The headquarters of Rahal Letterman Racing is one of the finest race shop facilities of its type in the world of motorsports. Encompassing nearly over 60,000 square feet of space in suburban Columbus, Ohio, it houses, in two adjacent buildings, all of the personnel and equipment necessary to develop, field and maintain Rahal Letterman’s IRL IndyCar Series program and in the past has housed the team’s Champ Car, Atlantic, Indy Lights and Formula BMW programs.
The building provides space for 65 race team members and associates attending to Rahal's non-racing-related business enterprises. Each building features a lobby, which houses a retired car from the team’s livery and many of the trophies and images commemorating past triumphs. Individual areas of the shop are specialized for the preparation and maintenance of open-wheel race cars: the main race shop, located in the new building, is where mechanical work on the IndyCar program is done; the composites area, where body panels are molded and created; the machine shop, where tools and parts are made; the fabrication area, where sheet metal parts are formed; the shock room, where suspension testing and production are completed; and a paint booth, where the cars are finished and decaled.
Though purpose-built to house a state-of-the-art race shop, the original building was not always home to Rahal Letterman Racing. Built in 1984, the facility originally was designed for the Hilliard, Ohio-based Truesports Racing team whose driver, ironically, was an Indy Car youngster by the name of Bobby Rahal.
When the Truesports team disbanded in 1992, a then-new team owner/driver Rahal coincidentally was looking for a permanent home for his new racing operation he had inherited from the purchase of Indianapolis-based Patrick Racing. He leased the building and promptly moved his fledgling team there in November of that year.
Rahal Letterman Racing broke ground in 2001 on a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art 22,000-square-foot race shop adjacent to the original location. The new race shop is the first phase of a planned 50,000-square-foot expansion that will comprise the team’s headquarters for years to come.
It is from this campus that Rahal Letterman Racing has carved a niche as one of the premier teams in North American open-wheel racing.
To see more photos of our headquarters, visit our Gallery page, or click here.
