Mears Turns In an Unofficial Record of 213.371 M.P.H. at Indy

Rick Mears, preparing for his first race since a devastating crash that threatened his career, demonstrated Wednesday that he’s ready to defend his Indianapolis 500 championship as he posted an unofficial record run of 213.371 m.p.h.

Mears recorded his quick time in the final hour of practice after zipping his yellow Cosworth-powered March around the 2 1/2-mile oval at 211.864 and 212.514 earlier Wednesday.

“It feels about the same. The numbers are just different,” Mears said after his fast run. “I leaned on it a little bit to see what we could do and I had to lift to keep from hitting the fence in turn four. If you can be disappointed after something like that, I’m a little disappointed because I think I could have had (2)14.”

Mears, who has placed fifth or better in five of the past six years here, with victories in 1979 and 1984, has been gaining speed each day in preparation for Saturday’s opening of qualifying for the May 26 race.

Mears topped the previous unofficial mark of 212.816 recorded by Roberto Guerrero of Colombia on Tuesday. Both times were quicker than the official one-lap mark of 210.689 set by Tom Sneva in qualifying last year. Official records can be set only in the race or during a qualifying run.

Pancho Carter was the second quickest on a day when 24 cars topped 200 and 17 went above 205. Carter turned in 212.464 in his stock block Buick just before the track closed.

“We made some adjustments right at the end and went out to run a few hard laps to see where we were,” Carter said.

Mears and Carter weren’t the only drivers gaining speed on the fifth practice day. Danny Sullivan, a teammate of Mears this year, had his quickest time of the month at 211.515 in another March-Cosworth. Defending national champion Mario Andretti had his fast lap at 211.565.

Veteran A.J. Foyt, going after his 28th start and the only driver to win four times at the 2 1/2-mile oval, had his top time of the month in a March-Cosworth. However, his 203.022 was one of the day’s slower times.