ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) After the decision was made to sit out last week's IndyCar Series opener on the Homestead-Miami oval, Graham Rahal believed the best place to start his IndyCar career would come on a street course.

That proved to be the right decision as the 19-year-old son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal won Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in his very first IndyCar start.

He became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing history. Rahal is 19 years 93 days and that broke Marco Andretti's record of 19 years, 167 days of age when he won at Infineon Raceway in 2006.

"Certainly, the record wasn't in the back of my mind, but it's great to have it and I'm just happy to be sitting here," Rahal said afterwards. "I'm surprised, trust me."

The teenager from New Albany, Ohio is the fourth driver to win in his first IndyCar Series start. Scott Dixon was the most recent when he won at Homestead in 2003.

The race ended under a two-hour time limit because of delays caused by rain throughout the contest. Because it is a street course race, the cars are able to run on rain tires.

A big crash involving Vitor Meira and Franck Perera got worse when Townsend Bell slammed into Meira's parked car on lap 77.

Luckily, none of the three drivers were injured, but Meira was upset with Perera for causing the crash. Meira was very animated speaking Portuguese while Perera, a Frenchman, did not understand a word he was saying.

Track crews were able to quickly clean up the mess for a restart on lap 80 with three laps remaining.

Rahal kept the lead but hit the brakes hard entering the first turn, which allowed Castroneves to close to the rear of Rahal's car.

But Rahal was able to open up some room on the two-time defending winner of this race, opening a huge lead and winning the race.

"On the restart I went into Turn 1 and I certainly didn't brake any later, but just because the tires were probably a little cold, the pressure is were a little low, it locked that right front, but everything seemed to work pretty well and we managed to pull away," Rahal said.

Rahal gave a pumped-fist salute to the crowd after the victory and gave his overworked team something to finally celebrate after not being home since March 23.

"We were happy to be here and a little lucky to win the race but we love it," said Rahal's team owner, Carl Haas, one of the former Champ Car teams that compete in IndyCar since unification.

Rahal defeated Castroneves by 3.5192 seconds.

Rival team owner Bobby Rahal fought off tears after watching his son win.

"He drove beautifully and when he had to go fast he did," Bobby Rahal said. "It's a tremendous moment. I'm so proud of him. He got hit by Will Power and spun at the start but he came back and had a great strategy. The car was there and he was there. It's quite a moment."

Tony Kanaan was third followed by Ernesto Viso and Enrique Bernoldi.

The race ended after 83 of 100 laps because of the two-hour time window caused by weather.

"Good job for him," Castroneves said of Rahal after falling just short of winning this race three years in a row. "It's a great day for motor racing. We have great names here in the paddock. It proves that guys can work hard and execute. We tried all we could. Oh man, it was so close. I'll take it; hopefully for the championship this will be good.

"I was going for it. We tried everything for the car. But you know what? Second is good enough."

The first 10 laps of the race were run under the yellow flag as the heavy rain subsided. The green flag waved on the 11th lap and Ryan Hunter-Reay immediately spun coming out of the last turn. Hunter-Reay started sixth but was able to keep the engine fired and continue in the race.

More trouble hit the Andretti Green Racing team when Marco Andretti was run off the course by Mario Moraes, bringing out a full-course caution on the 15th lap with Kanaan ahead of Wilson. Andretti was able to get the engine fired and stay on the lead lap, barely pulling ahead of the pace car.

With the track drying, the rain tires that were used when the track was soaked began to heat up making it a matter of time before they switched to the racing slicks.

Townsend Bell hit the tire barrier on the 23rd lap, sending debris off the banners that cover the barrier.

Rahal started ninth and moved up to fifth place in the first 25 laps of the race. Two laps later, Rahal was fourth as the sun came back out to dry the track. Rahal spun out on the main straightaway after he was tagged by Power but was able to continue.

Kanaan caught up with Briscoe and Perera on the 42nd lap. Andretti, Scott Dixon and Hunter-Reay all pitted on lap 43, switching to the faster racing "slicks" for dry conditions. Andretti broke the half-shaft attempting to leave the pits, ending his race.

Briscoe, one of the leading contenders for the race victory, took himself out when he slammed into wall after clipping the right side wall in Turn 9. Briscoe slammed the Team Penske car into the opposite wall, destroying the left side of his car.

This is Briscoe's second attempt at IndyCar after he was fired by Target/Chip Ganassi Racing for crashing too many cars in 2005.

"We worked really hard on saving fuel and the timing was perfect," Briscoe said. "We were looking good (until the crash)."

The full-course caution allowed the drivers to make a final pit stop on lap 61. That put Hunter-Reay ahead of Rahal, Ernesto Viso, Castroneves, Wheldon and Dixon.

Hunter-Reay did not pit because team owner Bobby Rahal believed there would be another yellow flag, which boosted him in track position.

Young Rahal tucked behind Hunter-Reay and pulled off the pass on the restart to take the lead on lap 65.

Castroneves passed Hunter-Reay for second place on lap 69 and he tried to close up on the leader for his third-straight St. Pete Grand Prix win.

But young Rahal was able to pull away and in a race that ended with the two-hour time limit rather than the scheduled 100 laps.

Rahal won the race at an average speed of 75.251 miles per hour, slowed by six cautions for 29 laps and a pace that was tempered by rain. There were seven lead changes among eight drivers and Rahal led the final 19 laps, the most of any driver in the race.

"We gambled a little bit on strategy," Rahal said. "At the end we knew we had the pace so we threw on the slick tires. We knew the pace was there but we weren't sure the fuel was going to be there to make it to the end. It was just a matter of trying to save as much fuel at possible because we weren't sure how many laps there were going to be.

"I was still pulling away from him (Castroneves), saving good fuel, but then they were saying you need to save good fuel. We were lucky the last yellow came out because it was clear sailing from there. We knew if we were quicker than Helio while saving fuel and if we could just go, it was going to be even quicker than that."

So as he celebrated his first victory, his father was able to run down pit land and enjoy the moment with his son.

"Dad was obviously thrilled and trust me, it felt so good to come across that line," Graham Rahal said. "You want to win your first race and unfortunately it didn't come in Champ Car last year, but we were so close so many times.

"I was sitting there in the car just thinking, please, just come to an end. It came together for me and it felt so good to come across the line."

Updated on Sunday, Apr 6, 2008 7:33 pm, EDT