Introduction
Roger Mears (born March 24, 1947 in Wichita, Kansas), is a former off-road driver who also drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1978–1984 seasons, with 31 combined career starts, and started in the 1982 and 1983 Indianapolis 500s. He finished in the top ten 17 times, with his best finish in 4th position achieved 3 times.
Following his IndyCar career, Mears returned to desert racing. Late in his career, he raced in four events during the 1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series season, racing for Hendrick Motorsports, including the inaugural series race at Phoenix. His best career finish, however, was a 16th at Mesa Marin.
Roger is the father of NASCAR driver Casey Mears, and is 5 years older than his brother, Rick Mears, a 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
Racing record
American open–wheel racing results
(key)
Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 |  PIR1 |
TRE1 |
 MOS |
MIL1 26 |
TEX |
MIL2 22 |
OMS1 15 |
OMS2 |
TRE2 |
PIR2 |
51st | 10 |
USAC
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Beith Racing | Eagle 72 | Offenhauser L4t | PHX1 | ONT1 | TXS1 | TRE1 | INDY | MOS | MIL1 | POC | MIS1 | ATL | TXS2 | MIL2 | ONT2 6 |
MIS2 | TRE2 | SIL | BRH | PHX2 DNS |
25th | 400 |
CART
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Patrick Racing | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth DFX V8t | PHX | ATL1 | ATL2 | INDY | TRE1 | TRE2 | MIS1 | MIS2 | WGL | TRE3 | ONT Ret |
MIS3 | ATL3 | PHX2 | NC | 0 | ||
| 1980 | Hodgdon Racing | McLaren M24 | Cosworth DFX V8t | ONT 9 |
24th | 272 | |||||||||||||||
| Grant King Racers | Kingfish 73 | Chevrolet V8 | INDY DNQ |
MIL | POC | MDO 4 |
MIS | WGL Ret |
MIL Ret |
ONT2 | MIS2 | MEX | PHX | ||||||||
| 1982 | Machinists Union Racing Team | Penske PC-9B | Cosworth DFX V8t | PHX 8 |
MIL Ret |
CLE Ret |
9th | 103 | |||||||||||||
| Penske PC-7 | ATL 4 |
MIS Ret |
MIL2 Ret |
POC 9 |
RIV 4 |
ROA 8 |
MIS2 8 |
||||||||||||||
| Penske PC-10 | PHX2 7 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983 | Machinists Union Racing Team | Penske PC-10 | Cosworth DFX V8t | ATL 7 |
INDY Ret |
MIL 8 |
CLE 6 |
MIS DNQ |
ROA 8 |
POC Ret |
RIV 9 |
MDO 12 |
MIS2 16 |
CEA 7 |
LS 6 |
PHX 16 |
12th | 43 | |||
| 1984 | Caliva Racing | March 84C | Cosworth DFX V8t | LBH DNQ |
PHX Ret |
NC | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Machinists Union Racing Team | Penske PC-10 | INDY DNQ |
MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | MIS | ROA | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | PHX2 | LS | CEA |
Indianapolis 500
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Kingfish 73 | Chevrolet V8 | DNQ | Grant King Racers | |
| 1981 | Penske PC-7 | Cosworth DFX V8t | DNQ | Agajanian | |
| 1982 | Penske PC-9B | Cosworth DFX V8t | 19 | 32 | Machinists Union Racing Team |
| 1983 | Penske PC-10 | Cosworth DFX V8t | 8 | 28 | Machinists Union Racing Team |
| 1984 | Penske PC-10 | Cosworth DFX V8t | DNQ | Machinists Union Racing Team | |
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
SuperTruck Series
| NASCAR SuperTruck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | NCTC | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Hendrick Motorsports | 25 | Chevy | PHO 21 |
TUS | SGS | MMR 16 |
POR | EVG | I70 | LVL | BRI | MLW | CNS | HPT | IRP 24 |
FLM | RCH | MAR | NWS | SON | 46th | 382 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | MMR 29 |
PHO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||