Birthdate: March 14, 1969
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, Reading, PA, Charlotte, NC, and
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Sex: M
Height: 6'-0"
Weight: 184 lb.
Icon? Legend? Superhero? Rover needs bigger titles than these.
After a few seasons of training behind the wheel of go-carts and Formula Fords, Rover made his professional racing debut in Formula 1, competing in the 1981 Long Beach GP at the tender age of thirteen. Rover rendered the sports world aghast by winning, and the rest is history. Victory at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing into the harbor only added to the legend at its infancy. He broke Jackie Stewart's all-time career win record of 27 at the 1987 French GP and since has more than doubled that figure. Among his most impressive records: winning the Brazilian GP nine straight years from 1982 to 1990. With four F1 World Driving Championships, he remains just one title away from tying the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950's.
Rover made his Indycar debut the following season, likewise with the Penske team, and won the first of his record six Indianapolis 500 victories as a rookie despite barrel-rolling his car across the start-finish line. He became the first driver to win the race three years in a row (1982-83-84), tied the record in 1986, and finally broke it in 1989, extending it in 1991. In a month fraught with unprecedented disasters, Rover was the only Penske team driver to qualify for the 500 in 1995. He has three Indycar championships to his credit.
Rover dabbled in endurance sportscar racing in 1984, winning both the 24 Hours of Daytona and Le Mans. That year also marked his stock car racing debut, which came with - what else - a victory in the Daytona 500, a feat he repeated in 1988 and 1992. He won the NASCAR Winston Cup title in his first two seasons on the circuit and has never finished outside the top ten in the season point chase.
Egotistical, brilliant, and hyper-energetic, Rover's legendary temper leads to more than his share of physical confrontations with race officials, political bigwigs, and occasionally fellow drivers (including Red Cat). His savage beatings of Formula 1 kingpin Bernie Ecclestone stem from a genuine love of the sport and hatred over anything threatening its sanctity. In a similar vein, he led the commando rescue of injured teammate Rick Mears from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and personally thwarted a foreign terrorist attack at the 1991 Daytona 500 amid all the Desert Storm hysteria.
Fans adore Rover and comprise a worldwide following unlike anything the racing world has ever seen. His multi-disliplined approach to the sport and his prowess in not just consistently finishing, but consistently finishing up front AND driving aggressively, make him a perennial favorite. The weekly transcontinental grind fuels his energy instead of sapping it. Conversely, this appeal makes him the target of hatred from powerful political figures like Ecclestone, who do not accept the fact that other forms of racing can compete favorably with one another.
Another part of Rover's appeal lies in his desire and ability for competing in multiple races around the world on the same day, having run in all three major series full-time since his Winston Cup debut in 1984. His hectic schedule reaches its zenith on Memorial Day weekend, where he often runs in a F1 Grand Prix in Mexico or Europe in the early morning, then flies back to the US for the Indy 500, followed by the World 600. This does not occur every year, but when the planets converge in this way, Rover stages his "Big Weekend" tour and normally wins at least one of the three events.
In contrast, as a parent, Rover earns less than stellar marks. Demanding to a fault, Rover expected way too much from Tyke too soon and burned his son out from racing at an age when Tyke was still younger than when Rover first started. Having Kerry and Rocket gives him two more chances to get it right.