Rick Mears' first Indy 500 victory out of four, in 1979, was the second for his car owner who has been a major figure in IndyCar ever since. Who is he?
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1979 Indianapolis 500 The 63rd 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 27, 1979. Second-year driver Rick Mears took the lead for the final time with 18 laps to go, and won his first of four Indianapolis 500 races. It was also Mears' first of a record six Indy 500 pole positions. Brothers Al and Bobby Unser combined to lead 174 of the 200 laps, but Al dropped out around the midpoint, and Bobby slipped to 5th place at the finish nursing mechanical issues. It was also Roger Penske's second Indy 500 victory as a car owner.
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Rick Mears Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951 in Wichita, Kansas), also known by the nickname "Rocket Rick," is a retired American race car driver. He is one of three 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).
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Michael Mällinen Michael Mällinen (born March 4, 1958) is a racecar driver from the United States.
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Roger Mears Roger Mears (born March 24, 1947 in Wichita, Kansas), is a former off-road driver who also drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1978–1984 seasons, with 31 combined career starts, and started in the 1982 and 1983 Indianapolis 500s. He finished in the top ten 17 times, with his best finish in 4th position achieved 3 times.
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Robby Gordon Robert W. "Robby" Gordon (born January 2, 1969) is an American racecar driver. He has raced in NASCAR, CART, IndyCar, Trans-Am, IMSA, IROC and Dakar Rally. He currently competes in the Speed Energy Formula Off-Road series, a series that he had created in 2013.
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Bobby Allen (racecar driver) Bobby Allen (born December 28, 1943) is an American racecar driver known for racing winged sprint cars. He currently owns Shark Racing, a World of Outlaws sprint car team that fields two cars driven by his son Jacob Allen and his grandson Logan Schuchart.
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Jimmy Wilburn Jimmy Wilburn (November 25, 1908 - August 26, 1984) was an American racecar driver from Los Angeles. He won a non-points Championship Car race at Lakewood Speedway in March 1946 which is the first known Champ Car race to be held after the end of World War II. Later that year he drove in the 1946 Indianapolis 500 driving an Alfa Romeo and started 16th and retired after 52 laps with engine trouble, credited with the 19th finishing position.
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Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He is a three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (today known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) champion as a driver, winning titles in 2002, 2005 and 2011. In 2011 Stewart had an ownership interest in the team. He won again as an owner with Kevin Harvick's title in 2014. Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won racing titles in Indy, midget, sprint, and USAC Silver Crown cars. He is the only driver in history to win a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR.
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Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealander professional racing driver. Competing for Chip Ganassi Racing since joining IndyCar, Dixon has won the championship in 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2015, and he won the 92nd Indianapolis 500 in 2008 from pole position. With 41 wins, Dixon is the leading non-U.S. driver in American Championship Cars, and is the leading active driver in the current IndyCar Series with 40 wins.
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Jim Buick James J. Buick (born December 14, 1940) is a former American racing driver from Omaha, Nebraska who competed in the CART series in 1981. He started four races in 1981 with a best finish of 16th and failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in a 7 year old Chevrolet–powered Eagle. Buick again attempted but failed to make the Indy 500 in 1983 in a Chevrolet-powered 3 year old Penske chassis. With the formation of the Indy Racing League in 1996, the then 55-year-old Buick attempted to qualify for the series' first race at Walt Disney World Speedway in a 1992 Lola, but was unable to qualify. He still earned $10,000 for his entry.
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Pete Hamilton Peter "Pete" Hamilton (July 20, 1942 – March 21, 2017) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed in NASCAR for six years, where he won four times in his career (including the 1970 Daytona 500), three times driving for Petty Enterprises.
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1989 Indianapolis 500 The 73rd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 28, 1989. Two-time World Drivers' Champion Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil became the first foreign winner of the race since 1966. Though Fittipaldi started on the front row and dominated most of the race, he found himself running second in the waning laps. Gambling on fuel, Al Unser Jr. caught up to Fittipaldi after a fortuitous caution period on lap 181, and subsequently took the lead on lap 196.
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1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series The 1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 8th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 17 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Bobby Rahal was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Chip Robinson. The 1986 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500, and would later become the first driver since 1980 to win Indy and the CART championship in the same season.
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Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick ( ; born March 25, 1982) is an American professional stock car racing driver, model, and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only women's victory in an IndyCar Series race and her third place in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 is the highest finish there ever by a woman. She competed in the series from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
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Keith Wiggins Keith Wiggins is a motor racing team owner born in Great Britain and one of only three people ever to have owned a Formula One team, an IndyCar and a ChampCar team.
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2003 IndyCar Series The 2003 IRL IndyCar Series brought some of the biggest changes in its history. The league adopted the name IndyCar Series, after a settlement with CART prohibiting its use had expired. Several former CART teams brought their full operations to the IRL, most notably major squads Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Green Racing, as well as former CART engine manufacturers Toyota and Honda, replacing Infiniti who shifted its efforts to the new feeder series Infiniti Pro Series. Many of the IRL's old guard including Robbie Buhl, Greg Ray, and Buddy Lazier had difficulty competing in this new manufacturer-driven landscape. The league, also added its first international race this year, taking over the CART date at Twin Ring Motegi.
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List of Daytona 500 winners The Daytona 500 is a 500 mi Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule. The first Daytona 500 was held in 1959, coinciding with the opening of the speedway, and since 1982, it has been the season-opening race of the Cup series.
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Dave Lewis (racing driver) Dave Lewis (11 May 1881, in Syracuse, New York – 13 May 1928, in La Jolla Lodge, California) was an American racecar driver. He competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times, with a best finish of second in 1925. His appearance in the 1925 race with a Miller car was the first time that a front-wheel drive car had competed in the Indy 500.
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Billy Boat William Leonard "Billy" Boat (born February 2, 1966) is an American former open-wheel driver who raced in the Indy Racing League.
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Herb Thomas Herbert Watson "Herb" Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s.
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1987–88 USAC Championship Car season The 1987–88 USAC Gold Crown Championship season consisted of one race, the 72nd Indianapolis 500 on May 29, 1988. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Rick Mears.
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Parnelli Jones Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones (born August 12, 1933 in Texarkana, Arkansas) is a retired American racing driver and race car owner. He is most remembered for his accomplishments at the Indianapolis 500. In 1962, he became the first driver to qualify over 150 mph. He won the race in 1963, then famously broke down while leading the 1967 race with three laps to go in a turbine car. During his career as an owner, he won the Indy 500 in 1970-1971 with driver Al Unser, Sr.