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2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar

The headquarters of Rahal Letterman Racing is one of the finest race shop facilities of its type in the world of motorsports. Encompassing nearly 60,000 square feet of space in suburban Columbus, Ohio, it houses, in two adjacent buildings, all of the personnel and equipment necessary to develop, field and maintain Rahal Letterman's IRL IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series programs and in the past has housed the team's Champ Car, Atlantic, Indy Lights and Formula BMW programs.

The building provides space for 65 race team members and associates attending to Rahal's non-racing-related business enterprises. Each building features a lobby, which houses a retired car from the team's livery and many of the trophies and images commemorating past triumphs. Individual areas of the shop are specialized for the preparation and maintenance of the race cars: the main race shop, located in the new building, is where mechanical work on the IndyCar program is done; the composites area, where body panels are molded and created; the machine shop, where tools and parts are made; the fabrication area, where sheet metal parts are formed; the shock room, where suspension testing and production are completed; and a paint booth, where the cars are finished and decaled.

Though purpose-built to house a state-of-the-art race shop, the original building was not always home to Rahal Letterman Racing. Built in 1984, the facility originally was designed for the Hilliard, Ohio-based Truesports Racing team whose driver, ironically, was an Indy Car youngster by the name of Bobby Rahal.

2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing IndycarWhen the Truesports team disbanded in 1992, a then-new team owner/driver Rahal coincidentally was looking for a permanent home for his new racing operation he had inherited from the purchase of Indianapolis-based Patrick Racing. He leased the building and promptly moved his fledgling team there in November of that year.

Rahal Letterman Racing broke ground in 2001 on a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art 22,000-square-foot race shop adjacent to the original location. The new race shop is the first phase of a planned 50,000-square-foot expansion that will comprise the team's headquarters for years to come.

It is from this campus that Rahal Letterman Racing has carved a niche as one of the prominent teams in North American open-wheel racing.

Source - Rahal Letterman Racing
2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar 2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar 2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Bursting onto the IndyCar scene in dramatic fashion in 2007, Ryan Hunter-Reay is making his first full-season run in the IndyCar Series in 2008, driving the Ethanol-sponsored machine for Rahal Letterman Racing.

Ryan joined the team in the middle of 2007, literally stepping into the cockpit at Mid-Ohio without ever turning a single lap of practice in an Indy Car. Únaffected, Hunter-Reay carried the car to a seventh-place finish on the tricky road course, one of three top-seven finishes that he would earn over his six-race stint with the team.

His strong finish to the season earned him the Bombardier Rookie-of-the-Year award, setting an IndyCar Series record for fewest races run by a ROY winner. He qualified fifth on the temporary road course at Detroit's Belle Isle Park, marking the team's best road-course starting spot in three seasons.

Karting provided the first step toward open-wheel stardom for Hunter-Reay as his successes there earned him the Skip Barber Big Scholarship, which included an entry to the Barber Dodge Pro Series as one of its rewards. Two years of BDPS competition groomed him for Toyota Atlantic action, where he scored three wins in his only season in the developmental series.

In 2003 he moved up to Champ Cars, where he became the first American-born rookie in 20 years to win a series event when he took the checkers at Surfers Paradise. He moved to Team Herdez in 2004 for his most successful Champ Car season, winning from pole at the Milwaukee Mile where he set a series record by leading all 250 laps of the race.

He has proven to be one of the more versatile racers in the country in the last few seasons, running not only in Champ Car and IndyCar, but also in sportscars and off-road vehicles. He held the lead in this year's 24 Hours of Daytona at the midway point of the race and has also competed in the grueling Baja 1000.

He is also a leading spokesman for the Ethanol movement, carrying the vital message of Ethanol and its environmental and performance benefits to the world through the #17 Ethanol-sponsored Rahal Letterman Racing Indy Car program.

• IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year - 2007

• First American Rookie in over a decade to earn a Podium (Mid-Ohio 2003)

2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar• First American Rookie in over 20 years to Win a Champ Car Race (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2003)

• Holds the record for the most laps lead (250) in a single race (Milwaukee 2004)

• Second youngest driver to ever Win a Street Race, youngest American to ever Win an Oval Race

• Recipient of the Greg Moore Legacy Award (2004)

Source - Rahal Letterman Racing

Rahal Letterman Racing Battles Back To Finish 10th at Mid-Ohio

2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar
Fight the good fight every moment/Every minute, every day – Triumph2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar
Much like in yesterday's qualifying for the IndyCar Series' Honda Indy 200 Presented by Westfield Insurance at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Rahal Letterman Racing and Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) found themselves stopped ankle-deep in the gravel trap at the beginning of their session.

But unlike yesterday, the team and its' second-year IndyCar star salvaged a strong ending to the day, coming from nearly two laps down to finish 10th, scoring the team's sixth top-10 finish of the season.

'These guys called some great pit strategy and we caught one yellow right at a time that helped us,' Hunter-Reay §äid. 'The Firestone tires really held up when we needed them to and it's great to come away with a top-ten finish after the start we had to the day. We couldn't afford to leave many more points on the table.'

The race took on a strange personality from the start as a summer downpour washed the track just before the start of the race, forcing everyone to start the event on treaded rain tires. Starting 15th, Hunter-Reay made up two spots on the first lap, but ended Lap 10 in the gravel trap as his inside move on Enrique Bernoldi sent both of them spinning off course.

The #17 car lost a lap as it was lifted out of the gravel, but Hunter-Reay was undaunted in his efforts to rejoin the fray. He climbed from 25th to 21st by Lap 29 and then got back on the lead lap by staying out during a Lap 38 caution for Milka Duno's spin, moving all the way around to the back of the pack when leaders Justin Wilson and Dan Wheldon pitted for fuel. (concept carz)

He and the team caught the break it needed on the subsequent restart as Hunter-Reay dove for pit lane on the restart for fuel, which would have allowed him to get fuel and tires and still stay on the lead lap, but as he did, Wilson triggered a five-car crash that essentially gave the team a free pit stop while also moving him up to 15th.

Pitting off-sequence from the rest of the leaders allowed him to climb to sixth by Lap 58 when he came in for his final fuel stop, just as Graham Rahal came to a stop after going off course. The fuel service set the #17 car up to go the remainder of the scheduled 85-lap distance without stopping and was designed to move the blue-and-green machine into the top five, but Hunter-Reay was called for a pit-lane speed violation upon leaving the pits, with the penalty calling for a low-speed drive-through trip to Pit Lane.

Mario Moraes' spin four laps later brought the field back together, allowing Hunter-Reay to close back on the rest of the field as he took the restart in 11th. He stretched the life of his Firestone tires for 42 laps and found his way to 10th when Bruno Junqueira pitted for fuel with 13 laps to go, earning his third Mid-Ohio top 10.

'We caught a break but then it got thrown in the trash by the speeding penalty,' Hunter-Reay lamented. 'But we stayed in the top 10 in the points and we'll go after it again next week.'

Source - Rahal Letterman Racing

2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar Vehicle Profiles

2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar vehicle information

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