Just Announced: Casey Mears Stands In for Jeff Gordon at Race of Champions. So you can leave your Gordon picks the way they are if you are ok with Casey Mears, otherwise you can edit your picks to something else.
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Casey Mears Stands In for Jeff Gordon at Race of Champions
Written by: Andrew CraskParis, France – 12/3/2004
The American team for this weekend’s Race of Champions all-star event at the Stade de France in Paris was thrown into disarray late Thursday with the news that NASCAR star Jeff Gordon would be unable to compete, but the team has now settled on Casey Mears as a replacement for the Hendrick Motorsports star.
Four-time NASCAR champion Gordon withdrew from the event after coming down with a severe case of flu, which necessitated an overnight stay in hospital on Wednesday. Mears, 26, competed in the ROC for Team USA last year alongside Boris Said and Travis Pastrana. The son of off-road star Roger Mears and nephew of Hall of Fame Indy car star Rick Mears joins fellow NASCAR Nextel Cup racer Jimmie Johnson on this year’s American squad.
Meanwhile, some of the drivers previously scheduled to compete Saturday for this year’s star-studded Race of Champions had their first opportunity on Friday to test the spectacular figure-of-eight circuit specially laid out for the event at the Stade de France, Paris (Michael Schumacher and the Team USA pair arrive on Saturday morning). They found the 1km all-asphalt track extremely challenging, and the prospect of competing in the 62,000-capacity stadium uniquely stimulating.
The Race of Champions course will match up some of the world's best drivers on this figure-8 stadium course.
“I think it’s going to be a terrific show,” enthused 2004 World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb. “It’s a great idea to put a track here, in the Stade de France, here in the center of Paris. The track itself is quite narrow and the cars will slide, which is nice for the spectators.
“I spent my runs this afternoon getting accustomed to the different cars we will be driving on Saturday. I obviously know the Citroën Xsara WRC, but the controls of the Peugeot 307 WRC are a bit different and the Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge and the ROC cars are very different altogether. It would be nice to win; I will do my best to win, but the important thing is the show.”
Scottish rally ace Colin McRae added, “It’s going to be great fun. The track is challenging and it will be important to have a good feeling with the different cars. If it stays dry it shouldn’t be too slippery. It’s the first time I’ve ever set foot in the Stade de France. Today the grandstands were empty, but in a front of a packed house tomorrow the atmosphere promises to be really great.”