Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

The story of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing begins in December 1991, when former Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, together with business partner Carl Hogan, took over the financially and legally troubled team of U.E. “Pat” Patrick. This takeover initially gave rise to Rahal-Hogan Racing. Already in its first year together, 1992, the newly formed team won the CART Indy Car championship, an early statement for the young organization. In 1996, Hogan left the team to start his own racing outfit, after which Rahal-Hogan Racing simply became Team Rahal. That same year, television host David Letterman came aboard as a minority shareholder, eventually giving the team the double name it is still known by today.

A special chapter in the team’s history is its close and remarkably long-lived partnership with Honda. Since renewing the contract in 2003, Rahal Letterman Lanigan has continuously run Honda engines, while numerous other IndyCar teams switched engine suppliers during that time. That makes RLL today Honda’s longest uninterrupted partner in the IndyCar Series, a quiet but telling testament to continuity in a sport otherwise often marked by change. The team’s own structure is also noteworthy: with locations in Zionsville, Indiana, and Hilliard, Ohio, as well as its sports car offshoot BMW Team RLL in the IMSA scene, the organization shows a geographic and brand breadth unusual for American racing teams.

The team’s greatest run of success can clearly be pinned to two milestones. The first was winning the CART Indy Car championship in 1992, right in its founding year. The most iconic success in the team’s history, however, is its Indianapolis 500 win: it first achieved this in 2004 with Buddy Rice, and a second time in 2020 with Takuma Sato, who thereby became one of the most defining driver personalities in the team’s history. In total, Rahal Letterman Lanigan now counts 30 IndyCar wins, 38 pole positions, and 112 podium finishes, a record that underlines the team’s consistency over several decades.

Today the team continues to be carried by its three owners, Bobby Rahal, David Letterman, and Mike Lanigan, with Lanigan, co-owner of Mi-Jack, having been on board as the third partner for years. For the 2026 season, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing enters its 35th year of racing history and fields a remarkably broad driver pairing of Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Mick Schumacher, and Takuma Sato. The signing of Formula 1 veteran Mick Schumacher as a rookie for his second IndyCar season, along with Louis Foster, freshly signed to a multi-year deal, 2025 IndyCar Rookie of the Year and the first pole of his career at Road America, is drawing particular attention to the team. With this mix of established names like Sato and Rahal alongside rising talent, RLL positions itself for 2026 once again as a team that combines its long tradition with fresh momentum.