Richard Ravon Mears[1] (born December 3, 1951) is an American former race car driver.

When the race began, Mears discovered his helmet was not strapped on tight enough and he had to pit to get it safely secured.

Because of his terrific showing as a rookie, Mears was elevated to full-time status for 1979 after teammate and series champion Tom Sneva and Penske parted company.

At Indianapolis he won his first "500", staying at the front of the field, taking advantage when Bobby Unser fell out of contention with mechanical trouble.

In 1980 the ground effect Chaparral was technologically more advanced than the other chassis, and Johnny Rutherford drove it to his 3rd Indianapolis 500 win, going on to dominate the season.

Mears finished in fourth place in the points with one win, scored at Mexico City.

Mears would later say in his memoir that although he felt that Brabham was a strong team and that he had the skill to compete for wins in Formula One he was unsure about moving to Europe and was still interested in oval racing as the main reasons for declining Eccelstone's offer.

Despite facial burns during a pit fire in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Mears' ten race victories in the two-year span were enough for another two Indycar championship titles.

With less than 20 laps to go, during Mears' final pit stop, the crew filled the entire tank rather than giving him only the amount he needed to finish.

Mears made up the difference when Johncock suffered handling problems, but failed to secure the win.

The photo-finish also muffled out the controversial pace-lap crash with teammate Kevin Cogan who appeared to have spun out for no apparent reason; fellow drivers such as Gordon Johncock, Johnny Rutherford, and Bobby Unser, charged Mears with causing the crash by bringing the field down at a slow pace.

Mears scored his second Indy win that May but suffered severe leg injuries later in the year in a crash at Sanair Super Speedway.

The March chassis, like most contemporary open-wheel racing cars, sat the driver far forward in the nose, with little protection for the legs and feet.

In 1988, after several years using the March chassis, the Penske team utilized a new car, the PC-17, with a Chevrolet racing engine.

Fittipaldi joined Mears at Penske for 1990, but the year belonged to Al Unser Jr., who scored six wins.

1990 was Mears' last in the Pennzoil paint scheme as Marlboro took over as sponsor of the team, and Jim Hall re-entered Indycar.