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(NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET) VENUE: BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (.533-MILE OVAL) CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 24 OF 36)
EVENT: AUG. 23, 2008 (500 LAPS, 266.5 MILES)

MEARS AT BRISTOL: Casey Mears, driver of the No. 5 Pop-Tarts/CARQUEST Chevrolet, earned his first top-10 finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007, during his first season with Hendrick Motorsports. Mears has made 11 total starts at the short track.

CRAZY GOOD: Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's most popular morning food product, will adorn the hood of the No. 5 Chevrolet this Saturday at Bristol. Pop-Tarts also was the co-primary sponsor of the No. 5 Chevy in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the team finished 13th.

AT BRISTOL: In seven previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, crew chief Alan Gustafson has coached the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team to one win, two top-five finishes and four top-10s.

MILESTONE VICTORY: The No. 5 team's Bristol victory, which was recorded March 25, 2007, marked several milestones. It was the first win for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, the 200th NASCAR win for Hendrick Motorsports and the 600th for manufacturer Chevrolet.

BRISTOL CHASSIS: Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-414 for Saturday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This is the same chassis that the team raced in Bristol's March event. In 2007, Chassis 5-414 also was tested at Atlanta Motor Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile.

HENDRICK AT BRISTOL: The last time a Hendrick Motorsports car failed to produce a top-10 result at Bristol happened on Aug. 26, 2000. At the time, the organization was a three-car team with Gordon, Terry Labonte and Jerry Nadeau. That is a streak of 16 consecutive Bristol races with a Hendrick car in the top 10. Since 1986, when Hendrick became a multi-car team, the organization has recorded a top-10 finish in all but five of the 45 Bristol races. Overall, Hendrick drivers have combined for eight wins, 36 top-five finishes, 66 top-10s and eight pole positions.

RIDE ALONG: The fourth annual Ricky Hendrick Memorial Charity Ride presented by AutoTrader.com will make its way to Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday. All event proceeds will benefit the Hendrick Foundation for Children and go toward the Levine Children's Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center. The 48-mile motorcycle ride will depart Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, S.C., at 11:30 a.m. local time (staging will begin at 7:30 a.m.). Cost is $25 per rider, which includes lunch courtesy of Mac's Speedshop, an event t-shirt and a concert by country music artist Blake Wise. For more information about the event, please visit www.hendrickcharityride.com.

FAMILY RACE NIGHT: Casey Mears will be at Food City's Family Race Night on Thursday in downtown Bristol, Tenn. Mears will sign autographs from 6:15-8:15 p.m. local time at the corner of Fifth and State streets.

AUTOGRAPHS: Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the Kellogg's/CARQUEST souvenir trailer at 4:25 p.m. local time on Saturday.

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET (ON THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BRISTOL NIGHT RACE.): "Bristol is a big race. It doesn't matter if it's the spring race or the night race, it's exciting. I treat every race like it's the same once I get out on the starting grid and into the race car, but there's definitely something about the Bristol night race. Anything can happen."

MEARS (ON WHY THE FANS LOVE BRISTOL.): "How could you not love a night race, first of all? This race, under the lights, is just so much more visually stimulating. There's an excitement level to this track and to this particular race that fans can't find anywhere else. There's a reason why tickets to this race are so hard to come by."

MEARS (ON THE RICKY HENDRICK MEMORIAL CHARITY RIDE.): "It's a great time. Anytime you get a chance to get on your bike and ride with a group is fun, but this deal is just really cool. It's a bunch of people getting together and having fun for a good cause. It's something Ricky would have been really in to."

MEARS (ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH RICKY HENDRICK.): "Ricky was a good, good friend of mine. He is actually one of the first friends I made when I moved to Charlotte. We became this group of guys that really did everything together, and Ricky was the one that held us together. You couldn't spend time with Ricky and not have fun. I still miss him all the time."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET (ON WHAT WINNING AT BRISTOL LAST SEASON MEANT TO HIM.): "There are certain racetracks that when you start in this sport, you want to win at. The unique tracks; the tracks that the sport was built on. And Bristol is definitely one of those tracks. Great drivers have won there and dominated there. It's fiercely competitive. There is so much action and so much that could happen. You have to be nearly perfect throughout the 500 laps. And we were able to do that. It's an accomplishment that I won't forget, and I don't think any of the other guys on this team will either."

GUSTAFSON (ON THE EFFECT OF THE TEAM'S VISIT TO VICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP LAST WEEK.): "I think anytime you can get the whole team together doing something fun and something completely away from the racetrack, it's a good, good thing. But above that, we were able to go to the camp, help them out, and interact with the kids. Victory Junction Gang Camp embodies the human spirit and all of the good things about it. It's really one of the great things this sport has going for it. I was incredibly impressed and moved by the experience."

GUSTAFSON (ON WHY THE FANS LOVE BRISTOL.): "I think the excitement of the race probably tops the list. But it's also the close proximity to the cars. The way the grandstands are built, it almost seems like the fans are sitting right on top of the track. They can't help but feel like they are actually a part of the race. It's a crazy atmosphere, and there are times when the crowd is louder than the cars, which is pretty impressive there. It's full of energy and constant action. It's a completely unpredictable night."

GUSTAFSON (ON HIS MEMORIES OF RICKY HENDRICK.): "Ricky had all of Mr. (Rick) Hendrick's qualities and values, which is wonderful. He was a happy and positive person. And he had a positive influence on a lot of people's lives. I wish I had known him better, but it really seems like, for the short time he was here, he made everyone's lives a little better."

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on 9-15-08 thru 9-21-08. To find out more about the auction, Click Here!

Rick Mears & The Mears Gang Book -- Buy It Here!
When purchased here -- Your book will come personally autographed by Rick Mears!

Through the eighties and into the early nineties he was known as the King of the Speedways and the maestro of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rick Mears won four Indianapolis 500s between 1979-1991 as well as three CART Indy car championships before retiring at the end of 1992 when he realized that a series of injuries had conspired to reduce his ability to operate at the maximum and to enjoy his sport to the fullest. Mears is one of very few great sportsmen who retired at the height of his career in the immediate aftermath of some of his greatest performances. Equally, when Rick stepped out of the cockpit he enjoyed a superlative reputation as one of the cleanest, most sportsmanlike race car drivers the world has ever known. “He was very polished,” says Mario Andretti in the book’s Prologue.

“He was probably one of the most correct drivers out there to race against. I always had the greatest respect for Rick Mears.” Rick’s story begins in Kansas in the post-WWII years where his mom and dad, Skip and Bill, were born and raised. Bill was an auto mechanic who loved to race and with his young wife’s complete support Bill became a very successful, weekend short track racer across Kansas and Oklahoma before migrating west to California in 1955 and settling in Bakersfield with his young family. Pretty soon, Skip and Bill’s sons, Roger and Rick, were racing; older brother Roger in stock cars and Rick on motorcycles. Bill supported their passion wholeheartedly, providing the motivation, shop, equipment and know-how to build his boys race cars and in the early seventies the ‘Mears Gang’ –as they became known †seriously made their mark in Southern California sprint buggy and off-road racing. Both of them also tackled Pike’s Peak and won. Roger and Rick had different driving styles and personalities.

Roger was an aggressive racer, like his father had been, while Rick was more laid-back, more analytical. Neither of them dreamed of becoming serious, professional racers, but in 1976 Rick got his big break thanks to safety equipment man Bill Simpson who gave Rick his first Indy car ride. Simpson saw the rare talent Rick possessed and got Mears’ Indy car career rolling before handing his contract with Rick over to Roger Penske at no cost in the fall of 1977. Rick became a Penske driver in 1978 and scored his first win in his third race with the team. He went on to win the 1979 Indy 500 and CART championship and establish an enduring relationship with Penske that lasted through and beyond his retirement from driving at the end of 1992. Ultimately, he won four Indy 500s (equalling the record set by A.J. Foyt and Al Unser), three CART championships and twenty-nine Indy car races, and was admired and respected not only as a superb driver and racer but as a rare gentleman on and off the track. Meanwhile, brother Roger went on to race Indy cars for a few years before focusing his career on off-road racing where he was an extremely successful owner/driver.

And the ‘Mears Gang’ tradition carries on today with Roger’s son Casey racing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series with the all-powerful Hendrick Motorsports Team where he’s teamed with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. In ‘Rick Mears • Thanks’, veteran racing writer Gordon Kirby, the U.S. editor of Motor Sport, tells the whole story of Rocket Rick Mears and the Mears Gang’s journey from dirt tracks to superspeedways. And the book also shows us how a sportsman or woman should behave as a professional and as a human being. Enjoy the read and the ride.

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