Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the IndyCar Series and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Headquartered in Zionsville, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former television talk show host David Letterman, and businessman Mike Lanigan. The team won the 1992 CART Indy Car championship, and has won the Indianapolis 500 twice, first in 2004 with Buddy Rice and 2020 with Takuma Sato.
The team was established in late 1991 when driver Bobby Rahal and business partner Carl Hogan purchased the distressed Patrick Racing team from U.E. "Pat" Patrick. Originally named Rahal-Hogan Racing, it was changed to Team Rahal in 1996 when Hogan left to form his own team. David Letterman purchased a minority interest in the team in 1996, and the team went by the name of Rahal Letterman Racing from May 2004 until December 2010.
Throughout the team's history in IMSA with factory partner BMW, the sports car division of the team has run under the name BMW Team RLL.
In 2024, the team was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for unspecified reasons. The investigation is still ongoing.
CART Indy Car series
Following the 1991 CART season, Bobby Rahal left the Galles-Kraco Racing team. Despite consistent top finishes, Rahal won only two races between 1989 and 1991. Likewise, Danny Sullivan left the Patrick Racing team, following a dismal season with the Alfa Romeo engine. The two drivers essentially swapped rides. Rahal signed with Patrick in September 1991, and Sullivan took to Rahal's old seat at Galles-Kraco Racing.In late 1991, Patrick Racing found itself in financial and legal trouble. Rumors surfaced that the Patrick team had shipped one of the Ilmor Chevrolet V-8 engines over to the Alfa Romeo engine developers in Italy, who in turn, tore the engine down to examine it and allegedly stole design ideas. It was returned in pieces and infuriated Ilmor officials.
By this time, Patrick's contractual obligations with Alfa Romeo had ended, so the team attempted to re-sign with Ilmor, or possibly acquire older Ilmor engines from Newman/Haas. The Newman/Haas team was in the process of switching to the new Ford-Cosworth XB for 1992. Due to the possible fraudulent actions by Patrick against Ilmor, the team was refused an Ilmor Chevrolet engine lease, despite inking the popular Rahal. According to Rahal, he had a clause in his contract, as did Miller, which required the team field the Ilmor-Chevrolet engine. Facing a decidedly uncompetitive powerplant situation for 1992, and escalating legal problems, in December 1991, Patrick sold the team outright to Bobby Rahal and his new partner Carl Hogan. Together they formed Rahal-Hogan Racing. They retained nearly all of the employees and key personnel, kept the sponsorship from Miller Genuine Draft, and were able to re-secure the Ilmor Chevrolet engine lease. According to Rahal, the transition was simple and smooth enough that they simply "took Patrick Racing sign off the front of the building and put...Rahal-Hogan".
1992
In 1992, the team won the CART championship on their first try, with owner-driver Bobby Rahal fielding a "tried and true" Lola T92/00-Chevy "A" to four victories and three poles during the season. It was Rahal's third points championship as a driver. Rahal's three oval wins included a dominating wire-to-wire victory at Phoenix, where he led all 200 laps. His other wins came at Detroit, Loudon, and Nazareth. He finished 6th at the Indianapolis 500, but dropped out of the Michigan 500. He notched 12 top-ten finishes, and clinched the championship by a mere 4 points, after finishing third at Laguna Seca.It was the fifth consecutive championship for the Ilmor Chevy "A" engine. Rahal managed to outperform the newer engines that joined the series in 1992, the Ford/Cosworth XB, as well as the Ilmor Chevy "B" engine, which was used exclusively by Penske. For the third time, Michael Andretti finished runner-up to Rahal in the points. Andretti promptly left Indy car racing the following year to race in Formula One.
1993
In late 1992, Rahal-Hogan Racing absorbed the Truesports racing team, where Rahal had started his CART career. The team moved its headquarters from Indianapolis to Hilliard, into the old Truesports facility. Along with the acquisition, they took over the two-year-old Truesports "All-American" chassis program. Rahal started the 1993 season with an updated version of the Truesports chassis, now designated the R/H-001, powered by the newer Ilmor Chevy "C" engine. The intention was to introduce a brand-new R/H chassis by August of that year.A second-place finish at Long Beach offered some promise for the chassis. The success was short-lived, however, as the chassis proved uncompetitive on ovals and superspeedways. Rahal failed to qualify at Indianapolis; he was bumped with 15 minutes left in the day. Following Indy, the team switched Rahal to a more conventional Lola T93/00. Rahal rebounded, with 11 top-tens in the final 12 races - good enough for 4th place in the final points standings.
Mike Groff joined the team as a test driver and raced a second car on a partial schedule. After the team's failure at Indy, Groff made four additional starts in the R/H-001. By season's end, the team abandoned the in-house chassis project.
1994–1995
Rahal-Hogan Racing introduced the full-works Honda HRX Indy V-8t engine to IndyCar racing in 1994, after performing development testing for the powerplant throughout 1993. The team operated as a two-car outfit, promoting Mike Groff to a full-time schedule for 1994. The team fielded the Lola T94/00 chassis as well as received a full-factory support from Honda.The first generation iron block Honda powerplants, however, were still underdeveloped. At the 1994 Indianapolis 500, both Rahal and Groff were at the bottom of the speed charts, and the team was at risk of failing to qualifying at Indy for the second year in a row. On the second weekend of time trials, both Rahal and Groff withdrew their Honda-powered machines, and re-qualified using two PC-22-Ilmors loaned from Penske. Rahal finished a strong 3rd in the race with the borrow chassis.
Rahal and Groff finished out the rest of the 1994 season with the Honda, however, the results were largely disappointing. Rahal notched only one top five driving the Honda, and placed tenth in the season points standings. Unsatisfied with the lack of progress and growing pains with the Honda engine, Rahal-Hogan Racing announced they were cutting ties with Honda at the end of the season.
For 1995, Rahal-Hogan replaced Mike Groff with veteran Raul Boesel, and switched to Ilmor-Mercedes Benz "D" engines. Rahal finished third at the 1995 Indianapolis 500, which would ultimately be his final Indy start. Rahal notched eight top-fives and 12 top-tens to finish third in points. Boesel had seven top tens. Despite switching to a more conventional chassis/engine combination, the team remained winless for the third consecutive season.
1996–1998
In 1996, Carl Hogan left the team and started his own racing operation, Hogan Racing. As a result, the team changed its name to Team Rahal. Rahal signed a five-year sponsorship extension with Miller, and switched to the Reynard 96I chassis. Raul Boesel left to join Team Green, and Bryan Herta replaced Boesel in the team's second car, picking up sponsorship from Shell. In February of that year, comedian and talk show host David Letterman purchased a minority interest in the team.Due to the open wheel "Split", Team Rahal did not compete at the Indianapolis 500. Instead Rahal and Herta raced at the U.S. 500 at Michigan. Herta qualified for the front row at Michigan, but was involved in the big crash at the start. Herta drove a backup car to 15th place. Bobby Rahal was running as high as 6th until he brushed the wall and dropped out with suspension damage. In the season finale at Laguna Seca, Bryan Herta nearly won his first career Indy car race. Leading on the final lap, Alex Zanardi made a daring, diving pass at the famous "Corkscrew" turns, to steal the victory in shocking fashion. The legendary incident became known in racing circles simply as "The Pass". Rahal and Herta combined for five podiums on the season, and finished 7th and 8th in points, respectively.
In 1997, Team Rahal switched to the Ford-Cosworth XD engine, and Rahal's sponsorship switched to the Miller Lite brand. The team struggled throughout the year, with Rahal posting only one podium finish. At the Rio 400, Rahal was leading the race, looking for his first win since 1992. However, he ran out of fuel with one lap to go. Herta also posted only one podium. Herta and Rahal finished 11th and 12th in points, respectively. The team's lack of winning was attributed to several factors, including Goodyear tires, and engine choice. After their divorce from Honda at the end of 1994, the powerplant was proving to be successful long-term, winning six consecutive CART championships.
Rahal announced he was going to retire from driving at the conclusion of the 1998 CART season. He embarked on a year-long "Last Ride" campaign, Rahal's best finish of the season was a third place at Mid-Ohio. He finished the season with ten top-10 finishes, and placed 10th in points. At Laguna Seca, Bryan Herta avenged his defeat from two years earlier. Herta started on the pole and led 81 of the 83 laps, posting his first Indy/Champ car victory. It was Team Rahal's first race win since 1992. Herta posted nine other top-tens, and finished 8th in points.
1999–2003
With Bobby Rahal now retired as a driver, over the next few years the team would employ Bryan Herta, Max Papis, Kenny Bräck, Jimmy Vasser and Michel Jourdain Jr. Bobby Rahal assumed additional roles during this timeframe, serving as interim president of CART in 2000, taking a managerial position with Jaguar, and co-owning a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, Gloy-Rahal Racing. Bryan Herta made it back-to-back wins at Laguna Seca, but would be let go at the end of the 1999 season.In 2000, Team Rahal signed 1998 IRL champion and 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Bräck. Bräck won four races in 2001, and finished second in points. Max Papis won three races over his three seasons with the team, with a best result of 5th in points in 1999.
The driver lineup changed for 2002, as Papis and Bräck were replaced by veteran Jimmy Vasser and pay driver Michel Jourdain Jr. The results were above average, with Vasser winning one race, and finishing 7th in points. Jourdain had 14 top-tens, including a 4th place in his debut at Monterrey, en route to a 10th place ranking in points.
In 2003, the team dropped down to a one-car effort in the CART/Champ Car series. Michel Jourdain Jr. won two races, notched 15 top-tens, one pole, and finished third in points. The 2003 season would be Team Rahal's final year in CART/Champ Car. For 2004, the team would switch permanently to the IRL/IndyCar Series.