"I have to keep reminding myself that Graham has only just turned 18," Lisles said, "When we first tested him we had to be very careful in our assessment because, not only was he very young, but his experience was also pretty small. We're used to testing new drivers who typically come from F3000 or GP2 and usually have raced for two or three years at that level and are very accomplished with that kind of performance level. Many of them have been
Formula One test drivers as well, so they have a lot of experience.
"Graham had none of that behind him and it's a big jump from an Atlantic car to a Champ car, so we had to make accommodation for that. For Graham, it's a huge opportunity because he's able to compare himself to somebody who is as good as it gets within the series and that has certainly accelerated his learning process. But he has responded very well. Everything we've asked him to do, he's responded and done it for us.
"It will be very interesting when we actually go racing to see how he handles it. We're very, very pleased with him, and he's a very nice young man. He's a credit to his mother and father."
In many ways, as one of only two Americans in this year's field, young Rahal is Champ Car's great white hope. Let's hope Lisles is wrong in many of his more pessimistic assessments so that Champ Car's teams can get down to racing and the world can begin to find out how good drivers like Rahal, Jani, Power and Pagenaud really are. But, either way, Champ Car faces a steep, uphill battle.
"There's a lot of junk out there today. If you want it straight, read Kirby" - Paul Newman
