Youngest Ever to Drive at Indy

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Rahal, Sutherland sons are youngest ever to drive at Indy

By STEVE HERMAN
.c The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Bobby Rahal won the Indianapolis 500 as a driver and an owner. Rick Sutherland won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This week, they're a pair of nervous dads watching their sons compete on auto racing's biggest stage.

Not only are Graham Rahal and Tom Sutherland rookies in the new Formula BMW series, but at age 15, they're also the youngest ever to drive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

``It's every young race driver's dream,'' the younger Rahal said Friday after his first laps of practice for the two BMW support races at the U.S. Grand Prix. ``The track's awesome. It's just a great experience.''

His father won the Indy 500 in 1986 as a driver and three weeks ago as co-owner of Rahal Letterman Racing, with Buddy Rice behind the wheel. Rick Sutherland has been racing sports cars for 25 years and last week teamed with fellow Americans Clint Field and William Binnie to win the LMP2 class at Le Mans.

Both of them are confident their sons can handle the BMW cars, which are much smaller than Indy cars and powered by 140-horsepower engines capable of producing speeds up to 225 kph (140 mph).

``I took a pretty hard look at this formula, and I'm really impressed with BMW and their commitment to safety, how the car is built,'' the elder Sutherland said of the developmental program for young drivers.

``It's not that you can't get hurt, but with everything that's in place with this series and these cars, it's a pretty safe place to race. You know, you can get run over by a milk truck any day of the week. We just don't look at it that way. We go out and race cars because that's what we love to do.''

Other drivers in the series include Federico Montoya of Colombia, the 18-year-old brother of Formula One driver and former Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya; Andreas Wirth, a 19-year-old German who leads the BMW points after four of the season's 14 races; and 21-year-old Alexis Fenton of New York, the third woman to drive at Indianapolis in a race other than the 500.

Friday's practice was the first for all of them on the 4.18-kilometer (2.6-mile), 13-turn road course at Indy.

``We had some trouble getting some traction, but it's by far the smoothest track I've ever been on,'' said the younger Sutherland, a high school sophomore from Campbell, California. ``It's very beautiful. I didn't get that many laps, but what I saw, it's really fun.''

Sutherland, born April 3, 1989, is three months younger than Graham Rahal and the youngest driver ever to race at Indianapolis.

``It's such a tradition to come here. It really makes you feel special,'' Sutherland said. ``It's like a once-in-a-lifetime deal to come here at this age. It's awesome.''

The younger Rahal, a high school sophomore from New Albany, Ohio, began racing go-karts at age 6, then gave it up until about four years ago. When he decided he was serious about racing, his dad got behind the effort.

``Frankly, he's safer in these than he is in the go-karts,'' Bobby Rahal said. ``For a young man, he's doing a great job and gaining experience. ... So this is the next step. We're in a steep learning curve.''

Graham Rahal said he wasn't nervous about driving at Indianapolis, where his father has had so much success.

``It's one of those things you have to put behind you. If you let it get to you, you start to mess up, and you can't let that happen,'' he said. ``I know it's the speedway, but still, you've got to treat it like it's just another race track, just another race weekend.''

The BMW races will be Saturday, after the Formula One qualifying, and Sunday, after the Formula One race. Two other support races in the Porsche Michelin Supercup series also will be run Saturday and Sunday.