Graham Rahal doesn’t much care for these recent outbursts in IndyCar. Fisticuffs and other such hullabaloo may fly in NASCAR, but that is because they are uneducated & slovenly. No, such tomfoolery reflects poorly on the gentlemanly ways of our sport, as we are “expected to act more professional, more buttoned up and more educated to appeal to a much higher demographic.” (He then tossed a shiny gold bullion coin at a peasant boy and ordered him to “FETCH ME THE GRANDEST GOOSE IN ALL OF CAMBRIDGE!!”)
It’s “good for making headlines,” he writes. But “it doesn’t have a place in IndyCar.”
INDUBITABLY!! Well said, Graham. We’re IndyCar, damn it … not homeless mouth-breathers. Our palates are refined & dignified, and our races have no use for “headlines.” (That bothersome tripe is for poor people & dullards!!) Rather, we prefer the highfalutin hills of Mid-Ohio, “where you stare at the clock waiting for it to be over,” as Graham so correctly describes it. Hear hear.
By Geno, August 16, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Well, if Master Rahal had been fortunate to assemble a full ride for this season maybe he would have enough skin in the game, by being in the championship hunt, to rise up and show some emotion when some B.S. misapplication of a rule f@#$%ed him out of a win. He may even have the chance to see this treatment this season since he will be with us for most of the remainder of it. Maybe his musings are an attempt to garner favor with Mr. Barnfart in the event he is in the position to get a win with one of these rulings. Note to the rest of the drivers, nevermind these nice politically correct words from Graham and keep driving like you really care and want to win one. Most of us will forgive you an outburst or two for just acting human. C’mon, you have to admit that it was really funny watching Helio act like he was gonna kick someones ass.
By pressdog, August 16, 2010 @ 1:59 pm
This isn’t miniature golf … nor is it lawn tennis or croquet. Graham may keep his pinky up — right to the point where some (seriously bad word)-head brake checks his front wing off. THEN there will be unpleasantries, and ungentlemanly language will ensue. Having said that, I can agree that silly outbursts like Helio’s — which most closely resembled a 6th grader who felt ill-used in kick ball — while amusing and red meat for SportCenter, leave me oddly disconcerted and almost entirely unmoved. Now join me, won’t you, for cocktails, discussion of things currently before parliament and some rousing fox hunting.
By Roy Hobbson, August 16, 2010 @ 2:22 pm
Come now, Bill. Unlike 98.74% of this country, you already watch the races. Off-putting or not, we should turn our collective noses up at “headlines” like a starving nomad turns his nose up at an Arby’s Big Montana. (Is it the BEST food around? No. But it’s better than eating jugs of stolen Weed-B-Gone. Or nothing at all.)
By redd, August 16, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Twitter-fighting is so much more sophisticated.
(I don’t mind the occasional dust-up, as long as it’s not manufactured for television or youtube. then it becomes professional wrestling.)
By BP, August 16, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
My faith is shaken. I had so much hope that Graham would rise up and feel the power, hatred and anger of the Dark Side. After Long Beach and Toronto, it seemed a given.
He was a mustache away (and one misogynistic statement) from it, and now he retreats like a 12-year old being sent to their room.
By Oilpressure, August 16, 2010 @ 2:55 pm
Somewhere in the distant future, I see a very portly, reformed and refined Roy Hobbson cloaked in all black, doing his best Orson Welles imitation saying something about wine before it’s time.
Having Hobbson wax on about behavior smacks of Lindsey Lohan talking about accountability and living responsibly.
By Tom G., August 16, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
“What I mean by that is we’ve been expected to act more professional, more buttoned up and more educated to appeal to a much higher demographic.”
I doubt that Master Rahal had the Pagoda in mind when he penned that sentence. Or perhaps it would have read:
“Aside from the paint huffing, speedball popping, Droogs at the Silent Pagoda, we appeal to a much higher demographic”
While I can’t speak for the buttoned up, educated types in Mid-Ohio, here in the Pagoda it’s Ultraviolence that Hobbson, Alex, and Dim likeys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-zRtT5jPLA
By pressdog, August 16, 2010 @ 4:41 pm
Nay, Master Hobbson. I don’t begrudge the headline — nor turn my nose up at same — merely assert that I personally found Helio’s tirade somewhat clownish and entirely ill-advised. One can only speak for oneself in such matters. If Helio chooses to comport himself thusly, let us at least be consoled by several minutes of SportsCenter contemplation. Now I must go. Young Master Rahal says the partridge hunting is especially keen in the current hour.
By H.B Donnelly, August 16, 2010 @ 7:59 pm
What this series needs is some Joey Logano, dont’cha know. Some punk kid who bathes in clearasil and thinks a razor is one of those little scooters that had in-line skate wheels (and was SO FRICKIN COOL!) and has the bollocks to question the masculinity of five-o-clock-shadow-wearing Kevin Harvick and have a shouting match with Ryan Newman, whose team owner fancies himself a sort of second coming or lost son of AJ Foyt…after HE got loose and spun Newman! Marco Andretti had such potential, but he had to go and uphold the honor of his family name instead of changing his name to Marco Ochocinco and wearing samurai war paint during races or something. Graham needs to know that, sometimes, it’s okay to have a couple of people who go around inordinately shouting at others like they’re going cold turkey from crystal meth and laundry detergent.
By TMc, August 16, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
Graham’s condo smells of rich mahogony and is filled with many leather bound books. Tony Stewart’s condo smells like cat piss and bounced checks. His word trumps all.
By Gephard Hillman, August 16, 2010 @ 9:34 pm
Indeed, my fellow inebriates. I have a great deal of fear in me. But whither my fear? Fear for callow Rahal who may be met with the bare-armed fury of a vengeful, scorned Texan team owner (we may not utter His name here, lest we hasten His wrath upon prissy haughtiness and thusly endangering burgeoning Rahal further). Or should I have greater fear for the higher demographic, the educated masses, who might wander under the turn 3 bleachers in search of respite, or worse, wander into the mulleted masses on Carb Day, thinking that it is some sort of inpromptu fancy-dress party? Indeed, the hordes of troglodytes might not take kindly to the oblivious newcomers and attack that which is unfamiliar and hygienic with great fury.
By Jason McVeigh, August 16, 2010 @ 9:36 pm
My 2 favourite people in racing are Paul Tracy and Roy Hobbson so I think you know how I feel about dullards. on a kind of related topic, how come there aren’t more beards in Indycar? All drivers should have one. Rahal, you get a handlebar mustache.
By SP, August 17, 2010 @ 8:08 am
Ok, so you can’t fight, but you can criticize your fellow drivers in public and trash the OTHER series. I see… Look, Mr. Rahal, the only difference is that at IndyCar, some of us still have teeth. And dress better. And are more educated. BUT they still have the better ratings.
Seriously, I know where he is coming from. It is nice to have some polite people among us.
By DZ, August 17, 2010 @ 9:29 am
Graham, you are the pleasant, tanned leather couch to N-SC-R’s aluminum and webbing lawn chair – Bless you son.
By DZ, August 17, 2010 @ 9:30 am
But on an even more-seriouslyer note Graham,
Grow.
The.
Stache.
By Riss, August 17, 2010 @ 9:42 am
If Mr Rahal chooses to be above the fray and such, I guess we will have to handle things his way.
Removes glove, slaps young Graham across the face…
“You have offended me, sir. I challenge you to a duel”
Hey, it worked for Alexander Hamilton, right?
By DZ, August 17, 2010 @ 9:54 am
Riss, let us not parry with fists, but drinks!
By Carrie, August 17, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
Graham reminds me of those pro wrestlers that have matches made up entirely of rest-holds, a short beatdown and then the hero moment. Minus the hero moment but with helluva lot more chants of “boooooring”.
By Hamilton Fish, August 17, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
I’m reticent to verbally assault messr Rahal, but the young lad continues to come across as that utilitarian ottoman you’ve owned for years.
Sure its functional and serves its purpose, but you kinda wish there was more to it. More personality, more dimensions etc… Alas, it is what it has always been something that serves its function. Nothing more, nothing less.
By Tom G., August 17, 2010 @ 2:32 pm
Sneak peak of Master Rahal’s livery for Sonoma. (A perfect complement for Wine and Cheese.)
[img src="http://20prospect.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=2873"]
By Tom G., August 17, 2010 @ 4:47 pm
Oh the heck with it. I can never get that posting a picture to the comment box trick to work. Here’s a link to my lame attempt at graphic humor…
http://20prospect.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=2873
By Catie, August 17, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
Perhaps when young Rahal isn’t fighting to secure a ride, he may have a different opinion.
By Mark, August 17, 2010 @ 11:00 pm
Son of Stache (shoutout to My Name is IRL) and Mr. Hobbson have touched on something here I’ve been thinking about lately. IndyCar, in the CART days, was promoted as being the fastest, most technically advanced, diverse, sophisticated American racing series, where the cars look closer to F-14′s than what you drive to the track. The Penskes, Newmans, Rahals, Mears, Andrettis and so on just added to this aura of intellectually superior high class racing. This is the environment Graham grew up in.
Then on the other hand you have A.J. (largely irrelevant by the early 90′s), turkey legs, and the legend of the Snake Pit. Nobody I sat near at Mid Ohio last week were sipping Merlots and eating soft cheeses, these were good solid middle class Midwestern race fans you’d find at the dirt track or drag strip Saturday night.
It’s an interesting conflict, much like how do you sell a series now with its roots in karting to a fan base that’s grown up with sprint cars and midgets?
I’d expect to see a thoughtfully worded and reasoned dissertation on this subject over at Oilpressure, if I wasn’t too lazy to go look through his archives…
By Catie, August 18, 2010 @ 10:28 am
After coming back again, I’d like to mention that the portrait of Beethoven caught my interest. If I continue to discuss why this is interesting, I may, however, be banished from the pagoda for sounding pretentious. I’m done.
By Earnastine, August 18, 2010 @ 11:01 am
Kim Kardashian and her sisters are motivation enough for Izod-Indycar series.
The new, crisp Izod look sits well on Graham Rahal, but he is a loner, unfortunately. Some of the last year, girls-next-door confuse the brand.