IRL -- congratulations Graham!

[FastCarFan]

I watched the IRL race today from St. Pete. Very entertaining, once they finally went green after something like 10 laps under yellow due to the wet track.

Early in the race someone hit Graham Rahal & spun him. Near the end Rahal -- all of 19-years-old -- made an actual pass for the lead & ran away. Then, after yet another yellow, Helio was right on his tail when they went green with 4-5 laps to go. I thought Helio -- who has won it 2 (or is it 3?) years in a row, & who has a LOT more experience than Rahal -- was going to dispatch Graham to 2nd place.

But...Rahal held him off & eventually ran away from him as well to win in the 1st IRL race he has ever run! And he did it going away. And did I say he is 19-years-old? He is very, very mature &, based on what I saw, this was just the 1st of many wins for him...at least on road-courses. And I think he will figure ovals out pretty quickly too.

It was great to see a young American driver -- who seems like a very nice, polite kid -- win decisively. He deserved the win.

What does everyone else think of him? He will be fun to watch. I know it is very early, but do you think he could be F1 material?

I can't wait until the Mid-Ohio IRL race, home of so many great races by his father.

[Scott at Pelican Parts]

A great day for American open wheel racing!

He probably has a talent level similar to Bourdais, or will after some more experience. I think he's "F1 material" -- but that doesn't mean much unless you can drive for one of the top two or three teams.

[nota]

too bad we missed seeing him at homestead
do to the lack of parts

[rfuerst911sc]

There were several rookies that did well yesterday in less than ideal conditions. I hope the IRL can get some momentum and get open wheel racing back in the U.S. in regards to TV audience. Not sure it can ever knock Nascrap off its throne but there is room to grow. Hopefully the IRL can do more combined weekends with the ALMS. And Graham Rahal is the real deal.

[Andras Nagy]

Hi rfuerst911sc,

I also have a quartz grey (also known as "rauch quartz metallic" in German, which means smokey quartz. I like that name much better. Where's the grey? But it sure does look like the brown you often see as an impurity in chunks of quartz.

But we ordered our car with a complete chocolate brown leather interior, hence the "chocolate kiss" reference. It was the only one that color at delivery in Stuttgart in Oct.1982.

You don't often see this color! Ours is still pretty after all these years, and keeping it garaged sure helps. I think we're the only one in town.

[JeremyD]

I was there - it was very cool - besides of course the first ten laps at yellow - let em run = they had rains.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by Andras Nagy

Hi rfuerst911sc,

I also have a quartz grey (also known as "rauch quartz metallic" in German, which means smokey quartz. I like that name much better. Where's the grey? But it sure does look like the brown you often see as an impurity in chunks of quartz.

But we ordered our car with a complete chocolate brown leather interior, hence the "chocolate kiss" reference. It was the only one that color at delivery in Stuttgart in Oct.1982.

You don't often see this color! Ours is still pretty after all these years, and keeping it garaged sure helps. I think we're the only one in town.

Andras I agree with your statement. I really liked the color the minute I looked at the car when the previous owner was selling it. It's not for everyone but I like it. Where are you located?

[Andras Nagy]

Hi Fuerst,

My family (wife and kids) are in Palm Beach as we are trying to sell our house; I've already moved to Las Vegas.

By the way, I used to live in Orlando when I was with Disney. Lived in Bay Point, which was a corner of Bay Hill, where Tiger Woods cleans everyone's clock every year. Also, Greg Norman used to live down the street, and his White TestaRossa would come in through the gate daily.

By the way 2, my birthday is January 8, so maybe this color is a Capricorn thing?

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by Andras Nagy

Hi Fuerst,

My family (wife and kids) are in Palm Beach as we are trying to sell our house; I've already moved to Las Vegas.

By the way, I used to live in Orlando when I was with Disney. Lived in Bay Point, which was a corner of Bay Hill, where Tiger Woods cleans everyone's clock every year. Also, Greg Norman used to live down the street, and his White TestaRossa would come in through the gate daily.

By the way 2, my birthday is January 8, so maybe this color is a Capricorn thing?

This is turning into a Twilight Zone episode . We both have odd color Porsches, we both live/lived in Florida and our birthdays are 3 days apart ! Very odd..........................good luck with the home sale.

[Jims5543]

I should be following this racing closer and I just might. I just read Graham is a transfer from the defunct Cart series and that is remarkable when you also factor in his age.

Its good to see the Cart boys are mixing it up with the IRL guys, I am sure this will change on Ovals but at least they can kick some butt on the road courses.

I am setting up my Tivo to start catching these races as well.

[JeremyD]

Even Helio acknowledged that it was a great win for the sport - he's a class act.

Graham was humble - excited and besides the bobble going really hot into turn one after the restart drove a heck of a finish.

On another note - I was critical of Danica Patrick = at least three times she let people pass her on turn one by going wide and letting people late brake her and take the inside position. But when she got punted to the outside and spun - and then was almost a lap back - she drove a hell of a race staying in front of the leaders to not go one lap down. When they had a yellow she was able to recover to the end of the field - and ended up making her way to 10th.

[Jim Garfield]

The kid seems to have amazing talent. I was watching a program on SPEED last week that pitted Tommy Kendall, Boris Said, John Andretti, and Graham Rahal against each other testing various car control skills in M3s. Rahal won.