Casey Mears is strapping into a new ride for 2006. Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

10 Questions: Mears

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Last weekend, Chip Ganassi Racing's Casey Mears got the best possible kickoff to any race driver's season -- a victory in one of the most high-profile motorsports events in the world.

	Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers The NASCAR performance of the No. 42 car since 1975 Starts 496 Wins 7 Top-5s 41 Top-10s 141 Note: The most recent win for the No. 42 car was by Joe Nemechek at New Hampshire on Sept. 19, 1999.

Mears, who drives Ganassi's No. 42 Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series, teamed with a pair of CGR Indy car drivers, defending Indy Racing League champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 champ Scott Dixon, to win the 44th Rolex 24 At Daytona.

In just a week, Mears will be back at Daytona for the stock car portion of Speedweeks 2006, where he'll attempt to win his first Cup victory in the Feb. 19 Daytona 500.

But in the aftermath of his rousing victory in the 24-hour sports car event and during a break in Nextel Cup testing in Las Vegas, Mears paused to answer 10 questions not necessarily connected to his racing career.

1. What's your favorite outdoor activity?

Mears: I've got so many that I like, but my favorite one is probably just riding motorcycles. Whether it's a dirt bike or a Harley, I just like getting out and riding to the mountains or going to a track.

Q: From what I understand, that dirt bike experience you had last winter, down on the Baja Peninsula, really gave you a trip of a lifetime, didn't it?

Mears: Yeah. To me that was the ultimate and I really, really enjoyed that. You got to get away and to just see things that you wouldn't ordinarily see, anywhere else, so it was fun.

2. What are your favorite recent movie and your favorite all-time flick?

Mears: God, I've seen so many good movies lately, but probably my favorite movie lately is Wedding Crashers. That was hilarious.

Honestly, that's the first one that comes to mind, because I thought it was probably one of the funniest movies, but as far as being the best movie that I've seen -- I know that I've seen a couple movies lately that I really thought were awesome and I can't think of the titles right now.

That's bugging me, because I always have a hard time, but my favorite all-time movie is Tombstone.

Q: Where you and your buddies ever into crashing parties -- not necessarily weddings?

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Mears: Crashing parties? Uhh, sure -- when we were in high school we'd go and just show up if we heard a party was going on.

3. What's your favorite section of public road in the United States?

Mears: Wow, that's tough, but actually, one thing that I really enjoy is (U.S. Highway) 421 and (N.C. Highway) 321 coming back from or going to Bristol -- going through the mountains.

Q: You know, when I asked that question that's one possibility I was thinking of, because that's a neat area of the country, don't you think?

Mears: One time coming back from Bristol I was driving Jimmie Johnson's (BMW) M5 and Matt Kenseth had, like, a Roush Mustang and we had a great time coming back from Bristol one time.

Q: Sounds like a time when I hope there wasn't much traffic on the road, but have you ever taken a bike to Bristol?

Mears: Oh yeah -- I've done that same ride, that way. It's a beautiful ride. It's a fun road and there's a lot of cool scenery to look at.

4. If you had one race to win, who would you want behind the wheel -- and why?

Mears: If I was a car owner? Who would I pick to drive my car out of everyone I know? Like, who do I think is the best driver out there?

Probably Jimmie Johnson, for several reasons. I mean, he can get the job done and I know he can drive several different types of race cars.

And he's a good friend of mine and I like the way he handles himself. So from top to bottom, he'd probably be the guy I'd want to put in there.

Mears celebrates his Rolex 24 win with teammates Dan Wheldon (left) and Scott Dixon. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

5. Up to the age of 15, who or what do you feel made the greatest impact on your life?

Mears: Without a doubt, my dad and my mom, really. You know, I think my dad is, like, 56 now and I don't know if that counts.

But my mom and dad really had the biggest impact on my life. They've really structured things and that's how I learned how to live and how to react to people -- not only just in personal situations, but also a lot in racing.

So it would be my parents, for sure.

6. If you could go back in time, which period would you most like to live in?

Mears: I think the '50s just because I think back then the racing -- there was so much evolution going on and so much learning -- it was still wide-open.

Things that you could do to cars back then were so much more wide-open and you weren't so restricted by the rules.

And just the lifestyle -- things were more innocent back then, you know?

But at the same time I like the looks of the old cars and the shapes of the cars in the '50s. That's when a lot of the stuff was starting to take a big turn.

In the early '30s and '40s things were pretty similar, but in the '50s you started to really see some drastic changes in automobiles and stuff.

7. What was your first job -- and what was your most vivid memory of it?

Mears: I did a lot of little things, but my first real job that I had was actually working in a car detailing business -- where you washed, waxed and vacuumed and did everything you needed to do to detail cars.

The first thing that I remember was the guy that worked there was going to let me buff out a car for the first time. And you had to be real careful so you didn't burn the paint and I'll never forget it.

It was a pretty nice car, and I was nervous as hell that he even let me start to buff on it a little bit. But anyway, we were trying to buff out some scratches and I burnt the paint a little bit (laughing).

So that's a pretty bad memory.

Q: So how did you end up resolving that?

Mears: It wasn't too bad, and he kind of caught it. He was right there with me and he kind of caught it when I did it and he went back over it and fixed it.

But I remember that as being the first thing that comes to mind when I think of that place. That's how you learn, I guess.

8. If possible, who would you trade places with -- and why?

Mears: Anybody in the world? I don't know, you know? Those questions are so hard for me, because I love so much doing what I do and I don't want to be anybody else.

But I think I'd want to be the next guy that wins the Lotto. I'd like to be him for the day (laughing).

9. What have you learned about yourself in the past year?

Mears: Man, I don't know (laughing). What have I learned about myself? I don't know -- I've known myself for a long time, so nothing's really coming to mind that I didn't already know, right now.

You know what I mean?

10. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment in NASCAR, to this point?

Mears: Probably up to this point, sitting on the pole at Indy was big, to me. I mean, with what that place has meant to my family, what my Uncle Rick has accomplished there and with my dad racing there -- that's a special place for me so to sit on the pole and run so well there was a pretty big deal.

Obviously, we want to win a race and that's all that we're aiming to do, so being able to lead laps and really contend to win races by the end of last year was a big accomplishment for me, as well.