#66 - Casey Mears

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 27, 2001) - American Casey Mears, a 23-year-old Dayton
Indy Lights Series and Indy Racing League veteran, will drive the
Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard beginning with Texaco/Havoline
Grand Prix of Houston.

It will be the #66 entry's first race since a horrific accident in Lausitz,
Germany Sept. 15 involving two-time series champion Alex Zanardi, and Mears'
first CART FedEx Championship Series appearance since his fourth-place
finish for Team Rahal at last year's season finale at Fontana, Calif.
Zanardi lost both of his legs in the incident during the closing laps of the
American Memorial 500, but is recovering exceptionally well in Berlin
Marzahn Hospital. The team withdrew his car at last weekend's stop in
Corby, England.

"Obviously, we've got a very close eye on how things are progressing with
Alex's recovery. Apparently all the thoughts and prayers people keep
sending his way are working, because he is in relatively good spirits and
doctors expect a full recovery, aided with the use of artificial legs," said
team owner Morris Nunn. "Alex's wife, Daniela, has strongly urged us to
continue with the Pioneer-WorldCom car. And although judgment, being the
better part of valor, led us to withdraw the car last weekend, we are
looking to come back strong at Houston with young American Casey Mears."

Mears, according to Nunn, was one of the strongest candidates to take over
the #66 car because, among other criteria, he had strong showings last
season at Houston, Laguna Seca and Fontana - three of the final four stops
on this season's CART circuit. Mears won the Indy Lights pole at Houston
and Laguna Seca in 2000, winning the race at Houston and finishing second at
Laguna Seca. He followed that with a near-podium finish in his Champ Car
debut at Fontana.

"Casey's experience at those three events was a big plus for him in our
search for a driver," Nunn said. "Plus, he already has a strong
relationship with our sponsor WorldCom, and it's a great opportunity for us
to showcase a young American driver."

Mears' Indy Lights victory at Houston and runner-up finish at Laguna Seca
propelled him to a third-place finish in the series point standings and
helped earn him an Indy Racing League ride with WorldCom sponsorship for
three events this season. There, he drove for Galles Racing as teammate to
former CART champion Al Unser, Jr., and fellow IRL rookie and Indy Lights
graduate Didier Andre. His only finish was 11th at Homestead while an
electrical problem cut short his day at Phoenix, and an accident took him
out of the race at Atlanta.

"First of all, I just want to say I was shocked, along with the rest of the
racing universe, at what happened to Alex," said Mears, who resides in
Bakersfield, Calif., and is the son of off-road racing champion and two-time
Indy 500 starter Roger Mears, as well as the nephew of four-time Indy 500
winner and three-time CART champion Rick Mears. "Alex has an incredible
amount of fans and loyal supporters, and I am definitely one of the biggest.
With that, I am very thankful for this tremendous opportunity. Fortunately,
we get to start this run at racetracks that I am very familiar with. I'm
looking forward to driving for Mo Nunn, and I just hope I can help carry on
the legacy of Alex Zanardi."

Officials from Pioneer Electronics USA and WorldCom were delighted at the
prospects of the youthful Mears taking over the reins of their #66 Mo Nunn
Racing entry beginning with the Grand Prix of Houston.

"Pioneer fully supports Morris Nunn's decision to bring Casey to the team
for the remainder of this season," said Ed Sachs, executive vice president
of Pioneer's Mobile Entertainment Division. "As you can imagine, there were
many drivers to consider. However, with Casey's experience on three of the
four remaining circuits, he became the natural choice. Pioneer is excited
to see American driver Casey Mears get this opportunity and we wish him the
best of luck."

"We've supported Casey for a couple of years, now, so it's obviously no
secret that we believe in this young race car driver," added Andy Deas,
director of WorldCom's Sports Marketing division. "We're proud to do our
part as he finally gets his chance to be recognized and prove to us all how
he can perform on the variety of circuits that remain in the FedEx World
Series."

The CART FedEx Championship Series resumes Oct. 5-7 on the streets of
downtown Houston, Round 18 of 21 on the 2001 schedule

Clearly the intention is that if he shows strongly he will have the #66 ride for 2002 as well. I wish him well, but isn't it amazing how many families there are in American (ie NASCAR, CART, IRL) racing? Andretti, Fittipaldi, Gordon, Jarrett, Mears, Unser, Hill (Phil and Derek), Villeneuve and Burton to name but a few.

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Clearly the intention is that if he shows strongly he will have the #66 ride for 2002 as well. I wish him well, but isn't it amazing how many families there are in American (ie NASCAR, CART, IRL) racing? Andretti, Fittipaldi, Gordon, Jarrett, Mears, Unser, Hill (Phil and Derek), Villeneuve and Burton to name but a few.

Yep, and if you check around just a tad you will undoubtably find that F-1 had a few also. Some successful and some less so. But face it: it can happen in the best of families.

Uh, perhaps quite recently too.

Old Clunker

I hate to see anyone get a drive in this kind of situation but I hope Mears does better than Gidley now he has his chance.

As a weird little side note, I have read that Zanardi was the first one on the phone to Sir Frank after Senna was killed ... and received a rather shocked "No thank you" for his pains. Wonder if Mears was on the phone that fast?

And did you know that Clay Reggazoni (that's misspelled and I admit it) was also racing for Mo Nunn when he had his accident in which he lost the use of his legs?

Casey Mears hasn't really convinced me. He was in IndyLights for long enough to have more success than he did. A lot of the time in 2000, he struggled to keep up with Bright and Bell (who were both rookies). The reliability and better luck (ie. not getting crashed into at the first corner) allowed him to finish second.

Having said that, he was reasonably impressive at Fontana that year. Mind you, he was in a Rahal car with a very good setup to work off (Brack's and Papis's).

Good luck to him. It will pain me to see someone else driving the #66 Pioneer Worldcom Mo Nunn Racing Reynard Honda.