Castroneves added an ALMS win at Petit Le Mans this moth to help Penske Porsche's bid to secure another manufacturers championship. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Hogan also had a profound impact on Bobby Rahal. “He was bigger than life. There’s so much that comes to mind when I think of him. He was gregarious, and had a great family. He was a bear of man. He had a great laugh. He had a twinkle in his eye when there was a joke being played or being told. And man did he love racing…he had a huge heart. I’m proud to have called Carl my partner and friend.”

With so many crew members and drivers that now make a living in the ALMS thanks to Hogan Racing, the legacy of Carl’s character and contribution to auto racing are easy to list. His own Rahal-Hogan team won the ’92 CART championship, but more importantly, Bobby Rahal took the lessons learned from his partnership with Carl and built his IndyCar operation into an IRL (and soon to be ALMS) powerhouse.

Buddy Rice’s win at the 2004 Indy 500 for Rahal would have made Carl incredibly proud, as well as Bobby’s choice to do like Carl and take a chance on a promising young rookie, Danica Patrick. Rahal’s major new partnership with BMW for their 2009 ALMS GT2 program is a further testament to the strengths of the foundation laid by Bobby and Carl sixteen years ago in CART.

Helio Castroneves would join fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran to lead Penske Racing’s resurgence, earning the nickname ‘Spiderman’ after climbing the fence at the Indy 500 on the occasion of his wins in 2001 and 2002. What Carl would think about Helio’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ title is a completely different matter…I’m sure that he would have voted for him, but would he also would have let loose a number of belly laughs while dialing the voting hotline.

Dario's Petit experience was cut short before he was able to drive in the race. He expects to drop in for a few ALMS races in 2009. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

JJ Lehto came to Hogan with a storied career in Formula One, but would go on to star for BMW, Panoz, Cadillac, and Audi in the ALMS, standing atop the podium as winner of the 2005 24 Hours Le Mans with the Champion Audi team.

Tom Anderson would follow in Carl’s path, partnering with Adrian Fernandez to form their own successful Indycar, and now, American Le Mans team.

Audi technician Greg Martin would go directly from Hogan to the ALMS, and has been a part of a majority of the wins the team has scored, including the 2005 Le Mans victory. Ron Mathis used the same engineering skills he applied at Hogan Racing to engineer the #1 Audi R10 of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello, and Emanuele Pirro the their historic win at Petit Le Mans.

I went on to work in IndyCars for two more years after my time at Hogan, eventually migrating to journalism and covering my favorite form of motorsports for SPEED.

Despite their fractured relationship, Dario Franchitti would make the most of his ride at Team Kool Green, racing Juan Montoya to a dead heat in points in 1999, and scoring an Indy 500 win last year on his way to becoming the 2007 IRL champion. Like Helio’s stint on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I’m sure Carl would have cried laughing if he’d heard that his favorite Scottish driver had signed to race against a bunch of ‘good ole’ boys’ in NASCAR.

Dario spent Petit Le Mans at Patron Highcroft Racing under the care of ex-Rahal-Hogan man Rob Hill as his team manager. The pairing is yet another gift from Carl to the ALMS.

After a life of fighting like hell in business--fighting for success in auto racing provided the same thrill, but Carl lived more for the experiences that auto racing brought him. Racing was a perfect full throttle sport for an undeniably full throttle man. The hard work, disappointments, and frustrations that motorsports can so often bring were worth it to Hogan, even though his thirty years in the sport lacked the positive ending he deserved.

The last few years in CART might have been painful, but he’d be incredibly proud to see how much everyone has achieved in his absence.

Franchitti reckons Hogan would still be celebrating his Indy win today after the Scot claimed the victory driving the 'Canadian Club' car. (Photo: LAT/Abbott)

Of all the people I spoke with, Dario was the most thankful and appreciative of the impact Carl Hogan has made in his life. Just minutes after I’d concluded my interview with him, my phone rang — it was Dario on the line.

“I forgot to mention—Carl’s favorite drink was Canadian Club and Seven Up. In fact, so much so the registration plate on his personal car was ‘CC Seven.’ So after winning the Indy 500 last year in a car sponsored by Canadian Club…he’d have gotten the biggest kick out of it. I think he’d have found that hilarious. He was smiling that day, for sure. The party would still be going on right now if he was still with us.”


Marshall Pruett is Automotive and Sportscar Racing Editor for SPEEDtv.com. Pruett grew up at "Pruett's Olde English Garage," his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits. Pruett spent twenty years working in various open-wheel and sportscar series, retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, no, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

He can be reached at

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.


The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED