Graham Rahal compared to NHRA legend father-in-law John Force after unexpected IndyCar overtake at Thermal Club

The 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix is in full swing at the moment. The action in the 65-lap race has been non-stop, and in line with this, Graham Rahal has pulled off a sensational overtake that has got the commentators comparing him to his father-in-law and NHRA legend, John Force.

The 75-year-old is a 16-time world champion in the National Hot Rod Association. In the ongoing Thermal race, Rahal came out of the pits on lap 14 and immediately, got the better of Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin (overtake).

Following his daring move, the commentators just weren't able to stop themselves from comparing him to Force. They added:

"Graham Rahal firing like he is his father-in-law, John Force, on the drag strip," one of the commentators said.

Graham Rahal has been associated with the Force family since November 2015. During that month, Rahal married John Force's daughter Courtney Force. Since then, all of them have been spotted together on a few occasions during race weekends.

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Graham Rahal shed light on his RLL teammates ahead of Thermal race

While Graham Rahal has received applause for his sensational lap 14 move on Scott McLaughlin at the ongoing Thermal race, ahead of the event, he recently appeared on the well-known Doug and Drivers podcast.

Moreover, via the same, he took the time to shed light on the exploits of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates, Devlin DeFrancesco, and the 2024 Indy NXT champion, Louis Foster.

"I've known Dev for a long time. He's such a great kid, I think often misunderstood too, you know, people have this perception of Devlin that's actually quite wrong, who he is and things. I'm excited to help him take the next level in his career," Rahal said while sharing thoughts on DeFrancesco. (2:36 - 2:49)

When it came to Foster, the 36-year-old added:

"Now Louie, you know, Louie obviously come out of Indy Lights, you win the championship, you dominate that category. Louie hasn't asked much, hasn't said much yet, I'm sure he will with time." Rahal further added. (3:08 - 3;20).

Graham Rahal has been competing in the highest class of open-wheel racing in America since 2008. He has so far managed to amass 278 race starts and has put on board six wins, 29 podiums, and five pole positions.

Devlin DeFrancesco and Lous Foster are relatively less experienced in comparison to Rahal, and considering this, the 36-year-old has quite a few responsibilities on his shoulders.

On one hand, he has to look after his on-track antics, whereas, on the other, he has to help his teammates as well, especially Foster, get up to speed with the demands of IndyCar.