The Remarkable Behind The Scenes Story Of How Graham Rahal Is Back In The 2023 Indianapolis 500 Field

Nobody knows how to strike a business deal better than a car dealer. It’s the one business where everyone that walks through the door is a potential customer.

Put two car dealers together, then the deals really get big.

That is how Graham Rahal was able to get back into the starting lineup for the 107^th Indianapolis 500.

Sunday evening, Rahal was crying tears of sorrow in full public view of photographers, television cameras and many of the 45,000 fans that came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the final day of qualifications.

He had been bumped out of the starting lineup by his Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammate Jack Harvey in Last Chance Qualifying for this year’s Indy 500. With 34 drivers vying for the 33-car starting lineup, only one driver would miss the show.

Unfortunately, it was the 34-year-old son of team owner Bobby Rahal.

Despite the sorrow and despair that came with Rahal’s heart-wrenching tale, he was back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday helping the team’s other three drivers in the 33-car starting lineup prepare for Sunday’s Indy 500. It was a two-hour practice session on Monday and Rahal was on the headset, helping teammates Christian Lundgaard, Katherine Legge and Harvey get their cars race ready for Sunday’s big race.

But, shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, it all changed.

Driver Stefan Wilson was racing in a long line of cars entering Turn 1 at around 230 miles an hour. The cars in front of him “checked up” to slow down in traffic, and Wilson did the same to avoid hitting them.

Unfortunately, the speeding car behind him driven by Legge slammed into the back of Wilson’s No. 24 Cusick Motorsports Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet, creating a massive impact into the Turn 1 wall.

Legge’s Honda momentarily lifted off the ground before landing on its wheels. Unfortunately for Wilson, one of the tallest drivers in the field, his Chevrolet hit nose first into the wall.

The impact fractured the 13^th Thoracic vertebra in his back. He was taken straight to IU Health Methodist Hospital for evaluation.

Once the fracture was discovered, the driver from Sheffield, England was out of the race. He remains in Methodist Hospital where, according to team co-owner Don Cusick, doctors are waiting for the swelling to subside before they determine if the discs should be fused together.

With the No. 24 Chevrolet already qualified for the 33-car starting lineup, Cusick Motorsports and Dreyer & Reinbold needed to find a driver that could compete in the Indy 500 on Sunday.

The answer was just across the aisle from the team’s garage in Row C in Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That’s where Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s garages are located.

The obvious choice was Rahal, who 24 hours earlier was crying his eyes out on Pit Lane comforted by his wife, Courtney, and his two young daughters.

Team owner Dennis Reinbold said on Tuesday that Rahal was his first choice. But there was a major business issue that had to be addressed.

Rahal is a longtime Honda driver who races for a high-profile Honda team. Cusick Motorsports and Dreyer & Reinbold are a Chevrolet team.

“Well, Dennis will tell you, too, when he called, I had said to him, ‘I don’t really want to waste your time; it’s probably best that you just speak to Dad,’” Rahal said. “Because again, while I was very appreciative, I knew the hurdles were going to be massive. This wasn’t just as easy as saying yes.”

This is where two car dealers were able to get together and sort it out.

Reinbold is Indiana’s largest Infiniti dealer with a dealership located in the wealthy Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, Indiana. He also is a premier brands BMW as well as MINI, Subaru and Volkswagen.

Dreyer & Reinbold also owns a dealership south of Indianapolis in Greenwood, Indiana.

Graham Rahal is the owner of Graham Rahal Performance in Brownsburg, Indiana. He specializes in very high-end performance sports cars.

One of the cars listed on Graham Rahal Performance’s website is a 2015 McLaren P1 that can be your’s, out the door for the low, low price of $1,899,995.

Bobby Rahal is also the owner of a large group of automotive dealerships in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Collectively, Reinbold and Rahal were able to work with Chevrolet and Honda respectively until they came up with an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“Last night we were sitting there at about 10:30 and going, ‘I can’t believe this actually happened, that both Honda and Chevy allowed this to happen,’” Rahal said. “So, we’re very, very appreciative of that.

“Frankly, that would be a better question for Dennis and Dad to answer than me because I knew that the challenges were far greater than me, and I needed to step aside because contractually I don’t know what all is said between RLL and Honda, RLL and our partners. But I know that this guy here to my right is a high-class individual, and I know he and dad spoke and worked things out right away.

“I’m surprised, but it was certainly exciting for me to hear late last night that we were going to be able to make this happen.”

The No. 24 Chevrolet entered in this year’s Indianapolis 500 is a collective effort between team owners Don Cusick and Reinbold. Cusick is the man that has brought Stefan Wilson back to the Indy 500 the last two years.

Wilson is the younger brother of the late Justin Wilson, a former Formula One, Champ Car Series and IndyCar driver who was killed when he was struck in the helmet by the nosecone off Sage Karam’s car during a race at Pocono Raceway in August 2015.

Ironically, Rahal was Justin Wilson’s teammate at Newman Haas Lanigan Racing in 2007.

“It probably started with Don Cusick and I discussing it, and then we brought Bobby Rahal into the circle, and I had discussions with the Chevy guys to get their feel for it, and Bobby took over the Honda discussions, as well,” Reinbold said. “We just kind of went off on our separate paths with this goal in mind to explore and to see if it was possible.

“They came back, and a couple hurdles later that we crossed, it started looking good. We kept crossing off things on our checklist that had to happen for this to be a possibility.

“There were a lot of things involved, and we spent a lot of time yesterday and into the night last night going through those things. I don’t know if that answers that, but it was a bit of a whirlwind, so I can’t keep it all straight in my head at this point.”

There have been numerous times in Indianapolis 500 history where a driver that got bumped out of the race was able to get back into the race.

In 2011 when the Indianapolis 500 was celebrating its 100^thAnniversary, Bruno Junqueira had qualified the No. 41 entry for AJ Foyt Racing safely in the field. Hunter-Reay failed to qualify the No. 28 Andretti Autosport entry into the field.

It was the first year that Andretti Autosport had brought DHL into the paddock as a sponsor and team owner Michael Andretti, fearing that not having the DHL car in the Indy 500 would cost him a big sponsor, was able to buy out the ride from Foyt.

Junqueira was given the news that even though he had qualified and did his job, he was out, and Hunter-Reay was in.

Hunter-Reay competed in the race, DHL was happy and have been with Andretti Autosport on the No. 28 car ever since. Romain Grosjean of France has driven the No. 28 for Andretti Autosport since 2022.

Ironically, Hunter-Reay is driving the No. 23 Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and is Wilson’s teammate for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

There is also a major difference between what happened in 2011 and the latest deal involving Rahal in 2023. In 2011, Honda was the sole engine supplier in IndyCar. Beginning in 2012, it has been a battle between Chevrolet and Honda in the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series.

“Dennis mentioned Chevy, and equally so Honda, for allowing me to do this,” Graham Rahal said. “I think I told Dennis when he called me, I said, ‘I’m not really sure I want to waste your time. I’ve spent my entire career in a Honda. I’ve never driven anything other than that. I’m not really sure that we’ll be able to get the releases in place to be able to make this happen.’

“They really came together, two manufacturers, to allow this to take place, to allow us to go race on Sunday, and hopefully get this car moving towards the front and have a really, really strong run.”

There is more to this relationship, however, than the engine manufacturer.

“It’s also kind of special for me in a way to come back. I drove for Dennis 13 years ago at Iowa,” Rahal recalled. “We had a really strong run there. Always admired what he’s been able to do with his team, and Chase Selman (IndyCar team manager), I think the entire organization does a great job, as proven this month.

“They came out with Ryan Hunter-Reay — I texted Ryan last Wednesday night, and I was like, ‘Damn, dude, you’re going to win this thing. It was the best car I thought I saw all day.’

“Trust me, I’m excited at the opportunities ahead, as well. Make no mistake, I’ve made it clear, this is certainly Stef’s ride, and I’m fortunate to be able to be in the position to be able to help and fill in, and like I said, hopefully we can have a really, really great Sunday.

“Again, it’s kind of a weird thing, as well. Care Keepers, which is the primary, Gary, and Dina Tennyson, who own Care Keepers, have been very, very close friends of ours and supporters of our foundation for six, seven, eight years. Again, how this world works sometimes, it doesn’t make sense at the time, but I remember when Gary called me about seven, eight months ago saying he was going to do this, I was thrilled for him.

“This is kind of a lifelong dream for him to work with Don, to get the opportunity to have his logo on a car here at Indy and look where we are today. Who would have known.”

Numerous questions ran through Graham’s head as he contemplated the deal that would allow him to make a triumphant return to the Indianapolis 500 starting lineup.

“Sometimes weird things happen in this world, and as I said, you don’t have the answers for them up front, but we’re fortunate to be here,” the driver said. “Trust me, for me it was a little bit of a bittersweet moment.

“Do I, do it? Do I not? Is it appropriate? Is it not?

“But in this circumstance with Dennis, with Don, with Gary, with Stef, it just felt right.

“As I said, I can’t thank Honda and Chevy and all the sponsors. It’s been a tough week for our sponsors, as well, and for everybody who’s been able to make this possible to release me to come over here. I’m super grateful.”

In a sense, this deal has resurrected Graham Rahal’s career, just 24 hours or so after he experienced the greatest disappointment of his life by getting bumped out of the Indianapolis 500 by his teammate.

“This is a weird situation for me,” Rahal said. “I mean, it just is. My wife was just asking me, and I told her, I’m very excited at the opportunity, but I feel terribly for Stef, too. It’s a very unique situation to be in, but ultimately, as I said inside, it was exciting, and it was an honor for me to get the call.

“I know the list of guys isn’t super long of drivers that could jump in and do it, but I also know some of the other names that are probably on that list are guys that are very, very, very qualified to go out there, who have a lot of experience and can do a great job.

“So, for me to get the call, to get the opportunity, yes, it’s very exciting.”