Rick Mears

Rick Mears

Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951 in Wichita , Kansas ) is a retired American automobile racing driver .

Career

The 1992 Indianapolis 500 winning car (Penske) owned by Rick Mears

After beginning Rick Mear's career in the off-road scene , he went to the USAC championship in 1976 . After two years in small teams, he was discovered by Roger Penske . After three races in the USAC series in 1978, Penske offered him a place on his Champ Car team . From 1979 Mears' career took off. He won the Indianapolis 500 race and the championship in his very first year . Two further championship titles followed in 1981 and 1982. In total, Mears won the Indy500 four times, so far only AJ Foyt and Al Unser Senior have managed and he was on pole position six times . His skills on both oval and street courses were undisputed in the scene. As early as 1980 was Bernie Ecclestone , at that time owner of the team Brabham in Formula 1 , attentive to the Americans and offered test rides on. Despite a successful test, the Brabham team could not hire him for sponsorship reasons. A serious accident in Montreal, with serious leg injuries, ended the prime of Rick Mear's career. At this point he was already 33 years old. At the end of the 1992 season, Mears announced his retirement. Rick Mears has been a consultant for Penske Racing since 2010 .

family

Rick Mears is the brother of Roger Mears , father of off-road driver Clint Mears and the uncle of NASCAR Sprint Cup series driver Casey Mears . Rick Mears was married twice ( Christyn Bowen , 1986–2002 and Dina Lynn Hogue , 1972–1983).

Awards

• International Motorsports Hall of Fame (since 1997)
• Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (since 1998)

statistics

PPG Indycar Series

year	team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	rank	Points
1979	Team Penske	PHX 2	ATL 5	ATL 2				MCH 4	MCH 5		TRE 1	ONT 2	MCH 3	ATL 1	PHX 3				1	4060
					INDY 1	TRE 5	TRE 7			WGL 2
1980	Team Penske	ONT 21																	4th	2866
			INDY 5	MIL 5	POC 12	MDO 9	MCH 4	WGL 2	MIL 2	ONT 3	MCH 3	MEX 1	PHX 7
1981	Team Penske	PHX 4	Mil	ATL 1	ATL 1	MCH 3	RIV 1	MIL 2	MCH 1	WGL 1	MEX 1	PHX 8							1	304
1982	Team Penske	PHX 1	ATL 1	MIL 3	CLE 4	MCH 15	MIL 12	POC 1	RIV 1	ROA 5	MCH 25	PHX 2							1	294
1983	Team Penske	ATL 8	INDY 3	MIL 3	CLE 7	MCH 4	ROA 17												6th	92
								POC 3	RIV 19	MDO 9	MCH 1	CPL 13	LAG 21	PHX 17
1984	Team Penske	LBH 21	PHX 18																5	110
				INDY 1	MIL 2	POR 10	MEA 10	CLE 4	MCH 3	ROA 4	POC 2	MDO 5	SAN DNS	MCH	PHX	LAG	CPL
1985	Team Penske	LBH	INDY 21	MIL 3	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH 30	ROA	POC 1	MDO	SAN	MCH 2	LAG	PHX	MIA			10	51
1986	Team Penske	PHX 19		INDY 3	MIL 3	POR 16		CLE 4	GATE 8	MCH 12	POC 8								8th	89
			LBH 20				MEA 19						SAN 18			LAG 17		MIA 3
												MDO 17		MCH 8	ROA 3		PHX 20
1987	Team Penske	LBH 9	PHX 20			POR 3	MEA 18	CLE 7	GATE 10										5	102
				INDY 23	MIL 21					MCH 21	POC 1	ROA 9	MDO 4	NAZ 3	LAG 3	MIA 5
1988	Team Penske	PHX 22	LBH 8	INDY 1	MIL 1	POR 6	CLE 23	GATE 6	MEA 3	MCH 13	POC 23	MDO 3	ROA 12	NAZ 7	LAG 5	MIA 2			4th	129
1989	Team Penske	PHX 1	LBH 5	INDY 23	MIL 1	DET 5	POR 8	CLE 5	MEA 4	GATE 5	MCH 7	POC 2	MDO 6	ROA 3	NAZ 2	LAG 1			2	186
1990	Team Penske	PHX 1	LBH 6	INDY 5	MIL 2	DET 4	POR 5	CLE 8	MEA 2	GATE 12	MCH 14	THE 7th	VAN 4	MDO 7	ROA 3	NAZ 2	LAG 4		3	168
1991	Team Penske	SRF 3	LBH 4	PHX 5	INDY 1	MIL 15	DET 5	POR 6	CLE 17	MEA 3	GATE 20	MCH 1	THE 8th	VAN 6	MDO 6	ROA 15	NAZ 15	LAG 5	4th	145
1992	Team Penske	SRF 2	PHX 8	LBH 6	INDY 26	DET	POR 7	MIL 16	NHA 4	GOAL	MCH 16	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		13	47

( Legend )

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	Dick Barbour Racing	Porsche 935 / 77A	Dick Barbour	Rolf Stommelen	Rank 4

Web links

• Career Stats Rick Mears (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ indianapolismotorspeedway.com/: QUALIFICATIONS RECORDS & MILESTONES , Retrieved March 21, 2015
2. ↑ indianapolismotorspeedway.com/: Rick Mears , Retrieved March 21, 2015