One Final Run To Glory Rahal Has Been Winless For Five Years, But He’s Optimistic That Will Change In His Final Season

Bobby Rahal is busier than ever as he prepares for his final season as a driver in the CART Fedex Championship Series.

Rahal, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, and Bryan Herta will be teammates for the third straight year in the CART series, where Rahal is the only owner-driver. Mike Borkowski has joined the team to drive its first entry in the Indy Lights series, which develops drivers for advancement to CART.

Rahal and sports-car ace Tom Gloy also are joint owners of a Mooresville, N.C.-based entry in the NASCAR truck series. Dave Rezendes is their driver.

Rahal has been an owner-driver since 1992, and in 1995 took control of the team that includes David Letterman as a minority owner. At 44, Rahal is the oldest driver in the CART series.

“I knew that at some point my value would be greater as solely a car owner than an owner-driver,” he said. “I gradually got the feeling last year that this time had come, so I announced my retirement in November and I’ve had no second thoughts about it.

“Once the decision was made, it made it easier to gear myself physically and mentally toward one more year, and now I’m prepared to go racing,” he said.

Rahal, who has more than $15 million in career earnings, won the Indianapolis 500 in 1986, and was the CART driving champion in 1986, 1987 and 1992. He hasn’t won a race in the last five seasons, however.

But his team has developed several engines during that period, and Rahal finished third in the driver standings in 1995. But he has not been able to find the right combination to make it to the top of the winner’s platform.

Rahal came close twice last year. He appeared headed for victory in Brazil, but ran out of gas with slightly more than one lap left. He also led the U.S. 500 at Brooklyn, Mich., but crashed while trying to get around a lapped car.

Those two performances were significant factors in his decision to end his driving career. He had said for several years that he wanted to retire while he still had a chance to be a winner.

“There’s a lot of life left in me yet,” he said. “So - knock on wood - this should be a good year.”

Earlier this month, Rahal hired Don Hayward, a 34-year racing veteran who had been manager of Ford Motor Co’s CART operations, as his team’s technical director. He will be in charge of long-range planning, allowing team manager Tim Ciondric to concentrate more on changes required from race to race.

“It’s always what I’ve wanted to do, and given the opportunity I wasn’t going to pass it up,” Hayward said.

He’s impressed with the team’s direction, but says his presence is not the only reason.

“I don’t think they needed any extra incentive,” Hayward said. “But Bobby wants to retire with style, so he does have a little extra spring in this step.”

Eight different drivers won CART races last year, and Rahal said he expects things to be just as competitive in 1998.

“I don’t know where to start,” he said. “Anywhere from 12 to 15 drivers would appear to have a chance to win any given race. About the only thing that’s likely is that the winner probably will be on Firestone tires because most of the teams that were on Goodyears last year have switched.”

Rahal’s team is among those making the change after Firestone won 13 of the 17 CART races - including the last 11. Rahal is retaining the Ford engine and the Reynard chassis.