NASCAR's Casey Mears
NASCAR's Casey Mears - From boy to Superstar
Casey
James Mears was born on March 12th in 1978 at Bakersfield, California. He comes
from a family of racers with his uncle, Rick Mears - the four time Indianapolis
500, and his father, the Indy and off-road veteran Roger Mears. It can be said
that racing was imprinted in his genes from the time he was in his mother's
womb. Mears has been quoted as saying that he grew up watching both his uncle
and father race and how he looks up to them as his racing heroes.
Since Mears was exposed to racing from a young age, it does not come as a
surprise that he started off in 1982 when he was just four years old. He was
firmly attached to his BMX bicycles and the ATVs in Bakersfield. In 1991, he
tried out go-karts and was hooked. He took part in the SuperLites Off-Road
series the next year and grabbed several top-three spots. After that, he took
to the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship with a third place finish and
in 1995 he brought back the Championship. He made his debut in the Indy Lights
in 1996 and finished eighth. The next year he competed full time and his hard
work paid off when he came back with second place in his pocket, just 14 points
away from the victor. He became the fourth racer in the Light Series History to
take part in every lap during the entire season. He scored 11 top 10, eight
top-five and four podium finishes in that year. After going on to win more
competitions, Mears decided it was time to move on to NASCAR.
He made his NASCAR debut in 2001 at the Busch Series with a 28th place finish.
He drove full time the next year and was able to pull in two top-ten finishes.
2003 was not a very good year for Mears as he only managed to finish at 35th as
he was not able to complete in the top-ten of any race that year. In 2004, he
bounced back and won two poles. 2007 however, proved to be his lucky year as he
won his first NASCAR race at the Busch Series race in Chicagoland Speedway. The
same year also had him winning the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte which was his
first NEXTEL cup victory while not stopping for fuel during the last five laps.
Many agree that Mears had the best win in 2006 when he teamed up with Scott
Dixon and Dan Wheldon for the 44th annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for Chip
Ganassi racing. A new record was set for the Daytona Prototype category with a
total of 723 laps in 24 hours. This set Mears to newly elevated heights when he
became the first full time NASCAR driver to win the Rolex 24.
Mears, who is a real family man at heart, was a former Houston Texans
quarterback. He was also the running back at Stockdale High School. Mears also
cites his spinning out of control at Watkins Glen in 2003 as his most
embarrassing moment in racing while his favorite race track will always be
Indianapolis for the significance it plays to his family and him.
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