{"id":460795,"date":"2006-06-01T03:06:22","date_gmt":"2006-06-01T10:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=72357"},"modified":"2024-01-08T15:06:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T15:06:16","slug":"safari-champion-mehta-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five-time Safari Rally champion and current FIA World Rally Champ\u00adionship commission president Shekhar Mehta died from pneumonia on April 12, he was 60 years old.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mehta first drove in the Safari Rally in 1971, when Datsun\u2019s first choice driver Joginder Singh switched to Ford and, as a result, Mehta was offered a works 240Z, which he drove to 2nd place. In 1973, he won his first Safari Rally for Datsun before briefly switching allegiances to Lancia. However, after a relatively lackluster spell with Lancia he returned to Datsun in 1976 and went on to win a further four consecutive Safari Rallies through 1980.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five-time Safari Rally champion and current FIA World Rally Champ\u00adionship commission president Shekhar Mehta died from pneumonia on April 12, he was 60 years old. Mehta first drove in the Safari Rally in 1971, when Datsun\u2019s first choice driver Joginder Singh switched to Ford and, as a result, Mehta was offered a works 240Z, which he drove to 2nd place. In 1973, he won his first Safari Rally for Datsun before briefly switching allegiances to Lancia. However, after a relatively [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":696305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,255,18114],"tags":[18435,18105],"class_list":["post-460795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-news","category-people","tag-people","tag-people-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Safari Champion Mehta Dies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"711\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Natale\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\"},\"headline\":\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":103,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/06\\\/n6-200606-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"People\",\"People News\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"News\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/\",\"name\":\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/06\\\/n6-200606-p1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\"},\"description\":\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/06\\\/n6-200606-p1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2006\\\/06\\\/n6-200606-p1.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":711},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Safari Champion Mehta Dies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\",\"name\":\"Steve Natale\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Natale\"},\"description\":\"Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stevenatale.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/steve.natale1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/stevenatale\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@SteveNatale\\\/videos\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/steve100530\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","description":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","og_description":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1","article_published_time":"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":711,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Natale","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Natale","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Natale","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49"},"headline":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","datePublished":"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/"},"wordCount":103,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg","keywords":["People","People News"],"articleSection":["Car Culture","News","People"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/","name":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg","datePublished":"2006-06-01T10:06:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-08T15:06:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49"},"description":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/n6-200606-p1.jpg","width":1080,"height":711},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/safari-champion-mehta-dies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Safari Champion Mehta Dies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49","name":"Steve Natale","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","caption":"Steve Natale"},"description":"Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.","sameAs":["https:\/\/stevenatale.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/stevenatale\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SteveNatale\/videos"],"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/steve100530\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}