Rick Mears spent some time recently walking through the reimagined, rebuilt and recently reopened museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which houses some of the cars and artifacts from his long and distinguished career in motorsports.
It was on the new lower level, though, which had been used as storage and off limits to guests, where the four-time Indy 500 winner had to pause. The only other drivers to win that many times are A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Helio Castroneves, and together one of the smallest clubs in auto racing had an entire wing dedicated just to them.
"It's unbelievable. It really is," Mears said. "First of all, I never dreamed of being included in a list like that to begin with, period, and to be there with all the four winners and the way it's done up, and watch videos of all four races and be involved with it - it brings back a lot of memories, to begin with. But it's just an honor to be a part of it."
The museum, tucked inside the 2.5-mile oval between Turns 1 and 2, closed for nearly 18 months as it underwent its first major renovation in four decades, and the product of the 60.5 million project was revealed to the public on April 2.
With the Indianapolis 500 on deck this weekend, thousands of fans are expected to flood through the seven permanent galleries, three rotating galleries and roughly 40,000 square feet of new space that houses new immersive and dynamic experiences.