"Big race for my family": Graham Rahal hopes to win 50th Long Beach GP for Southern Californian wife Courtney Force

The IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach will celebrate its golden jubilee this year, which makes the race even special for any driver to win, but Graham Rahal has one additional reason. The 36-year-old's wife and former driver, Courtney Force, is a South Californian-native, giving Rahal another reason to bid for the win.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver made his debut in 2007 and has since risen through the ranks in the IndyCar world. He was, at one point, a contender for the elusive IndyCar championship, but those days are long gone.

However, with the next race being at Long Beach, fond memories of his successful IndyCar career were brought back to light as he once finished as runner-up in the race in 2013. With Rahal never having finished on the podium since he began dating the NHRA driver, the former claimed how the Long Beach Grand Prix will be a special affair for him, as he said (via Pit Pass Indy podcast):

"How cool would it be to win it? Never won it, finished on the podium [once]; should have finished on the podium a couple of times. It will be awesome to win that race. I love Long Beach, I love going there, big race there for my family too. My wife, Southern Californian girl and everything else, so we'll see ahead and good one to get."

Graham Rahal began his second stint at his father's team in 2013 and has emerged as the team leader since then.

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Bobby Rahal asserts his faith in Graham Rahal to lead the RLL outfit

Graham and Bobby Rahal celebrating the P1 award at the NTT INDYCAR Series Gallagher Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Though the Bobby Rahal co-owned team has not witnessed big success like the double-podium at the 2020 Indy 500 again, his son has stood strong as a pillar in the team's workforce. The 36-year-old has been a considerable point scorer for the Ohio-based team lately.

The 72-year-old is aware of Graham Rahal's expertise and sharing his thoughts ahead of the 2025 season, he said (via IndyCar):

“It’s all about improving our oval track performance. And the races were not too bad. We’re continuing to do what we can to improve ourselves. I think Louis (Foster) is part of that, frankly. There’s a lot of experience with Graham, who's got a great feel for setting up cars for the race, in particular."

On the other hand, the tides don't seem to be in favor of the RLL driver. Alex Palou has won the first two races, despite struggles during the start of the race weekends.

So Graham Rahal will probably have to step up his game in Long Beach if he intends to record a podium finish at the fabled track.