{"id":495470,"date":"2016-05-01T02:13:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T09:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=30005"},"modified":"2024-01-08T14:25:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:25:25","slug":"rick-mears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/rick-mears\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Mears"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>Rick Mears will always be known as one of the few men ever to win the Indianapolis 500 four times, but despite an Indycar career of legendary proportions, the guy once called \u201cRocket Rick: The Fastest Man on Four Wheels\u201d was no one-trick pony. As we know, he started out on dirt bikes and in dune buggies, winning overall at Pikes Peak, but also tried stock cars briefly and made a double handful of IMSA sportscar starts during the early years of his career. He also logged five years of International Race of Champions competition, but his fame was made in Indycars where three National Championships came from his 29 triumphs, a total that ranked him fifth on the all-time list when he retired. Never truly affected by the acclaim he achieved, Mears remains grateful for the opportunities that presented themselves to him. VR Associate Editor John Zimmermann recently spoke with Mears about his life and career.<\/i><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_547241\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-547241\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-547241\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1-71x100.jpg 71w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p1-293x410.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-547241\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rick Mears<br \/>Photo: Jim Hatfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><i>How did you first get involved with motorized sport?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rick Mears will always be known as one of the few men ever to win the Indianapolis 500 four times, but despite an Indycar career of legendary proportions, the guy once called \u201cRocket Rick: The Fastest Man on Four Wheels\u201d was no one-trick pony. As we know, he started out on dirt bikes and in dune buggies, winning overall at Pikes Peak, but also tried stock cars briefly and made a double handful of IMSA sportscar starts during the early [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":547245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11272,18114],"tags":[679,11807,18323,4595,76,12754,11665,18435,11766,13070,11359,11597,11755,11739,16462,11305,90,9881,11795],"class_list":["post-495470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members-only","category-people","tag-imsa","tag-scca","tag-2010s-all","tag-eagle","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-m16","tag-penske","tag-people","tag-a-j-foyt","tag-bill-simpson","tag-bobby-unser","tag-mark-donohue","tag-rick-mears","tag-roger-penske","tag-interview","tag-indianapolis-500","tag-pikes-peak","tag-ims","tag-indycar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rick Mears<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Zimmermann engages the four-time Indy 500 winner in a discussion of his life and times.\" \/>\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\/rick-mears\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/rick-mears\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rick Mears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Zimmermann engages the four-time Indy 500 winner in a discussion of his life and times.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/rick-mears\/\" \/>\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:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-01T09:13:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-08T14:25:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/INT201605-p5-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"734\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Zimmermann\" \/>\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=\"John Zimmermann\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"23 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/rick-mears\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/rick-mears\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Zimmermann\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96b206a07dacd5614967544b2c3b0e35\"},\"headline\":\"Rick Mears\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-01T09:13:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T14:25:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/rick-mears\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":5041,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/rick-mears\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/INT201605-p5-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"(IMSA) International Motor Sports Association\",\"(SCCA) Sports Car Club of America\",\"2010s All\",\"Eagle\",\"McLaren\",\"McLaren M16\",\"Penske\",\"People\",\"People (A.J. 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