PERSONAL

Panther Racing team owner John Barnes knew he had something special in 2001 when he tested an unknown young Brazilian who had just dominated the South American F3 championship – winning a remarkable eight races. The test was at the intense, high-banks of Texas Motor Speedway – a daunting introduction to open-wheel racing for any aspiring driver.

Barnes knew it instantly: Vitor Meira was a fearless talent.

Since that night in Forth Worth, Meira has become one of the most consistent and skilled drivers in all the IndyCar Series. Meira, the face of Panther Racing since the team signed him to replace Tomas Scheckter before the 2006 season, has combined his precision with a timely aggression that keeps the attention of motorsports fans fixed on the No. 4 Delphi car.

Meira capitalized on Barnes giving him the opportunity to test a Panther car in 2001. When he came to Indianapolis that fall, he hadn’t expected to get a test from the defending league champions – he just wanted to make an introduction. But Barnes was so impressed with Meira he told him to join the team that week on the trip to Texas – where Panther was testing that year’s USAC champions. Meira had no suit and no helmet, but he wasn’t missing this chance.

With borrowed helmet and driver’s suit, he was last in a long line of drivers to test that day, and with the lights at Texas ablaze, he held on for several laps at over 210 mph. With an adrenaline rush like he’d never experienced, Meira knew that his career path was heading towards the predominately-oval American open-wheel scene. Barnes knew he’d found something in the young talent from Brasilia, Brazil – but Meira’s time in a Panther car would have to wait.

His first opportunity didn’t come with Panther, instead controversial team owner John Menard gave Meira his initial shot in the series in 2002. Meira, still new to the cars and racing on ovals, proved to be a quick study – and captured pole position at Texas in just his third career start. He finished third in that race, an accomplishment overshadowed by a masterful duel between Helio Castroneves and then-Panther driver Sam Hornish Jr. Panther won the race and the league championship that day, but little did everybody know the future face of the franchise would be the new Brazilian kid who just collected his first career IndyCar Series podium finish.

A year later with Menard, Vitor overcame a broken wrist during a test at Kentucky Speedway and came back to solidify himself as a success in the series. However, when Menard’s team closed its doo

Meira rewarded the team almost immediately after they signed him full-time at Kansas Speedway – in that race, he would battle over the last 20 laps with then-teammate Buddy Rice. The two teammates would spend the final laps of the race bettering the other by inches at the finish line, until on the last lap Rice came out ahead by 0.0051 of a second, the second-closest finish in IndyCar Series history.

Rahal rewarded Meira the following season in 2005 with his first full-season deal in the league, and Vitor responded with the best year of his career. While, in the newspaper, Meira was overshadowed by popular teammates Buddy Rice and rising star Danica Patrick, on the track he outshined both drivers – and finished seventh in the championship standings at the conclusion of the season, well ahead of both Patrick and Rice. Still, despite his success, Rahal cut Meira loose at the end of the year, and the time had come for Meira to return to the place where he got his start – Panther Racing.

Barnes was thrilled to finally have the opportunity and the availability to sign Meira before the start of the 2006 season. The situation, however, wasn’t ideal for the driver or the team. Panther had just lost support from Pennzoil and longtime backer General Motors – who elected to leave the series after over a decade of involvement. As Meira and his new team approached the start of the 2006 season, they had a skeleton crew, no sponsor, and none of the resources that empowered league stalwarts Andretti Green Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske.

But once the green flag few, that didn’t matter; Meira put the Panther boys back up front.

The team battled to a fifth place finish in the final championship standings – ahead of all four of AGR’s drivers and hot on the heels of both drivers from Ganassi and Penske. In a remarkable summer stretch, Meira collected eight consecutive Top Ten finishes, with five Top Fives – including running-up results at Watkins Glen and Richmond – in just his first nine starts.

Meira’s drive at Richmond was one of his best – he overcame equipment problems on each of his stops to climb back to the front of the field, diving below Dario Franchitti and nearly onto the infield grass to claim second place before a yellow flag ending his charge on race-leader Hornish. At Infineon, with championship hopes still alive, Meira moved from sixth place to third in one corner on a track that doesn’t lend itself to passing. Vitor was able to move past Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Castroneves in a single move and a cloud of tire smoke.

His seven Top Five and 12 Top Ten finishes were career-highs and he equaled Sam Hornish Jr.’s 2001 and 2002 team record for Top Tens in a season.

In 2007 Meira returned the team to form, and opened the season with a fourth place finish in Homestead. He followed up with another 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 – his fourth consecutive Top Ten at Indy – and consecutive fifth place results at Milwaukee and Texas. Despite a series of strong drives, some of Vitor’s best runs in 2007 would be shortened by equipment issues and bad luck. He led 72 laps at the inaugural event at Iowa Speedway before a suspension failure sent him home early. Two weeks later he would be the race leader at Watkins Glen, when a radio problem kept the No. 4 on the track too long, and another of Meira’s victory chances came up short. But, despite the struggle, Vitor stayed positive and continued to scrap for every inch on the racetrack – a characteristic that has become his signature.

Away from the track, Meira is an accomplished triathlete, and is often cycling on the roads around his home in Indianapolis. He races go-karts frequently, enjoys playing the Formula One Championship game on PlayStation3 and laughs aloud at television shows like “Family Guy” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Meira watches movies, and is known to quote Will Ferrell movies, including the popular “Anchorman”, to his friends around the shop. He is engaged to a beautiful Brazilian woman named Adriana and he drives an Acura MDX around town.

He spends as much time in Panther race shop as some of the team’s crewmen, insisting that, “I’d rather have friends working on my car than just some guy.” Meira stops and chats with every single Panther employee every time he comes to the shop – and he’s friends with all of them. Meira’s fans are diverse and worldwide, but since he joined Panther, his loudest supporters are a 50-something group of middle schools girls from Fishers, Indiana that call themselves the “Unofficial Vitor Meira Fan Club” – the past two seasons during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 they have worn identical “I Love Vitor” yellow t-shirts and chanted his name every time he appears in pit lane.

He is also active in charitable work, becoming auto racing’s first Special Olympics ambassador and holding a Brasilia Ambassador award – similar to a Golden Key Award – in Brazil. Meira also has auctioned off some of his most prized racing possessions – included a helmet hand-painted by Brazilian artist Romero Britto – to Best Buddies, a charity Panther has supported since it’s formation.

Vitor was named the inaugural winner of the IRL’s Rising Star Award, given in honor of the late Tony Renna.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

INDYCAR SERIES RACE-BY-RACE RESULTS