Budweiser Back at Indy With Target Chip Ganassi Racing

Graham Rahal So Happy About Sponsorship He Tweeted It A Week Before The Official Announcement

Back in 1986, Bobby Rahal won the Indianapolis 500 in a Budweiser-sponsored car.

In 2012 his son hopes to do the same.

The King of Beers is back at the King of American races, as Budweiser will place the King Of Beers logo on Graham Rahal’s No.38 Service Central Honda for the Indy 500, being run on Sunday, May 27, at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The car is part of the powerful Target Chip Ganassi team, which has won Indy four times (1989, 2000, 2008 and 2010).

Budweiser will have billboards throughout the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area to highlight its partnership, as well as point of sale and personal appearances by Rahal over the course of the month. Those appearances are sure to include Budweiser girls, race fans (Graham Rahal is single but has a girlfriend, by the way. She’s a very friendly gal; I met her at the Long Beach Grand Prix).

 

This is Budweiser’s first appearance at Indy since it was on Juan Pablo Montoya’s car in 2000. That was also with Ganassi and Montoya dominated the day to win.

The elder Rahal won an emotional race in 1986, passing Kevin Cogan with two laps remaining and beating him to the finish line by just 1.4 seconds, with Rick Mears in close pursuit. It remains one of the closest finishes in Indy 500 history and is regarded as one of event’s most dramatic races of all time.

Graham Rahal was so excited about the sponsorship that he tweeted it a full week before it was officially announced. Graham is the youngest race winner in IZOD IndyCar Series history.  In last year’s Indy 500, he started 29th and gained 26 positions to finish third, marking the greatest position advancement of any driver in the famous race.

If he wins Indy, not long after grabbing the milk in Victory Circle, he’s sure to grab some Buds.