Bobby Rahal, 1993 Lola T93/00 Indycar

In the “who’s who” of IndyCar royalty it’d be impossible not to mention Bobby Rahal. The Ohio native is synonymous with IndyCar from the early 80’s up through the mid 90’s. This week I want to focus on the 1993 CART season. It was the year of Nigel Mansell and the last year Mario Andretti won a race. The real focus is going to be on the Lola T93/00 that Rahal switched to after Milwaukee. The Miller Genuine Draft car he drove is one that Rahal and his team struggled to get a hold on much of the season. He was able to secure 7 top 5’s and 3 podiums, but was never able to get to the top step. Although Rahal did take two poles that year. The most disappointing part of the 1993 campaign came at the hallowed grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rahal failed to qualify and missed out on another chance to kiss the bricks. The next round following the 500, Bobby went on to finish 4th. That’s when they made the chassis switch to the Lola. The highest finishing position after Milwaukee was Vancouver in P2 where he led the most laps.

Despite an under performing car, Bobby Rahal’s Miller Genuine Draft car is a classic from 90’s. The simple all black livery with golden lettering is iconic. Watching the CART cars of the decade was truly something to behold. No paddle shifts, and little top-side aero, the cars were monsters to drive. Rahal, like today, had a Honda powered car and was featured in several TV ads at the time. Below is a short clip of Bobby taming the beast at the opening round in Australia.

This is just the beginning of some driver and cars we’ll look back on. Nothing says America in the 90’s like low-slung IndyCars and MGD commercials.