- Articles on Barney Oldfield
- Barney Oldfield Scrapbook Overview
- Oldfield 1906
- Oldfield Suicide Attempt
- Barney Oldfield and Lincoln Beachey
- Barney Oldfield Autobiography - Saturday Evening Post
- Barney Oldfield's 1910 Land Speed Record
- The Vanderbilt Cup
- Oldfield's Late Career
- Barney Oldfield and the Indy 500
- Oldfield - Petersen Collection
- Various Oldfield Races & Items
- Tom Cooper
- Articles on Early Track Racing
- Sigur Whitaker Articles
- Atlanta Speedway
- Miscellaneous Track Races
- 1906 Benefit Race
- Oval Vs. Road Racing
- 24 Hours of Indianapolis
- 24 Hours of Brighton Beach
- AAA Articles
- Driver Profiles
- Ken Parrotte Research
- William Borque
- Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway
- Joan Cuneo by Elsa Nystrom
- Automobile Advertising
- Louis Chevrolet
- The First Mile-A-Minute Track Lap
- Non-Championship Oval Track Races - 1905
- The Lost Championship of 1905
- 1908 Track Racing
- Astor Cup - 1916
- Playa Del Rey Board Track
- 40's - 60's Feature Articles
- Early Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- IMS Construction
- Brickyard Personalities
- Good Roads Movement
- Early Indianapolis Auto Industry
- Joe Dawson
- Carl Graham Fisher
- Fisher Automobile Company Ads
- Allison, Newby and Wheeler
- Prest-O-Lite
- Ernie Moross
- 1909 Balloon Race
- Indianapolis Motorcycle Races - 1909
- First Auto Races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - August 1909
- Failed 1909 Air Show
- Becoming the Brickyard
- December 1909 Time Trials
- IMS Planning - 1910
- March 1910 Indianapolis Auto Show
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 1910
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway Summer 1910
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway Aviation Show - June 1910
- July 1910 Race Meet
- Indianapolis Race Teams - Summer 1910
- September 1910 Race Meet
- Indianapolis Balloon Races - 1910
- First Indianapolis 500 - 1911
- 1913 Indianapolis 500
- Packard Speed Record
- Brooklands
- Dario Resta
- Indianapolis Harvest Classic
- Wheeler-Schebler Trophy
- Early Road Racing
- American Grand Prize
- Savannah
- Glidden Tour
- Pioneers
- Hill Climb Races
- Fairmount Park
- Coppa Florio
- Daytona - Ormond Speed Trials
- Beach Racing
- Horseless Age 1905
- James Gordon Bennett Cup
- Vanderbilt Cup
- Lowell Road Race
- The French Grand Prix
- 1908 - New York to Paris
- Cuban Road Race
- Cobe Trophy
- Obscure Early American Road Races
- The Cactus Derby
- Briarcliff, NY Road Race
- Isle of Man
- David Bruce-Brown Obituary
- A Woman's Ride In A Racing Car
- Mark Dill's Articles
I've Got Your Back
Article Categories
Relevant Content
- Empire Motor Car Company
- The Belond Special
- Indy 500 Pace Car Drivers
- Auburn Museums
- Pace Car Crash!
- ASPAR
- The Blue Crowns
- The First "500" Woman Driver
- More Sauerkraut
- You Ruined my Sauerkraut!
- "The British at Indianapolis" Book Review
- The Twin Cities Motor Speedway
- The Miami 12 Engine
- Thunder At Sunrise - Book Review
- Eddie Rickenbacker Paves the Speedway
- Montauk
- Rickenbacker's Pace Car
- Rickenbacker Buys IMS
- Cocolobo Cay Club
- Whitaker on Race Against Time and Death
- The Brickyard Crossing
- The Winningest Driver
- Ferrari
- Carl Fiisher Car Promotions
- Carl Fisher and His Elephants
- Carl Fisher, Master Promoter
- Sigur Whitaker Reviews "Master Driver of the World"
- Bessie Lee Paoli
- 1955 - Year of Tragedy
- Umbrella Mike
- Lucy O'Reilly Schell
- A Jeopardy - Type Question (Paula Murphy)
- The Astor Cup Story
- The Great Zoline Caper
- Sigur Whitaker on Prest-O-Lite
- IMS Radio History
- IMS Pagoda History
- Sigur Whitaker on the Golden Submarine
- The Fulford-Miami Speedway
- Book Review--Barney Oldfield, The Life and Times of America's Legendary Speed King by William F. Nolan
- Cummins, Part 2
- Cummins Special
- The Great Zoline Caper
- Book Review: Mark Donohue, Technical Excellence at Speed
- Why a balloon is painted on the side of a restroom at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Indy Autonomous Challenge
- Book Review: Victory Road: The Ride of My Life by Helio Castroneves
- Polo at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Tradition of the Indianapolis 500 winner drinking milk
- Kissing the Bricks Tradition
- Maude Yagle--Ahead of Her Time
- Speedway, Indiana
- Book Review: The Legend of the First Super Speedway
- The Great Speedway Heist (Almost)
- He Drives A Duesenberg
- The Miami Aquarium Inbox
- Hitting on all cylinders Inbox
- Book Review: Beast, by Jade Gurss
- The Year Team Penske Did Not Make the Indianapolis 500
- The Long Downward Spiral
- Book Review: Rick Mears Thanks. The Story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang by Gordon Kirby
- Orville Redenbacher and Tony Hulman
- 1941 fire in Gasoline Alley
- The Newby Oval
- Tony Hulman and the formation of USAC
- How the Indianapolis Motor Speedway became "The Brickyard"
- Book Review: The Legend of the First Super Speedway, the Birth of American Auto Racing by Mark Dill
- Creating a SAFER barrier
- Celebrating 50 years as Team Penske
- Carl Fisher's Turkey Run
- Duesenberg Sets Endurance Test Record
- When Mark Met Roger
- Book Review: Al Unser, Jr., A Checkered Past as told to Jade Gurss
- The Motorcycle Ride
- Wilbur Shaw
- The Duesenberg Days
Search
Featured Article
Image of The Week
Rick Mears started driving for Roger Penske on a part time basis in 1978. Previous to joining Team Penske, Mears had driven on a limited basis for Bill Simpson and Theodore Racing (Teddy Yip, Sr.). His talent soon became apparent. In his first year with Penske, he won three of the eleven races in 1978, finished second twice, and was the Co-Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500 after finishing 23rd. In 1979, he won the Indianapolis 500 (Penske’s 2nd). Mears also won back-to-back CART championships in 1981 and 1982 and his second Indianapolis 500 in 1984.
As the 1984 season was winding down, Mears was practicing for a road race at Sanair, a small 7/8th mile trioval, about 50 miles from Montreal. Just a half hour into the opening practice, he was trying to pass Bobby Rahal who was running with Scott Brayton. Suddenly he spotted Corrado Fabi warming up on the track in front of him. Fabi was picking up speed and Mears clipped him. Mears’ car went airborne before slamming into the asphalt surface and sliding about 200 feet underneath the guardrail. The front end of the car was destroyed as the nose ripped out a retaining post as it slid down the track.
When the safety crew reached Mears, he was slumped in the car unconscious. Ominously his feet were sticking out of the front end of the car. It took a while for the safety crew to extract Mears from his destroyed racer. Penske and Dr. Steve Olvey, Championship Auto Racing Teams’ medical director, joined Mears in the track ambulance for the ride to the hospital. It was a very short trip. The track ambulance couldn’t be driven on the public highway so they had to wait for another ambulance to take him to the hospital.
Dr. Olvey quickly realized that the small St. Pie-du-Bagot hospital was not equipped to treat Mears’ injuries. At Dr. Olvey’s urging, Penske chartered a Forest Service helicopter to ferry Mears to a Montreal hospital. The outlook was dire. Not only did Mears have a concussion but his feet had been crushed in the accident and both Achilles tendons had been detached. The doctors at the hospital believed the treatment plan should be amputation of both feet.
Penske quizzed Dr. Olvey about his treatment recommendation. Dr. Olvey urged Penske to fly orthopedic surgeon Dr. Terry Trammell to Montreal from Indianapolis in his private jet for a second opinion. Dr. Trammell believed that despite the severity of the injuries, Mears’ feet could be saved. Mears was transported to Indianapolis in Penske’s Learjet where Dr. Trammell performed multiple surgeries on Mears’ feet. Dr. Trammell used techniques developed for severe hand injuries. Both feet were held together by screws and narrow wires. He also re-attached both of Mears’ Achilles tendons. Mears spent nearly four months in Methodist Hospital undergoing multiple surgeries and rehabilitation.
Not only did Penske get Mears the medical attention he needed to save his feet, he also told Mears that he had a job when his feet were finally healed. Although Penske never said “I’ve got your back” to Mears, he conveyed it through his actions.
Mears would return to racing on ovals only in 1985. He would win two more Indianapolis 500s for Roger Penske (1988 and 1991).
Looking forward to the release of my newest book, Racing with Roger Penske. Stay tuned for an announcement in the not too far future. The books will be available from your local bookstore or on line at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
If you know of someone who would enjoy this article, please forward it to them. If someone sent this to you and you would like to be added to my subscriber list, please let me know at sigurwhitakerbooks881@gmail.com.