RAHN TOBLER

A native born Californian, Rahn Tobler grew up in Los Angeles before his family moved to Texas while he was still a youngster.  Tobler got his start in racing with the Texas Top Fuel Team of Stevens & Venables in 1971, working his way up from "tire wiper" to mechanic in short order.  By 1976, he was working with Oklahoman Marvin Graham, the unknown driver who came to fame after winning the '74 U.S. Nationals.  With Tobler's assistance, the duo won the Professional Drivers Association (PDA) Championship in Top Fuel that same season.

Tobler joined Shirley Muldowney's race team shortly thereafter, playing an integral role in guiding her to four world championship titles that includes a career best of 42 final round appearances with a total of 29 wins; 18 NHRA, 8 AHRA and 3 IHRA.  Moreover, what had begun as a strictly working situation blossomed into a romantic relationship in1980, with Tobler and Muldowney getting married in 1988.

After Shirley's career-threatening racing accident in 1984, Tobler was instrumental in her recovery, coaching her through month of difficult and painful physical therapy.  Against the odds, she returned to competition in 1986, and culminated in her return with a win at the NHRA Fall Nationals race in Phoenix in 1989.  Due to the escalating cost of competition on the national event trail, the team decided to return to match race competition in 1992.  Since then, they have set numerous track records along with a  record-setting performance in Fuji, Japan in 1993, a record that still stands as Japan's quickest and fastest to date.
 

Their late 1990's effort included competing on the IHRA Championship Series circuit in 1996, delivering five straight final round appearances with three wins, finishing in second place for the '96 season.  Electing not to attend all of the events in 1997, they still finished third in the top ten standings, qualifying number one at two event and setting two National Elapsed Time Records and four IHRA National  Speed Records, a tribute to Tobler's skill as a tuner.

The team decided to concentrate mainly on the match-race circuit for most of the 1998 season, setting four new track records.  In their one and only IHRA appearance, at the Northern Nationals in Stanton, Michigan, they recorded the quickest and fastest times ever run in IHRA history at that time (4.69 seconds at 312.50 mph). Qualifying number one, they finished the race in the runner-up position.

However, Rahn was once again ready to do battle with NHRA's "big dogs" when the team made a much-heralded return to the sanction's U.S. Nationals in 2000, qualifying for the most prestigious event of the year.  The 2000 season also included a win over now-friendly rival Don Garlits in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 1 as the new millennium began.  Shirley and Don once again lined up at the 2001 U.S. Nationals during qualifying, which was one of the highlights at that event.  Shirley ran a career best speed of 320.20 mph in that encounter.

Already well into the 2002 race schedule with sponsorship assistance from Action Performance Collectibles and MAC Tools, the team has qualified consistently in the middle of the field and gone as far as the semifinal round.  The fact that the team is capable of out-qualifying and beating opponents who are full-time NHRA campaigners is the true measure of Rahn Tobler's skill in his field.

Perhaps this final note is in order- Shirley Muldowney's operation remains the only one in nitro methane-fueled drag racing to make a successful living without racing a full-time championship schedule.  Without Rahn Tobler, that might well be impossible.