NASCAR’s Casey Mears relives his childhood with a 1923 Ford roadster

Photos by Jim Fluharty of NASCAR Illustrated.

For NASCAR’s Casey Mears, the family car that stood out the most from his childhood was a 1923 Ford track roadster, built in 1982 and purchased by his father Roger in the early 1980s. Casey remembered the car because, even at age 5, he was able to reach the pedals; later, it would be one of the cars he drove to high school. Sold off by Roger around 1996, Casey never gave up his mission of tracking the car down, and it returned to Mears family ownership in 2007.

Blame his love for the open-wheel roadster on his early racing experience as well. Though Casey is best known for his career in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, his start in racing came in karts, followed by Sprint cars, where Casey captured the USAC championship in just his second season behind the wheel. About the time his dad Roger was selling the 1923 Ford, Casey was trying to carve out a career in open-wheel racing, competing in the IndyLights series (where he’d finish second in the 1999 championship). In 2000, he finished fourth in his CART debut, driving for Team Rahal at California Speedway, and the following season he ran in the Indy Racing League before finishing his year in the CART series as a substitute driver for the injured Alex Zanardi.

By the time Casey found the 1923 Ford roadster in 2007, he was well established as a NASCAR driver, giving him the resources needed to reacquire the car. As for modifications, Casey had the interior redone and added wheels that were more “period correct,” but even the professional racer admits that the 289-cu.in. Ford V-8 makes plenty of horsepower in its current state. In his own words, “the thing flies,” the usual outcome of stuffing a tuned V-8 into a car that consists of little more than a frame, a few body panels and wheels.

As Mears points out in the video, his daughter is now about the same age he was when his father first purchased the car. His son is a few years away from reaching the pedals, but it’s a safe bet that both will ask for the keys once they’re old enough to drive. In good weather, there are certainly worse cars to drive back and forth to high school.

A tip of the hat to Steven Levine at NASCAR Illustrated for the video and the photos.

from Hemmings Daily - News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/1pZgl44

via IFTTT