APRIL 9, 2001
Rahal signs up Rice
The most interesting thing about the signing is that Rahal makes no secret of the fact that he wants to find an American to race in Formula 1 in the future. Rice was planning to move to Europe this year to try his hand in Formula 3000 but the deal fell through. Rahal may be planning to run Rice in CART for a year or two and then if he proves to be good enough to switch him across to F1.
At the same time Rahal is planning to test a couple of Americans in the Jaguar Formula 3 team later this year. Rahal says he wants to run Danika Patrick and Inside F1 Young Driver of the Year Patrick Long when the team has some testing time available.