Zippo 200 - Casey Mears Notes

PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 5 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL (2.45-MILE ROAD COURSE)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 24 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, AUG. 11, 2007 (82 LAPS, 200 MILES)

BACK TO THE VETERAN: Casey Mears returns to the NASCAR Busch Series this weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International after a three-week hiatus. Rookie Landon Cassill drove the National Guard Chevrolet in Mears' absence at Gateway International Raceway and O'Reilly Raceway Park.

FIRST START: Although Mears has competed sporadically in the Busch Series for the past seven years, he has never run at Watkins Glen. In fact, Mears has never competed in a Busch Series race on a road course.

CUP ON THE COURSE: Mears has raced in four NEXTEL Cup events at Watkins Glen International, posting a career-best finish of fourth in 2004. He has led eight laps and completed all but one in Cup competition.

HOMETOWN CREW CHIEF: Crew chief Chad Walter will return to his native state of New York this weekend. Walter was raised in Albion, where he played football and aided the team to four consecutive years without a loss. He then enrolled at Cornell University where he continued to play football as a defensive end before graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering.

THE RAINBOW DIVISION: Mears' No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet will honor the 42nd Infantry "Rainbow" Division this weekend at Watkins Glen. The division is spread over eight states, including New York, and its soldiers were among the first to respond to the terror attacks on the World Trade Center site in 2001. Afterward, it assumed command and control for response and recovery in lower Manhattan.

CHASSIS 389: Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 389 for Saturday's Busch Series race at Watkins Glen. Chassis 389 was tested at Road Atlanta by both Casey Mears and Max Papis.

* * * * * * * * *

CASEY'S CROWD: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Watkins Glen International.

* * * * * * * * *

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (WILL YOU BE ABLE TO TRANSFER WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED FROM PAST CUP RACES TO YOUR NATIONAL GUARD BUSCH CAR THIS WEEKEND?) "Sure you can. It's all relative. The Busch cars are going to be a little bit slower because they have less horsepower. For the most part, the same parts and pieces apply. If you can get around there good in a Cup car, you should be able to do the same in a Busch car."

MEARS: (ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH CREW CHIEF CHAD WALTER, A GRADUATE OF NEARBY CORNELL UNIVERSITY.) "Our relationship has grown quite a bit, just with getting to know him over this year. He's done a good job with bringing good race cars to the track. I think our relationship continues to grow and to get better. I'm interested to see how we're going to be on the road course and I know that the National Guard team is working hard to bring a good car."

* * * * * * * * * *

CHAD WALTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON GROWING UP NEAR WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL.) "I actually grew up going to short tracks and modified races as a kid, which is typical of upstate New York. I went to my first race at Watkins Glen with my cousin when I was in high school. It was a NASCAR race, and was really the first big race I had ever been to. I remember realizing how professional the sport was. Going to that race, at that time, opened my mind to a potential career avenue that I hadn't thought of before."

WALTER: (HOW DID GOING TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY HELP SHAPE YOUR CAREER?) "I actually started at Cornell as a landscape architecture major. Math and engineering had always come easy to me, but I never applied them career-wise. At the time, I was one of about 13 or 14 kids on a campus of 12,000 that knew anything about auto racing or would go as far to consider a career in it. Once I changed my major to engineering, I knew that working in racing was one of about three career routes that I wanted to pursue. The other two being working with a manufacturer, such as Chevrolet, or working as a shopping cart engineer. When I made my decision and moved to North Carolina in 1993, I never thought it would be a lifelong career, but I've been happy so far."

WALTER: (WHAT LESSONS DID FOOTBALL TEACH YOU?) "The biggest and most lasting impact was probably the fact that I never lost a game until my sophomore year of college. And that year we still won the Ivy League championship. I have an incredibly strong desire to win. I didn't know anything different until my sophomore year. I was fortunate to have great coaches that demanded hard work, teamwork and discipline. The results showed then and I still believe in it now."

WALTER: (WHEN YOU CAME TO WORK IN NASCAR, DID YOU TAKE A RIBBING FOR YOUR IVY LEAGUE BACKGROUND?) "I never really thought of myself as an outsider when I first moved down (to North Carolina). Even in 1993, there were crew guys from all over the country here. I actually had to downplay the fact that I had an engineering degree. I made it a point to work from the ground up to learn more about the cars and to earn the respect of the crew guys around me. Engineers weren't nearly as respected then as they are now in this sport and I didn't want to be seen as the guy who just sits behind a desk all day. I wanted to get my hands dirty with everyone else."