Rick Mears in Racer2Racer

I just got finished reading a terrific article in the latest edition of RACER Magazine. This month's Racer2Racer article by Bryan Herta is with one of my racing heroes: Rick Mears. Mears was coming to the end of his stellar career as I was becoming interested in open wheel racing. While I was familiar with drivers like A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva, and others, it was Mears who was at the top of his game at the time. The way he raced, the way he conducted himself, and particularly the way he came back from horrible foot and lower leg injuries made him one of my heroes.

What really prompted me to write this post was something that Mears said in this interview and how much it contrasted with something that Dale Earnhardt Jr., someone considered a hero by many motorsports fans these days, said in an article I recently read. Earnhardt Jr. stated that blocking was part of racing (perhaps in not those exact words, but I can't find the article to get the exact quote). That is the way that NASCAR racing, particularly superspeedway racing is done these days and that just isn't what I grew up knowing as the sport of racing. This is what Mears had to say:

"Blocking is one of my pet peeves... To me, this is racing, it's not called blocking. Blocking takes no talent; the talent is in pulling away from your rival."

To read more of what he had to say, and for what more about racing should be, pick up the July 2009 issue of RACER magazine and read this article. The quote above sums up one of the reasons that I have almost lost interest in NASCAR's version of stock car racing.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net