Bobby Rahal back at Champ Car _ but just to root for son

A familiar face was in the Champ Car pits in Mexico City: Bobby Rahal _ a three-time champion, a former Champ Car team owner who now runs cars in the rival IRL and, more to the point, father of rookie star Graham Rahal.

"I love watching him drive," Rahal said. "I mean I think he's an extremely good driver, and for a kid 18 years old, it still frankly flabbergasts me when I watch him."

Rahal said he'd managed to see five or six of his son's race despite his own busy schedule.

"If he exceeds what I did, that would make me nothing but happy," Rahal said, sitting at a table in the quarters of the Newman-Haas-Lanigan …