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Prophet in his own country

13. Nov 2023 
by Pierre Van Vliet
4566 views

In 1979, Bobby Rahal returned to the USA after having tried his luck in Europe in F3 at the wheel of the first Dallara entered by Walter Wolf, then in F2 in the less than competitive Chevron B48 and even in F1 at Watkins Glen (retired) and in Montréal (twelfth), at the wheel of a second Wolf in 1978.

Disgusted by his poor Formula 2 campaign, he succeeded to convince his sponsor Ampex to follow him in Can-Am, participate in the two last races of the season, and return to  victory lane again, with a win at Laguna Seca in a Prophet-Chevy (picture above).

Bobby continued the following year in Can-Am, before being recruited by the Newman/Freeman Racing and drive a Budweiser-livered March 817 in 1981, but it was his friend Jim Trueman, met during his spell in Can-Am, who was really going to open the doors for him in IndyCar, through his team TrueSports.

Rahal will quickly become its leading driver, and triumph in the Indy 500 in 1986 and take the championship in 1987, wearing his famous and particular Bell helmet (picture below). Nowadays the RLL team (Rahal, Letterman, Lanigan) still shines in IndyCar and in IMSA with BMW North America.

Source: Terry Capps

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