SECOND DAY OF QUALIFYING
93rd Indianapolis 500
NOTES - Sunday, May 10, 2009

McDONALD’S DRIVER RAHAL UTILIZES MASTERFUL DRIVING AND LUCK TO AVOID CRASHED CAR IN PRACTICE FOR THE INDY 500

Graham Rahal 47 laps BEST LAP: 221.311 mph

Graham Rahal, No 02 McDonald’s Dallara Honda/Firestone: “We were just hoping for a smooth day of practice for the McDonald’s team and it was going good but with John’s incident there at the end we decided to call it a day. I just had to react as quickly as I could. When I was told the yellow came out I was going to go high then I saw the debris. Stuff was flying everywhere, the car basically exploded when he hit. So I tried to go to the high side and right when I went to the high side, he started to roll backwards into my path and I was going to t-bone him basically so I turned hard left and hit the brakes as hard as I could and it locked up the rears as I did and that’s why I spun. More than anything I was just lucky that I could keep it off both the inside and outside walls. Keeping it off the inside wall was just luck because I took my hands off the wheel. I got out of the throttle coming out of Turn 1 but of course you can’t hit the brakes too hard so I lifted as much as I could and tried to look ahead and see how to react. When he hit, debris was flying everywhere. There were wings flying and all sorts of things and I think I was hit by one of the tire ramps. I decided to go high and that’s where he went too unfortunately and I was just lucky that I could move to the inside enough to where I didn’t collect him. I haven’t seen a reply but to be honest, I was really lucky. We both were. It was only a half of a second after it happened before I got to the scene and we’re just lucky it wasn’t uglier than it is. The car is okay. I think I hit one of his tire ramps hit my left front suspension and bent it but we saved all the big stuff. The only reason we couldn’t drive it back is because the right side tires are flat but I’ll happily take that. It’s better than putting the McDonald’s car in the wall.”

FAST FACTS: When his father, Bobby, won in 1986 he also started from fourth place…Will be his second race here. In 2008, he was the highest Indy 500 starter of the Champ Car transitioning teams with his 13th place start but made contact on L36 after driving high to avoid the slower car of Lloyd. Retired in 33rd place…Earned two of the three poles so far this season, the first of which earned him the distinction of being the youngest pole sitter in series history after winning pole in St. Pete on 4-4-09 at 20 years, 90 days old…Is ranked eighth in series points with 72.

1 POLE (1987) & TWO SECONDS AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (IMS) FOR NHR/NHLR: The 2009 entry will mark the 17th year for NHR/NHLR in the event and the fourth since 1995. Prior to 2009, the team prepared a total of 25 entries for drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais, Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal. Rahal and Robert Doornbos compete for the team in 2009 and will bring the total to 27. NHR’s highest finish in the Indy 500 is second place with Mario Andretti in 1985 and Michael Andretti in 1991 although team drivers have led many laps here. Mario Andretti also brought the team its highest start in the event when he won the pole position in 1987. NHR’s 2004 entry of Junqueira marked the first time for the team to compete here since 1995 and they returned in 2005 with Junqueira and IMS rookie Bourdais. In 2008 they ran Wilson and Rahal here during a transition season in the series but both made contact and retired in 27th and 33rd respectively. They have earned Rookie of the Year once, with Mansell in 1993 when he finished third.