US Open W Col. And there's Rick Mears up ahead of me. For Rick Mears, racing was not about experiencing high-speed excitement. Rick Mears won three CART national championships. I hear about a 'love of speed' from people who don't race.
Speed has nothing to do with it.
It's the competition for me. Beating the competition often didn't prove to be a problem. But it was his ability to four times win the big one, the Indy 500, that made Mears an auto-racing star. Only two other drivers have as many Indy 500 victories, but neither Al Unser Sr. nor A.J. Foyt attained his success in as short a span. Mears won his four races before turning 40.