Former Conquest and Newman/Haas IndyCar team co-owner Mike Lanigan has become in partner in Bobby Rahal's team, which will be renamed Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Lanigan was a sponsor of Rahal's son Graham in the Atlantic Championship in 2006, and then moved from his partnership with Conquest Racing to Newman/Haas when it signed the younger Rahal for the 2007 Champ Car season. The Newman/Haas/Lanigan alliance then ended this year.
Rahal said he and existing co-owner David Letterman were delighted to be joined by Lanigan, who was also the promoter of the Houston and Cleveland Champ Car events.
"I have known Mike for a number of years and have always found him to be a gentleman, a fan of racing and an excellent businessman," Rahal said. "Both David and I were very pleased when Mike expressed an interest in joining the team. We had entertained this before but never felt that we found the right fit, but in this case we found a partner that feels the same way that we do about the future of the team.
"I feel fortunate to call Mike a partner and a friend and I look forward to a long and productive relationship with him."
Rahal's team won this year's American Le Mans Series GT manufacturers' and teams' titles with works support from BMW of North America. Although it has not run a full-time IndyCar program alongside its sports car arm in the last two years, it did field Graham Rahal in the Indianapolis 500.