Rahals dig up fond memories of 'larceny' as IndyCar returns to Mid-Ohio

As a young kid, Graham Rahal raised Cain at IndyCar races across the country. 

The son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time CART champion Bobby Rahal, Graham always found a way to get into trouble — like the time an 8-year-old Graham forged a check with his mother's signature in order to buy a a pair of sunglasses from a souvenir stand at Mid-Ohio. 

"I got caught," Graham Rahal said during a media call on Tuesday with his father. "The guy gave me the glasses, but in the end he took them back. He took the check to my mom and asked if it was really her writing."

Twenty-eight years later, Graham has come a long way from — as his father put it — committing larceny at Mid-Ohio. On Sunday, the 36-year-old driver will make his 302nd career IndyCar start at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio — a race made more special by the facts that Ohio is home for the Rahal family and father Bobby will serve as grand marshal. 

While Graham spent much of his childhood surrounded by racing, it took time for his father to come to terms with the fact that his son had the potential to carry on the family legacy in IndyCar. 

"I wasn't really in favor of him driving," Bobby said. "I tried not to think of that potential. But anybody that knew Graham at age five or six would not be surprised at where he is today and where he's been over the last 18 years in IndyCar racing.

"This is where he's wanted to be. I've proud to watch not only what he's done on the track, but his charitable activities, his support of Justin Wilson's family after he perished — that's what I'm most proud of, frankly.

"I wasn't necessarily in favor of it, but you've got to look back and say that it's been a great career and that's he's a great person in and out of the series." 

The connection between father and son in the IndyCar garage isn't just a personal relationship, but a professional one as well. Graham drives for Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing, a team co-owned by his father, Bobby, television personality David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan. 

Graham joined RLL in 2013, and while he won five races from 2015-17, he's in the midst of an eight-year winless drought. 

"I think RLL is unfairly scrutinized," Graham said. "I don't think people like to give recognition for the positives that teams like us have."

As he tries to steer RLL and himself back into victory lane, Graham has something not every driver in the field can boast: a team owner and a father who's reached the mountaintop of Indy racing. In a modern professional sports landscape that's full of negativity, that relationship is invaluable. 

"I'm pretty fortunate to have Dad and his insight," Graham said. "I think the whole team is. It's a different world today than when dad raced. The negativity spread, (the) social media BS that everyone has to deal with today wasn't a thing of the past. You live under a magnifying glass a lot more." 

As a racing driver who's also the son of a racing driver, Graham is right in his assessment that's his actions and performance are magnified. But to his dad, the intensity of professional racing can't take away the memories of the 8-year-old kid who was forging checks and raising Cain at Mid-Ohio all those years ago.