page_title: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
section_title: Full-time (2004–2008)
hierarchical_section_title: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing / IndyCar Series / Full-time (2004–2008)
caption_attribution_description: Ryan Hunter-Reay practicing for the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
context_page_description: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former television talk show host David Letterman, and businessman Mike Lanigan.
  The team was established in 1991 as Rahal/Hogan Racing, became Team Rahal in 1996, and was known as Rahal Letterman Racing from May 2004 until December 2010. Throughout the team's history in IMSA with factory partner BMW, the team has run under the name BMW Team RLL.
context_section_description: The team changed its name again to Rahal Letterman Racing in May 2004. For the 2005 season, RLR's three drivers were Buddy Rice, who won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for the team, Vítor Meira, who finished second in the 2005 & 2008 Indianapolis 500s, and Danica Patrick, who finished fourth in the 2005 Indianapolis 500, and had the highest finish of any female driver (3 previous) in the history of the Indianapolis 500. Also in the 2005 Indianapolis 500, former team member Kenny Bräck, who was replaced by Rice when he suffered a serious injury in 2003, replaced Rice when he was injured in pre-race practice. Rice was able to recover in time to race in the next IndyCar race.
  The Rahal Letterman team had high hopes for 2006. Meira had left the team after the 2005 season to join Panther Racing. He was replaced by Paul Dana who brought an Ethanol sponsorship. The team placed three cars in the top eight for the Toyota Indy 300 during March 25, 2006, qualifying (Patrick third, Rice sixth, Dana ninth), and expected good things to come the next day for the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  During the final practice Sunday morning, Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter crashed in turn two and the car slid down the 20-degree banking. Dana, who seemed to not receive the signal from the spotter, ran into the gearbox section of Carpenter's car, sending Dana's car flying on the backstretch. Dana died in the hospital later that afternoon, and the entire team, including Patrick and Rice, withdrew immediately.
  Patrick and Rice raced together at St. Petersburg with the third car vacant out of respect, but effective the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 at Motegi, Japan, Jeff Simmons was added as the team's third driver. In mid-2006 the team switched from Panoz to Dallara chassis. Rice finished 15th in points, Patrick finished 9th, and Simmons finished 16th.
  Prior to the 2006 Monterey Sports Car Championships, Rahal Letterman Racing announced that the team would be fielding a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR in the American Le Mans Series in 2007.
  For the 2007 IndyCar Series, RLR fielded two cars, one for Simmons and one for IndyCar veteran Scott Sharp. They were unable to find sponsorship to field a third car for 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Rice, who moved to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. However, after 11 races, released Simmons and picked up former Champ Car driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, who earned a 7th-place finish at the Honda 200. Consistent finishes gave Ryan and the team the Rookie of the Year award despite making only six starts.
  In the 2008 IndyCar Series season, RLR fielded just one car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay. The team scored a win at the IndyCar Series event at Watkins Glen International and Hunter-Reay finished 8th in points. However at the end of the season the team's ethanol promotion council sponsorship left and it was unable to find full-time sponsorship for 2009.
caption: The Rahal Letterman car at Indianapolis in 2008
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