Things haven’t come easily for Bobby Rahal and his team in recent years.
A sign that things are changing for the better came on Sunday when Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Watkins Glen to give Rahal Letterman Racing its first win in four years.
Once a nearly perennial contender in CART, the team co-owned by TV personality David Letterman has mostly struggled since moving to the IRL’s IndyCar Series in 2003.
PHOTO: AP
The best moments came in 2004 when Buddy Rice won three races, including the Indianapolis 500, and then-rookie Danica Patrick became a national sensation by qualifying and finishing fourth at Indy — both records for a woman at the Brickyard.
But Rice and Patrick are both driving for different teams now and it’s been mostly downhill for Rahal Letterman since.
What had been a promising three-car team has diminished to a one-car operation that most weeks has raced in the middle of the pack — or worse.
The lowest point came at the 2006 season-opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway when rookie Paul Dana, preparing to make his first start for the team, was killed in a crash during the morning warmup.
That devastated everyone on the team and the recovery has been slow and painful.
“For us, it has been a bit of a drought,” Rahal said.
With six races remaining last season, he hired Hunter-Reay to replace Jeff Simmons, who had been the replacement for Dana and never quite caught on.
“And this guy, since the day he came on to the team almost a year ago now, at Mid-Ohio, he elevated the performance of the team immediately,” Rahal said.
“Three road courses in a row we’ve been in the Firestone Fast 6 [in qualifying]. And it’s because Ryan has been able to take the car to a new level and work with our engineers and our guys to kind of keep it there and make it stronger and stronger,” he said.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
RSS