Graham Rahal to Ganassi?

In what has been an non-interesting off-season for the IZOD IndyCar Series, Curt Cavin’s pit-pass in the Indianapolis Star on Friday might have dropped a big bombshell to spice things up. Graham Rahal, a rising young star in the IZOD IndyCar Series, doesn’t have sponsorship lined up for 2010 ride at the present moment. The problem is that McDonald’s hasn’t came through with the money for N/H/L. Hideki Mutoh and Alex Lloyd are expected to be the other two drivers for N/H/L, but they essentially brought their own sponsorships in the form of Formula Dream and HER. N/H/L still possibly could field a three car lineup in 2010.

Rahal is the young American driver that series is hooking their future on. Rahal is talented, is name worthy (Bobby won the 1986 Indy 500 and owns Rahal-Letterman Racing), and is media savvy beyond his years. Rahal not being in the 2010 line would be a death blow to the IRL. Rahal has already been featured in new IZOD commercials for the 2010 season and those commercials have been featured in Times Square, NYC.

This is were it all gets interesting, Cavin mentioned that Chip Ganassi would be interested in hiring Rahal if funding for a third car can be found. Imagine this shocker that the Chipster pulls, Signs Rahal in mid-February, and has him in a car for the Barber test. Rahal is now driving for one of the power teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series and has chances of winning EVERY RACE!. Imagine this for marketing:

Graham Rahal sits on the pole for the 2010 Indy 500.

Graham Rahal second youngest Indy 500 winner ever

Graham Rahal wins his __ race of the season and continues to lead the point’s championship.

The list goes on and on from there. This is a slippery slope for the IRL, have your young star in a ride for 2010 or have him fall out like Ryan-Hunter Reay did last year. I know where I stand on this issue, and I would bet it’s easy for other fans as well. We’ve got about a month till the Barber test……. I hope it works out for Graham.