ELIAS HOF

specializing in the hammer throw.

None of them were wearing as many rings at the luncheon at Mechanics Bank Arena, announcing the four inductees, as Bill Mears, who showed off four garish finger-ornaments won by his progeny.

The Mears boys apparently came by their need for speed honestly.

“I raced jalopies and stuff in Wichita, Kansas; Tulsa, Okla.; Kansas City ... I’m driving 1,000 miles a week and working every day at Chevrolet, as a mechanic,” Bill Mears said. “I was 17 years old.”

Surely a highway patrol officer has asked for his license and registration at some point.

“Well, a cop stopped me once for speeding,” he admitted. “I’m pulling off the road and just slammed on my brakes. He run into the back of me and didn’t give me no ticket. He was mad — mad at himself.”

Mears does not recommend speeders try that strategy.

Casey Mears, who has started 489 races in his 15year career in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, is not the only other Mears still racing. His brother, Roger Mears Jr., has started 23 races in four different NASCAR circuits, according to RacingReference.info.

The Bob Elias Hall of Fame awards dinner will take place Feb. 19 at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Tickets, which go on sale in January, are $80 and up. For details, visit kcsportshalloffame.org.

NICK ELLIS / FOR THE VOICE NICK ELLIS / FOR THE VOICE Track coach Scott Semar accepts his medallion as a 2020 inductee into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame at the Dec. 12 luncheon. Bill Mears, 91, shows off four of his family’s racing championship rings at a Dec. 12 luncheon announcing the four 2020 inductees — Mears’ grandson Casey Mears among them — into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame. The induction dinner is Feb. 19.