![]() Since his retirement 30 years ago, he has remained at Penske as a driver adviser – and occasional spotter – for the great and the good. These days he’s as synonymous with Roger’s brand as Scott Dixon with Ganassi, Jackie Stewart with Tyrrell or Jimmy Clark with Lotus. Thus Sneva departed, Mears became a full-timer with Penske and he never left. ![]() Full-time teammate and series veteran Tom Sneva retained his Indy car championship, but somehow contrived to score not a single win despite six pole positions, and so, peculiarly, it felt the team’s momentum had swung behind the rookie. Mears figured that a part-time ride with Penske was better than a full-time ride with most other teams, took the offer and was proven right: he ran only 11 of the season’s 18 races, but scored three wins and three runner-up finishes. When Sugai pulled out, Mears switched to a Theodore Racing-run McLaren (another ex-Simpson car) for the remainder of the year.įour top-10 finishes including fifth at Milwaukee meant Mears appeared on Roger Penske’s radar, as The Captain needed a talented driver to sub for Mario Andretti in 1978 whenever the latter’s Formula 1 commitments with Lotus took priority. Safety equipment legend Bill Simpson gave Rick his first Ind圜ar start in 1976, then sold his aged Eagle to Art Sugai for whom the 26-year-old Mears drove a couple more races that year and at the beginning of the 1977 season. Most know, too, that Mears came from a desert-racing background, his parents Bill (who sadly died just two weeks ago, aged 93) and Mae Louise (“Skip”) having moved their young sons Roger and Rick from Wichita, KS to Bakersfield, CA in 1955. ![]() The record-matching four Indianapolis 500 wins, the six Indy 500 poles (a record that may stand forever) and 11 front-row starts from 16 attempts, three Indy car championships, 29 race wins and 40 pole positions… Some of Rick Mears’ stats are well known.
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