One of the brightest young American road racing stars is joining the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama and Mi-Jack Conquest Racing with today's announcement that 16-year-old Graham Rahal will compete for the team in the 2006 Atlantic campaign. source: champcarworldseries.com The son of former Champ Car champion and distinguished Atlantic series graduate Bobby Rahal will drive an entry sponsored by Norwalk Furniture, Sparco, Robert Bosch, the CAR Group and Renier Corporation next season for the recently-formed Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Atlantic team. The move into the Atlantic Championship continues a rapid rise for Graham Rahal in the open-wheel development ranks. After entering the world of racing through karting, Graham first showed his burgeoning talent by winning a national Stars of Karting competition in 2003. The following year he joined the inaugural Formula BMW USA series and finished third in the circuit's rookie standings. In 2005, Graham raced in the Star Mazda Pro Series, posting six podium results on his way to a fourth-place finish in the championship. He also became the youngest winner in the history of the series when he captured the checkered flag at Portland International Raceway in late July. Continuing his impressive accomplishments this fall, Graham, a junior in high school, became the youngest driver ever to win the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. He established several Formula Atlantic records at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course while dominating the competition that his father won three decades earlier. "I am excited about taking the next step up the ladder and racing in Atlantics with Mi-Jack Conquest Racing next season," said Graham Rahal, a native of New Albany, Ohio. "I think we should be very competitive and I hope to rack up some wins and get the championship. (Team owner) Eric (Bachelart) is a great guy, and my dad and I were impressed when we visited the Conquest shop. It's going to be a very competitive championship, but this will be a good situation for me and I am really looking forward to getting in the new car and going racing." A stellar Atlantic series competitor from 1975-78, Bobby Rahal is happy that his son is continuing his racing development in a series that helped serve as a springboard for his legendary career that featured three Champ Car titles and an Indy 500 victory. Rahal is also excited to bring along respected engineer Don Halliday and Graham's driver coach Mike Zimicki to the Mi-Jack Conquest team next season. "I have always liked Eric (Bachelart) as a person, and I am impressed with how he goes about his racing," said Bobby Rahal. "He's there to win, and I think it's going to be a very good environment for Graham, with everyone focused on racing and winning. We are fortunate to have Don Halliday and Mike Zimicki in the equation working with Eric, and I think Graham is going to have a good chance to be successful. Graham has always been a bit precocious as far as moving up quickly, but all credit goes to him because he's the guy standing on the gas and he has matured quickly, so hopefully this will be another strong season for him."
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |