Slow Baja27 Maalis 2021

Racer Roger Mears On Bakersfield Baja His Famous Brother And The Mears Gang

Inducted in the 2020 Off-Road Motorsports Hall Of Fame, Roger Mears is the eldest son of racer Bill Mears and the older brother of four-time Indianapolis 500 Champion Rick Mears. Roger drove buggies, midgets, stock cars, sprint cars and competed in the Indy 500 twice in his long career. He made his mark in offroad racing and was a constant threat in both short course and desert racing.

Mears built and raced the Nissan trucks and won twenty World Off-Road Championships at Riverside International Raceway. Think motocross meets Baja in front of 60,000 fans. It was wheel-to-wheel-racing, with great sponsors, factory support, and the sport's best drivers. His first Baja race was in 1973, "my brother Rick and I showed up with a couple of spare tires and gas cans and just fell in love with the place." Mears went on to win four Baja 1000's, five Pikes Peak Hill Climbs, two HDRA/SCORE series titles, and the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series Truck title.

We stopped to see Roger when we were driving through Bahia de Los Angeles on the 2021 BajaXL Rally. He and his wife Carol have been living in BOLA for years. The conversation flowed easily; he was humble about his successes and honest about his struggles. His deep reverence for his family -his father Bill, younger brother Rick, and his sons Casey and Roger Jr were genuine and refreshing. I only called him Rick once, and we laughed about it!

Enjoy the conversation with Roger Mears.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(185)

4x Fred Williams Jeeps Vs Land Cruisers

For nearly 25 years, Fred Williams has chronicled the world of trucks—often by taking them to places they probably weren’t meant to go. He’s perhaps best known for driving a diesel Jeep called “Tubeso...

3 Loka 1h 2min

Johnny Johnson Revisited

Here’s one of my favorite Slow Baja conversations --Johnny Johnson from February 2023, recorded at the Chenowth Legacy Lodge. Sadly, Johnson passed a few months after we made this recording. Please wa...

17 Syys 1h 5min

Chuck Skewes Sailing The Baja Ha-Ha!

Chuck Skewes grew up on Vashon Island, spending his childhood surrounded by boats and learning to sail in El Toros—the tee-ball equivalent for sailors. He developed a passion for racing and was a high...

18 Elo 52min

Filmmaker Eric Ebner On Making "The Bull"

“A secret spot in Baja California, hundreds of miles from civilization. An old milk van converted into the perfect surfing mobile. A 67-year-old man, at the peak of his physical fitness and in line wi...

30 Heinä 53min

Travel Talk: Dogs In Baja: What You Need To Know With Josiah Roe

Big thanks to Baja Bound Insurance for their support, which has allowed me to bring back Travel Talk, my occasional series on travel-related topics. Today’s show is all you need to know about bringing...

17 Heinä 15min

Chris Collard Architect Of Adventure Part II

Chris Collard is an internationally published journalist and photographer whose career has deeply immersed him in the world of off-road adventure, overland travel, and sharing the lives of those who d...

10 Heinä 59min

Chris Collard Architect Of Adventure

24 Kesä 1h

Hank Morton Sponsor Spotlight: Baja Bound Insurance

Hank Morton joined Baja Bound shortly after he graduated from college in the mid-90s. Between jobs, his goal was to teach himself coding while taking his father's small brick-and-mortar Mexico Driving...

29 Touko 1h