Letterman poses with Oriol Servia’s car with his face on it.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been buzzing all week, in part because of David Letterman. Many speculated and hoped that the Indianapolis native would waive the green flag, or at the least play a small role.
While he did not have a role and he wasn’t physically involved, his name and caricature — penned by Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star — was the distinct image on the side of one of his team’s cars.
The team had a surprise in store for Letterman, who is adored around these parts. Sunday morning, the 32 car of Oriol Servia had a new look back in Gasoline Alley. They also distributed t-shirts to crew members (and some media folks) with a caricature of Dave on the front an a Top Ten List of “Reasons We Love Dave” on the back.
“I think it’s just fantastic,” he said with a big smile.
He then posed for pictures next to it.
Earlier this week, Graham Rahal talked about his car owner. “To get another win for him — he’s got one in ’04 — to get another one for him here would mean as much as it would for my dad or anyone else. It’d be pretty powerful.”
“Everything that’s happened, that’s the highlight of my career,” Letterman told reporters before the race (via David Lindquist of the Indianapolis Star.) “It’s like Andrew Luck wearing ‘Letterman’ across his jersey. You know, it’s crazy.”
Letterman, 68, who signed off the air for the final time on Wednesday, has had stake in a team since 1996 and in 2004, it began barring his name, Rahal Letterman Racing. At Sunday’s 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500, Rahal Letterman Lanigan had two cars in the race: Servia and Graham Rahal.
Servia collided with Ed Carpenter on lap 113, ending his day.
[…] The car was not the only tribute that Letterman’s racing team had in store for him. Crew members also wore t-shirts with Letterman’s caricature on the front and a pretty great Top 10 list on the back. […]