NOVEMBER 8, 2006

A Sharp-er image for Rahal

Bobby Rahal has signed up veteran Indycar racer Scott Sharp to lead his IRL team in 2007. Sharp moves to Rahal Letterman Racing from Fernandez Racing. Sharp will bring backing from the Las Vegas-based Patron Tequila company, the world's number one ultra premium tequila. The company was previously involved in NASCAR in 2005 with R&J Racing's 2005 entry for Kevin Lepage.

The team will continue to run Jeff Simmons in a second car, funded by the Ethanol industry.

At 38 years of age, Sharp is the last remaining driver to have competed in the Indy Racing League's inaugural season back in 1996 when he shared the title with Buzz Calkins. He is the son of Bob Sharp, a longtime Datsun/Nissan racer, who started competing in the Japanese cars as early as 1966 and went on to win six SCCA titles, and grew up with racing all around him. He started racing Champ Cars in the early 1990s initially with PacWest and the AJ Foyt and moved to IRL with Foyt in 1996. In 1998 he joined the newly formed Kelley Racing and went on to score eighth victories with the team before moving to Fernandez in 2005.