Rick Mears

Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is a retired American race car driver.

In 1976, he was recommended by a representative of Bill Simpson's helmet company, and Simpson gave him a ride at the USAC Champ Car's California 500 on an old Eagle-Offenhauser, finishing 8th.

Simpson then sold the car to Art Sugai, on condition that Mears would continue driving it.

In mid 1977 he switched to Theodore Racing.

His speed attracted the attention of Roger Penske.

Although at the time Penske Racing had the services of Mario Andretti and Tom Sneva, Andretti was also racing in Formula One with Lotus, and Penske wanted another young driver who would focus exclusively on American racing.

For 1978, Mears was offered a part-time ride in nine of the 18 championship races, filling in when Andretti was overseas.

The arrangement also included a ride at the Indianapolis 500.

In his rookie appearance at Indy, Mears qualified on the front row and was the first rookie to qualify over 200 mph. When the race began, Mears discovered his helmet was not strapped on tight enough and he had to pit to get it safely secured.

He did not lead a lap and retired at 104 laps with a blown engine.

He ended up sharing "Rookie of the Year" honors with Larry Rice.

Two weeks later, the Rex Mays Classic at Milwaukee, he won his first race.

He added another win a month later at Atlanta and rounded off the year with his first road course win at Brands Hatch.

He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (1979, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991).

Mears is also a three-time Indycar series/World Series champion (1979, 1981 and 1982).

Mears was born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Bakersfield, California.

He began his racing career in off-road racing.

Because of his terrific showing as a rookie, Mears was elevated to full-time status for 1979 after teammate and series champion Tom Sneva and Penske parted company.

In 1979 the National Championship sanction changed from the USAC to CART.

At Indianapolis he won his first "500", staying at the front of the field, taking advantage when Bobby Unser fell out of contention with mechanical trouble.

Three wins and four second places in the eleven CART-eligible races won Mears his first championship.

His worst finish in the season was seventh in Trenton's second heat.

In 1980 the ground effect Chaparral was technologically more advanced than the other chassis, and Johnny Rutherford drove it to his 3rd Indianapolis 500 win, going on to dominate the season.

Mears finished in fourth place in the points with one win, scored at Mexico City.

In 1980 Mears was offered a Formula One test with Brabham by then team boss Bernie Eccelstone.

Mears took interest in the test largely because of the ongoing split between CART and USAC and wanted other options in case CART fell apart.

Mears tested with Brabham twice, once at Paul Ricard and once at Riverside.

After adjusting his driving style to the Brabham BT49 Mears posted lap times within half a second of future three time Formula One champion and then Brabham driver Nelson Piquet at the first test.

During the second test Mears posted lap times faster than Piquet's. Piquet was so impressed with Mears' driving and enjoyed their time spent together so much that he endorsed bringing Mears on as a second driver.

Eccelstone offered Mears a contract with Brabham that Mears ultimately declined.

Mears would later say in his memoir that although he felt that Brabham was a strong team and that he had the skill to compete for wins in Formula One he was unsure about moving to Europe and was still interested in oval racing as the main reasons for declining Eccelstone's offer.

The 1981 and 1982 seasons saw two more championships for Mears.

Despite facial burns during a pit fire in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Mears' ten race victories in the two-year span were enough for another two Indycar championship titles.

At the 1982 Indianapolis 500 he came within 0.16 of a second of adding a second Indy win.

With less than 20 laps to go, during Mears' final pit stop, the crew filled the entire tank rather than giving him only the amount he needed to finish.

The delay left him more than 11 seconds behind Gordon Johncock.

Mears made up the difference when Johncock suffered handling problems, but failed to secure the win.

The photo finish stood for 10 years as the closest finish to an Indy 500.

The photo-finish also muffled out the controversial pace-lap crash with teammate Kevin Cogan who appeared to have spun out for no apparent reason; fellow drivers such as Gordon Johncock, Johnny Rutherford, and Bobby Unser, charged Mears with causing the crash by bringing the field down at a slow pace.

For 1983 the Penske team acquired the Pennzoil sponsorship with its yellow paint scheme.