Mears gets a Champ car trial

Mike Harris

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

After years of patient preparation, Casey Mears is starting to make a name for himself.

Three weeks ago, the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears won for the first time. He dominated the Indy Lights field on the temporary street course in Houston.

The 22-year-old driver is now about to make the biggest jump of his career, driving a third Team Rahal entry in CART's season-ending California 500 on Oct. 29.

Mears also will drive for Bob Dorricott Racing in that morning's Indy Lights finale on the 2-mile California Speedway oval as part of a three-way fight for the series championship.

In his Dorricott ride, Mears will go into the Lights race just five points behind series leader Scott Dixon and one down to teammate Townsend Bell.

Nobody has ever driven in a Lights race and CART event on the same weekend, let alone the same day.

"Driving two races in the same day will obviously be a big challenge, but all I have to do is get in and drive the cars," Mears said. "I'll be driving for two great teams, and I know they'll give me the equipment to get the job done."

Team owner Bobby Rahal has made no promises to Mears of anything beyond one race, and he already has drivers Kenny Brack and Max Papis signed for next year. But Mears is thrilled with the opportunity to prove he can drive a Champ car.

"Bobby told me he'd give me a test, and he lived up to his word," Mears said. "Now, he's giving me the chance to race one of his cars. I couldn't ask for more."

This is Mears' fifth year in the steppingstone Lights series, but only his third full season and second with the elite Dorricott team.

He spent several years driving for a family team put together by his uncle and his father, former off-road ace Roger Mears. But the team never had enough sponsorship to be competitive, and the young driver didn't begin to show his talent until Team Mears became part of the established Dorricott outfit at the start of 1999.

"It's made all the difference in the world," Mears said.

"The first couple years, struggling with Team Mears, we didn't have the engineers, we didn't test, and it showed on the track. We ran toward the back."

That changed once the teams combined.

Mears immediately became a contender, finishing second to then-teammate Oriol Servia in the 1999 Lights championship race.

This year has been even better, with Mears finishing in the points in every race and closing out the season with an impressive surge that got the attention of some CART team owners.

In the last five races, Mears has led his first race laps at Chicago Speedway, had the fastest road-course race lap at Mid-Ohio, won his first pole at Laguna Seca and got his first victory in 47 starts after taking his second pole.

During that period, Mears tested Champ cars for Team Rahal, Chip Ganassi Racing and PacWest Motorsports Group. The victory in Houston came just after the last of those tests.

"After being in a Champ car, everything slowed down a bit when you get back in the Lights car," Mears said. "You feel like you're on top of your game a little bit more."

Rahal has put together a veteran group to work with Mears. That includes team technical coordinator Ray Leto as his engineer. Leto, part of the group that worked with Mears when he tested for Team Rahal at California Speedway, liked what he saw.

"I was really impressed with his ability to get in the car and just work his way into it in a real disciplined way," Leto said. "He was giving good feedback right from the beginning.

"Some guys would be scared in that situation and only be able to think about going fast. This wasn't a white-knuckle ride for him."

That has left Leto with high expectations

"I'm going into it thinking we can stay in the lead lap and see what happens in the last 50 miles," he said.