Veteran Engineer Tom German Joins RLL as an Engineering Consultant

Tom German – from his days as engineer for Sam Hornish at Penske Racing

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that respected engineer Tom German has joined the team as an engineering consultant in a multi-year deal. In addition to other notable successes, German has participated in three Indy car championships and one in the NASCAR Nationwide series while with Penske Racing as well as five Indy 500 wins, most recently as 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi’s race engineer.

"We are very pleased to welcome Tom to our team," said team co-owner Bobby Rahal. "His record speaks volumes and I have no doubt having Tom work in conjunction with Eddie Jones, Martin Pare, Mike Talbott and Alex Farina will generate much success for all of our drivers, now and in the future."

In 2016, RLL driver Graham Rahal was a major factor in two of the most exciting races of the Verizon IndyCar Series season — the Honda Indy at Barber Motorsports Park where he finished second to eventual champion Simon Pagenaud, and in the Firestone 600, where he won by the closest margin of victory at Texas Motor Speedway and fifth closest in INDYCAR series history. For the second consecutive year, Rahal ended the season as the highest-ranked Honda-powered driver in fifth place after a total of four podium finishes and eight, top-five finishes.

"I have known Mr. Rahal for a number of years and am impressed with his ability to attract and retain quality people," said Tom German. "This vision is yielding results; Graham and the team have led the Honda contingent for the past two seasons and established themselves as championship contenders. I appreciate the opportunity to join the team."

About Tom German

German earned a master’s degree from The MIT Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Akron. He started his professional racing career at Bridgestone/Firestone in June 1992 through August 1994. German spent the next three years at Patrick Racing before beginning his 14-year stint at Penske Racing from October 1997 through June 2011 where he ultimately held the top technical positions for the INDYCAR and NASCAR teams. During this time, he participated in three Indy car championships (2001-2002 – de Ferran, 2006 – Hornish) and one in NASCAR (2010 – Keselowski) as well as four Indy 500 wins (2001-2002 – Castroneves, 2003 – de Ferran, 2006 – Hornish). He was the chief technical officer at Michael Waltrip Racing for 2013-2014 and most recently, German was a consultant and race engineer at Andretti Autosport for Alexander Rossi’s 2016 Indy 500 and Rookie of the Year-winning program. German is currently the founder and president of ELEVEN (https://elevenbike.com), a custom mountain bike brand based in North Carolina.