Rahal Letterman in Pursuit of Funds

IndyCar fans might not get to see much of Rahal Letterman Racing in 2009, as the team is struggling to find the necessary funding in order to field a full-time car in the upcoming season. The team's co-owner Bobby Rahal admitted the economic downturn has made most of the sponsors look elsewhere and that may lead to his team not making the field this year.

In an interview for the Indianapolis Star, Rahal revealed that his team has the proper funding for the Indianapolis 500 race but, “unless pennies from heaven fall in our lap”, a full-time campaign in 2009 is out of the question. And even if it did, the money would have to be sufficient to prepare a race-winning car, not only to sustain it throughout a full-season.

“Let's face it, the economy is such that people are being awfully careful with their money. The environment is not good and we're being affected by it. To be honest, unless pennies from heaven fall in our lap, I don't see, at this stage, getting the appropriate level of funding to put forth a good, competitive effort for the season. Indy is a whole different animal, but we don't want to just be there. We want to be competitive,” said Rahal, according to the aforementioned source.

Under the circumstances, Hunter-Reay's participation in the IndyCar this year is highly uncertain. The Texan won the Rookie of the Year award in 2007 and ranked an impressive 8th place in the series last year, driving for the same Rahal Letterman Racing. However, with main sponsor Ethanol pulling out of the series at the end of 2008, he is yet to secure sponsorship for the new season.

In the meantime, although hopes of finding financial backing for 2009 are not very high, the team is still trying to secure sponsorship until the season opener, in April. According to a statement release by the RLR earlier yesterday, “as of this time we do not have any sponsorship that will allow us to compete in the IRL in 2009, but by no means does that mean that we are giving up.”