Marriage always presents challenges. Throw in a marriage where both parties are professional race car drivers, in totally different disciplines, and those challenges mount.
Courtney Force races in the NHRA, Graham Rahal in IndyCar. They were married in 2015 and both have continued to race in their respective series.
Friday, a day after celebrating his 29th birthday, Rahal was at Daytona International Speedway testing with his fellow Team Penske drivers in preparation for the IMSA Rolex 24. As his season kicks off, Rahal said the biggest challenge continues to be the time he and his wife spend apart. However, during the season he still makes sure to watch his wife race as often as he can.
"I would say the biggest thing is, it requires a tremendous amount of time on the road. and it's got it's goods and bads certainly," Rahal said. "I try to always pay as much attention and attend as many races as I can, but it becomes pretty difficult."
In 2018 that time apart will be even more.
"This year with the new IndyCar stuff we're testing a lot more," Rahal said. "A lot more days on the road already, so it's going to be a little bit different."
Courtney agrees that the time apart, and all the travel, is hard but at the end of the day:
"We make it work," she said. "Good thing we both love racing!"
Perhaps it's that love of racing, and each other, that help overcome all the challenges that come along with marriage and two professional racing careers.
