Rick Mears Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS – If you were to ask Rick Mears about his racing career, you’ll learn right away he never dreamt about competing at Indianapolis. Racing happened to be a family recreation until a snowball effect kicked into high gear. Once retiring from racing in 1992, Mears was a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. Safe to say, he made a good living in racing. When he was strapping into multiple types of vehicles, Mears concentrated on what’s in front of him. Any distractions would driftRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In a time period where the world of American open wheel racing pushed the confines of danger, a series of life-changing accidents were always common. When certain accidents happen, action must be taken to prevent serious injuries or even death. It was the main focal point of the upcoming documentary Rapid Response, and right away you’ll get that feel as to why the professionally staffed safety team came to be. Without a shadow of a doubt, this documentary takes you on a dramatic trip to theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer With the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season rapidly approaching, Motorsports Tribune is previewing each of the teams competing on the tour. The site’s IndyCar staff will break each team down, laying out their results from the previous season while previewing the year to come for the organization and their driver(s). Team: Team Penske (@Team_Penske) Drivers: Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power What Happened Last Year: Josef Newgarden was the new guy for Roger Penske’s IndyCar squad. But the Hendersonville, Tennessee native immediately showed everybody why he wasRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Team Penske confirmed today that three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will switch from racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series full time in 2018 to the IMSA Weather Tech Sports Car Championship, piloting one of the teams’ two Acura ARX-05 DPi prototypes. Castroneves is the third driver to be announced for the Penske sports car program after Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron were confirmed for the other prototype. Remaining drivers have yet to be announced. Castroneves will continue racing for TeamRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Helio Castroneves went 1,134 days without a victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series after his last win at the Detroit doubleheader race on June 1, 2014. His winless streak ended Sunday in victory at the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, also ending Team Penske’s 11 year run of futility at Iowa. Castroneves started third, grabbed the lead for the first time on Lap 20 and ended up leading 217 of the final 280 laps, passing Al Unser Sr.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief INDIANAPOLIS – Rick Mears is arguably one of the greatest drivers at the Indianapolis 500 and for team owner Roger Penske. The four-time Indianapolis 500 champion has enjoyed several special moments at the 2.5-mile oval, but aside from his victories, one of Mears’ favorite memories was his first pole. The legendary driver jetted to the top of the pylon in 1979, the same year he won his first Indy 500, in a Penske PC-6. Recalling the joyous memory, Mears shared it with the media on FastRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Contributing Writer 1991 was a pivotal year for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 75th running of the Indianapolis 500 would be run on May 26 and the IndyCar season got off to an interesting start as it led up to the month of May. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Sr. was without a ride as the Alfa-Romeo program signed Danny Sullivan as its main driver, relegating Roberto Guerrero to the sidelines until Alfa-Romeo picked Guerrero up for the race. Unser Sr. was unable to find a rideRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Contributing Writer On April 2nd, the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to Phoenix International Raceway for the first time since 2005, and it is with this upcoming race that we will take a look back at the start of another era in open wheel racing’s history at Phoenix. CART was formed in late 1978 as a response to USAC’s rejection of a change in philosophy for top level open wheel racing in America. As such, CART proceeded to host its own races in 1979 that were sanctioned byRead More

FORT WORTH, Texas – Will Power made history today by claiming pole position for the Firestone 600 for the third year in succession. His average speed of 218.519 mph is just shy the qualifying record for Texas Motor Speedway which he set in 2013. The high banked oval once a type of track Power struggled on, is now one the defending champion relishes in. It’s a real driver’s oval, I really like it, I really look forward to the ovals now. – Will Power It was also Power’s 40th poleRead More