Ethanol Leaves Rahal-Letterman in Limbo
The loss of ethanol as a sponsor has left Rahal-Letterman Racing (RLR) without a car or a driver for the upcoming IndyCar Series season, but co-owner Bobby Rahal is still looking.
In a statement responding to media reports this week, Rahal said, “As of this time we do not have any sponsorship that will allow us to compete in the IRL in 2009, but by no means does that mean that we are giving up. We are continuing to search for sponsorship to run the 2009 season and to run in the Indianapolis 500 and we feel that there is still time for us to put something together that will allow that to happen.”
Rahal is still hoping the team, which does have some secondary sponsors, will at least be able to compete in the Indianapolis 500 in May if a major sponsor steps forward. But the tough economy is making it difficult to find a replacement for what amounts to a $6 million commitment.
Rahal Letterman’s number 17 Team Ethanol car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay won its first race last year at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Hunter-Reay was also named Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, but at this point he has no ride for the 2009 season.
RLR is co-owned by television talk show host David Letterman. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice and brought Danica Patrick to the IRL in 2005 when she was named Rookie of the Year. Rahal himself won the Indy 500 in 1986. Rahal Letterman Racing remains committed to its programs in the Firestone Indy Lights Series as a partner with Andersen Racing, its American Le Mans Series program with BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team as well as its new partnership with Formula BMW Americas.
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John Wilcox
I don’t believe in karma, but sometimes the way things work out, it really makes you wonder. Here, we have Bobby Rahal, a sell-out and a traitor – getting his just desserts.
Rahal, for those of you who don’t know, was a successful CART series driver, 3-time CART series champion, had been a CART team owner since 1992, and was even the CART interim President from a while. In 2003, Rahal decided to run teams in both the CART series and the rival Indy Racing League. However, barely a month before the 2004 CART season began (CART was now actually renamed ‘Champ Car’), Bobby Rahal, along with another team, accepted a huge bribe($incentive$) from the Indy Racing League and Honda to abandon the Champ Car ship and join the IRL full-time. It was a desperate attempt by the struggling IRL to wound, and hopefully *kill* their rival (and far superior) series.
Bobby’s primary CART sponsor ‘Gigante’ and driver Michel Jourdain practically *pleaded* with Bobby not to go to the IRL as they wanted no part of Tony George’s sham series and what it stood for, but Bobby went anyway, abandoning his sponsor and his driver in favor of the $TonyBucks$.
It was devious ploys like this by Tony George and anyone who was willing to accept his bribes that destroyed American Open-Wheel Racing. CART may have had its own share of internal problems and major blunders, but it was Tony George’s insane egotistical desires and inability to admit defeat, coupled with his seemingly endless deep (family-money) pockets that led Bobby Rahal and others to realize that as long as Tony was around, he wasn’t going to go away. He/they therefore reasoned that it “made more business sense” to go against their principles and better judgement and go for the $green$ than was being dangled (shoved, even) in front of their faces.
Now, just 5 years later, and with Champ Car having folded after never being able to recover from the damage caused by the meddling George and his band of merry traitor team-owners, IndyCar has shown its thanks to Bobby for all his time and efforts, and given him and the American ethanol industry a huge slap in the face by saying “WE now have a contract to use and be sponsored by Brazilian ethanol”.
While American corn-ethanol and its involvement with IndyCar was something to be excited about if you were – a) involved in the industry (like my Iowans), or b) gullible – who in America (where the a huge majority of IndyCar races take place) cares about Brazilian ethanol? It might puts $ in IndyCar’s own coffers, but it’s not going to put fans in its seats, it’s directly taking away an existing American sponsorship program and putting 1 team out of action, and its indirectly taking away from from cross-promotion and home-grown marketing opportunities.
In other words, it’s sheer stupidity. But then Bobby knew that that was what he was involving himself in when he first went IRL’ing. He’s been used — and used up.
Join the club, Bobby. Well, at least like us ex-fans, there’s the American Le Mans Series to fall back on.
Dennis Robinson
Too bad you saw fit to sell your soul to the likes of Letterman. I’ll be writing to other sponsors associated with Letterman expressing my disappointment for their support and association with him.
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