"Your world changes": David Letterman recalls his IndyCar team's dreamy Indy 500 wins

David Letterman has been the proud co-owner of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team since 1996. The outfit has also amassed a few Indy 500 victories in the past, and in line with this, the American TV host, comedian/writer, has reminisced about the emotions he had.

RLL has won the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Indy 500 twice in its history. The first triumph came in 2004 with Buddy Rice driving the car. The second triumph came 16 years later at the 2020 Indy 500, courtesy of the IndyCar legend Takuma Sato.

David Letterman recently appeared on the CBS Sunday Morning show and talked about his team's Indy 500 wins.

"It's a jolt of adrenaline I have never experienced in my life. It was crazy, the first time we won it in 2004, I believe it was. And one literally one minute you're standing there watching, the next minute you've won the damn thing and your world changes immediately," David Letterman said. (4:57 onwards)

In the 2025 Indy 500, Takuma Sato finished the 200-lap race in ninth place for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster ended their respective outings in 11th and 12th place for RLL, with Graham Rahal ending up in 17th position.

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David Letterman's RLL driver Graham Rahal will start WWTR race from P22

NTT Indy Car Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Graham Rahal, being the son of the former racing driver Bobby Rahal (co-owns RLL), has strong ties with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. He has been with the outfit for a number of years and is a leader on the team.

In the ongoing 2025 IndyCar season, he has so far managed to amass 115 points in the standings and is in 15th position. During yesterday's qualifying at the World Wide Technology Raceway for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Rahal did not have the best of outings and thus has to start the upcoming night race from P22.

The 36-year-old said the following via his official X account:

"Tricky old conditions in Q. Starting P22 tomorrow. Good news is we’ve got night practice tonight to figure out the race car in the same conditions we’ll have tomorrow. Ready to get to work!"

Graham Rahal

@GrahamRahal

LINK

Tricky old conditions in Q. Starting P22 tomorrow. Good news is we’ve got night practice tonight to figure out the race car in the same conditions we’ll have tomorrow. Ready to get to work!

The Zionsville, Indiana-based RLL team has utmost faith in the abilities of Graham Rahal as an IndyCar racing driver. He has been competing in the sport since 2008 and over the years, has secured six victories, 29 podiums and five pole positions.

2025 has proved to be a mixed bag for him, but despite this, he would target a strong outing in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Moreover, David Letterman and Co. would also like to see him make several overtakes in the oval race.