In advance of this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, NBCSN), Graham Rahal made a pit stop to The Rich Eisen Show - which airs primarily on radio, but also on Audience Network.
Rahal, a huge and proud fan of The Ohio State University and Eisen, a University of Michigan alumnus, have always enjoyed a bit of a back-and-forth exchange and rivalry between the two Big Ten schools.
When Rahal’s Ohio State Buckeyes beat Eisen’s Michigan Wolverines last fall in Jim Harbaugh’s first Ohio State-Michigan game as Michigan coach, a bet was placed that the loser would have to wear the other school’s attire for a bit.
And good on Eisen, he was all set and ready to wear an Ohio State hat before Rahal busted out a jersey to add to the proceedings.
The driver of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, which this weekend will carry primary sponsorship from D-A Lubricant Co.'s PennGrade brand, and Eisen had a solid 14-minute or so chat about so much more than just racing. The full clip is above.
At one point the two touched on Rahal’s team co-owner David Letterman’s whereabouts and how Letterman has carte blanche to show up or disappear wherever and whenever he wants.
“I did see Letterman... I’m really not sure (what’s going on),” Rahal told Eisen. “The beard thing’s been going. But the shaved head ... he’s looking straight at the paparazzi, proudly wearing Ball State Volleyball.
“We haven’t heard from him or seen him much this year. Hopefully we get him out to Long Beach this weekend.”
For what it’s worth, today’s as good a day as any to note Letterman’s presence because it’s his 69th birthday.
Here’s him at the Indianapolis 500 last year with Rahal’s father and team co-owner Bobby Rahal.
Join us in wishing the one and only David Letterman a very Happy Birthday! pic.twitter.com/1h3VawdxDf
— Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (@RLLracing) April 12, 2016