Gasoline Alley. A very limited number of media have been present since the track opened this past Wednesday.
The colorful characters that are among the fans are missing.
“This is different,” Rahal said. “You walk out of Gasoline Alley with nobody around. It is very unique. I hope we look at the bigger picture, what this means, the importance to get through this together so we can look forward to another Indy 500 next year.
“I’m excited to be here and I’m excited this is happening. As I said to Roger Penske when we saw him, we needed this race to go on and I’m happy to be here.
“You go to some races that don’t have the atmosphere or the fans that live for it, live for this every year. But we need this thing to happen. There is no choice. Our sponsors rely on an Indy 500 every year. That’s just the way it is.”
As the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, Graham Rahal was quite young when he came to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. He was born on Jan. 4, 1989.
Team co-owner and former television talk show host David Letterman likes to tell the story that as a young boy, Graham Rahal used to come into the suite at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and steal food.
Graham Rahal wants to set the record straight.
“That’s not even true, first off,” Rahal said. “That’s a Dave story.
“My first recollection, though, was with Dave in the suite, but not stealing food. I remember being in the suite and I would sit next to Dave and he would quiz me about, ‘Who is that driver?’ and I would rattle it off. Or, he would ask, ‘Who is that sponsor?’ and I could rattle it off. Those were my earliest memories when I was four or five years old. Those were early in life, but great memories.”
This is Graham Rahal’s 13th Indianapolis 500, tying his father, Bobby Rahal, in Indianapolis 500 starts. Bobby Rahal was 33 when he won the 1986 Indianapolis 500. Graham is now 31.
The second-generation driver hopes to add his own Indianapolis 500 victory to the family collection.
“I thought we had a great chance last year and we did,” Graham Rahal recalled. “We were in the hunt at the end and came up a little short. I believe this is one of my best opportunities yet because the team is operating at a level that is much higher than we have been in a long time. I say it every year, but I can see it in their eyes, they are determined to win it this year.
“A lot of guys run around here and look fast in practice and on race day, they are nowhere to be seen. I just operate in a little bubble and focus on what we need to do.
“I focus on the moment, think about what I need to do to be better, what we need to do as a team to be better and what I need to do to, to be better prepared.
“When race day comes, I want to be prepared for it.”