3 time Indycar Champion Bobby Rahal was briefly an F1 Driver.

[u/Brief-Poetry6434]

[u/JealousArt1118]

I love 70s F1 and USAC cars. It was the fucking wild west out there for design. Front wing looks like it came off my vacuum cleaner.

Special shout-out to the Tyrrell P34, the most ridiculous open wheel car to ever win a race.

[u/dhdndndnndndndjx → u/JealousArt1118]

Yeah it was that sweet spot of we know what works and also we have no idea how this works so u get some wacky bullshit where they just threw whatever the designer thought of on the car to see what happens

[u/toefungi → u/dhdndndnndndndjx]

Really in their pinewood derby car era.

[u/CenturyHelix → u/JealousArt1118]

The thing I miss most from this era is mixed powerplants among the teams. In the season mentioned alone, 1978, you had 3.0L v8’s and flat-12’s and even a 1.5L turbo v6 in there. People want to bring back v10’s or v12’s, I wish we brought back the ability for teams to choose!

[u/Brief-Poetry6434 → u/JealousArt1118]

Yes, absolute beauties!

[u/rbmorse]

Rahal was also team principal for the short-lived Jaguar F1 team.

[u/WembyDog → u/rbmorse]

Was the nose cone diamond his idea?

[u/Brief-Poetry6434 → u/WembyDog]

Rahal was no longer running the Jaguar team by 2004. He was replaced by Niki Lauda in 2002.

[u/WembyDog → u/Brief-Poetry6434]

Thanks for the reply. Wonder what Lauda thought of the diamond. That story has always stuck with me

[u/Brief-Poetry6434 → u/WembyDog]

It was either Tony Purnell or David Pitchforth as they were in charge come 2004.

[u/WembyDog → u/Brief-Poetry6434]

Holy shit the turnover. No wonder that team was trash.

[u/Brief-Poetry6434 → u/WembyDog]

Yes, they pretty much had one Team Principal for every year they competed.

[u/canttakethshyfrom_me → u/Brief-Poetry6434]

How to succeed in F1 according to early '00s Ford execs:

1. Buy successful team (Stewart)

2. Fire everyone involved in making that team successful

3. Hire Ferrari's other driver and make him the highest paid Ford employee.

4. Keep firing people every time you underperform.

5. Sell to that Austrian energy drink guy, watch the team be in the top 3 every fucking year.

[u/GonePostalRoute → u/canttakethshyfrom_me]

Let’s be fair, it did take them 5 seasons to get to that point, and their B-Team got a win before them

[u/Brief-Poetry6434 → u/GonePostalRoute]

10 if you include the Jaguar years

[u/Vitosi4ek → u/canttakethshyfrom_me]

Buy successful team (Stewart)

Stewart was already a de-facto Ford factory team from the very start. You think Sir Jackie had enough money to run it on his own?

[u/Wasdgta3 → u/WembyDog]

The beatings will continue until morale improves!

[u/Hitokiri2 → u/rbmorse]

It was during his time at Jaguar nearly stopped Graham's venture into IndyCar racing. I remember an interview which Graham basically gave up on his IndyCar dreams since his dad told him he couldn't support him through the ranks if he was in Europe all the time. Lucky for Graham (maybe not so lucky for Bobby) Bobby's tenure in as team principal didn't last that long and Graham's dreams open wheel aspirations started again.

It was also Bobby Rahal that nearly gave Dario his shot in F1 but instead others on the team sided with Justin Wilson to be the next Jaguar driver.

I also remember one quote from Bobby that pretty much summed up what he thought about F1 after he was let go by Jaguar. It's not a direct quote but it said that being an American in F1 is like being the only gay guy in a small town. Everyone knows who you are and just stares at you.

[u/lordjohnworfin]

So was Danny Sullivan.

[u/Wide_Rub_662]

car is pretty

[u/DARKCYD]

I was in pits prior to Detroit Grand Prix one year, people everywhere. Tried to take a photo of some hot pit girl models so had to take a few steps back. Noticed a guy stopped walking for me to take photo. After I turn to thank him…. was Mr Rahal.