SYDNEY Former Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen will make a return to racing with Valtteri Bottas and Team Finland at Accor Stadium on March 7-8, after recovering from open heart surgery last year.

Kovalainens motorsport career was put on hold after he was diagnosed with ascending aortic aneurysm and was forced to have emergency surgery in March, 2024.

Almost 12 months to the day, Kovalainen will make a popular return to motorsport as Bottas teammate on a spectacular stadium track against some of the biggest names in world motorsport.

Bottas and Kovalainen, together, will compete against no less than three other former or current F-1 drivers including David Coulthard, Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

They will all go head-to-head on a spectacular AUD$2 million side-by-side 1km asphalt track which will be hand crafted by a team of local and international engineers to ensure maximum speed and entertainment for the anticipated 50,000-strong crowd.

Ironically, Kovalainen burst on to the international scene after winning the final of the 2004 Race Of Champions in France, where he beat both Michael Schumacher and Sébastien Loeb on his way to the title.

Two years later he teamed with Marcus Grönholm to win the ROC Nations Cup for Finland, beating Travis Pastranas Team USA in the final, again back in Paris.

In 2007 he moved full-time into F-1 with Renault and the following season was signed as Lewis Hamiltons teammate at McLaren, where he won his only Grand Prix in Hungary.

He spent another four seasons in F-1 before focusing his attention on Japan where he became a competitive driver in the Super GT500 Series. He won that championship in 2016 for Lexus Team SARD.

In recent years his attention has turned to rallying and this year he will compete in the Japanese Rally Championship with Rally Team AICELLO. That campaign will include the Japanese round of the World Rally Championship.

The Race Of Champions comes two weeks after the 2025 Supercars opener at Sydney Motorsport Park (Feb 21-23) and one week before the opening round of the F-1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16), creating a massive month of motorsport in Australia.

The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose-built 1 kilometer tarmac track taking center stage at Accor Stadium, Sydneys Olympic Stadium.

In Sydney, Kovalainen will be going head-to-head with no less than:

4-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel

F-1 legend and two-time Australian Grand Prix winner, David Coulthard

F-1 ace, Valtteri Bottas

9-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb

7-time Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup

Reigning Supercars champion, Will Brown

Extreme E champion, Molly Taylor

11-time X-Games Gold medalist, Travis Pastrana

7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson

Former F-1 driver, FIA F2 champion and current WEC driver, Mick Schumacher

2-time European Rally Champion, Hayden Paddon

Father and son rally champions, Petter and Oliver Solberg

2-time Dakar winner, Toby Price

NASCAR champion, Kurt Busch

4-time ROC Champion, Mattias Ekström

Young Kiwi Formula star, Louis Sharp

Despite the annoying interruptions caused by completing his education and work, Tres Mehler has accomplished plenty during his racing career.

His real-world endeavors have precluded him from being single-minded in the pursuit of his passion, and that occasionally produces a tinge of regret. Yet, if his record reveals his character, one quick glance demonstrates the Oblong, Ill., is resilient. If one doubts this account, consider that in 2024 he claimed titles in winged and and non-winged sprint cars. It is a unique accomplishment few can match.

Mehlers home is not far from the Indiana border and near the larger city of Robinson, Ill. If one were to travel from Oblong to Robinson on highway 33, they would pass through the village of Stoy. This burg, the home of just over 100 souls, was once the site of a quarter-mile dirt track situated on the grounds of the former Illinois-Indiana Expo Fairgrounds. It is a place that figures prominently in his racing story.

On my moms side my grandfather Bill Larrabee and my great-grandfather Art Kessler raced at Stoy, he revealed. So my brother likes to say we are fourth-generation drivers.

Eddie Mehler also raced stock cars, but interestingly, his misfortune launched his sons career.

In 1997, we went to the Dirt Nationals at Terre Haute and my dad had a for sale sign on the side of his car, Mehler recalled. Well, he was in a wreck and the car was just scrapped for parts. He used the money to buy an ancient Fast Track quarter midget, and I started with the Terre Haute Quarter Midget Assn in 1998.

He did well early, but as the speed picked up so did his interest.

I think we won a couple of times in my first year, he said. But once I got into senior Honda and Light 160 stuff, I started to get obsessed with it. I won a senior Honda championship and set a track record that stood for a really long time. Then we went to Junior Sprint racing at Coles County. I could only stay in that one year because I was 12, but we waxed them. I think I finished second in the national championship to Garrett Duff.

Taking the next logical step forward, Mehler moved into the micro ranks. This not only aided his development, but amid this period of his life he also had an epiphany. In general, he raced at Bakersfield Raceway Park in Linton, Ind., on Friday, Coles County on Saturday, and would venture to big shows in Marion, Ill. and Sweet Springs, Mo. It was his time at Bakersfield that may have opened his eyes.

John Paynter was absolutely dominating at Linton in winged stuff, and Carson Dillions dad Greg was a wicked force. There were so many guys who were good at the winged stuff that it made us take the wings off, Mehler said. We were out to lunch, so when we took the wings off something clicked. It was unbelievable, and then we ran right there with A.J. Hopkins, Kenny Niflis and Nate McMillin. I thought we were the four hot dogs in the non-winged micro scene around here.

He was fast everywhere, but his father was dead set against getting caught up in racing for points.

He felt that if something happened, we would start scrambling and it would put too much financial pressure on us, Mehler said. My brother Koert was also racing so he was fielding two cars for two kids who liked to win it or wear it. It was a tough gig.

If there was any doubt about the next steps in his life, his mother Shanna was more than willing to lay out the expectations. With experience as an assistant warden in correctional facilities at Robinson and Lawrenceville, Ill., she is a force to be reckoned with.

She wanted me to go to a four-year university and pushed for that, Mehler said. She wanted me to have a career that was less labor intensive and allowed me to focus on race car stuff.

He entered Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with the intention of majoring in engineering. Along the way he made the switch to accounting.

By this point he had also secured a modified ride from Dave Sheridan and joined Steve Adams on the 500 motorsports team. This was the primary focus from 2007 until shortly after he graduated from college in 2015.

The equipment was good, in fact around 2009 or 2010 he had a new Pierce car at his disposal. After slugging it out for several years he came to one major conclusion.

Im not a stock car guy, he said. Im a get after it type.

Beyond this, he was running into serious competition every night. It was tough on a young guy, he concluded. People would ask why I didnt win much, but we were getting beat by Nick Hoffman and Mike Harrison. Then to get away from them we would go to Charleston and run into Denny and Danny Schwartz and Jeff Leka.

By the time he had reached his junior year of college there was a lot to juggle. To stay afloat he and a roommate began a shade tree mechanic operation. Then an embarrassing moment led to a terrific opportunity.

I was putting a transmission in a 1990 Ford Ranger in the parking lot of my dorm and realized I had to get to class, he said, and I came in covered in oil.

Trying to be discreet he tried to hide in the back of the room. However, his business law professor beckoned him after the session ended. Mehler feared he was about to get dressed down. Instead, the professor had a tip. Len Black, the mayor of Caseyville, Ill., owned a lawn care service and needed mowers and staff who could service the equipment. Mehler secured the position.

At this point racing was a bit on the backburner. Neighbor and fellow competitor Chad Kinder tried to help, but by then Mehler was a bit worn down. He raced sparingly in his senior year and shortly after graduation he was on his way to St. Louis to work with a firm. He spent a miserable year married to a job he hated and was soon back home. At first, he found work in a bank, but in short order he was in the middle of a family enterprise.

On the racing side of the ledger, he eventually put modified racing to the side and returned to micros. It went well.

We got some good cars from the Robb boys in Oklahoma, he said. Koert won at the Midwest Winter Nationals at Du Quoin, and I won a bunch with the HART series and some track championships at Coles County.

Off the track his brother had a dream.

My brother is entrepreneurial and he decided he wanted to open an events center, Mehler explained. My dad drew up the plans on a napkin at Floyds Place in Oblong. Koerts wife had previously managed the Ballyhoo Tavern in Terre Haute, and that experience came in handy. Even though the COVID crisis was at hand, Mehler said the next thing you knew we went to digging holes and putting posts in the ground.

The Woods Event Center located east of the Crawford County Forrest Preserve opened in 2021.

Mehler was still in micros but also hooked up with the Next Level Metal racing team. He participated in some D2 midget races and eventually competed at the Chili Bowl. In the meantime, his friend Eric Perrott opened his eyes to a different avenue to take his career.

Eric was getting into the 305s and I started going with him to the Charelston (Speedway), he said. I had the last motor from my modified days, and Eric sold me an old JEI chassis he had bought from Willie Kahne.

Mehler tried racing with a carburetor with little luck, and when he switched to a magneto that went south quickly.

He was still intrigued by the possibilities. At the end of the 2021 season, he was helping racer Austin Hawkins when an unfortunate event indirectly created a new opportunity. Austin bought a DRC from Chase Stockon and a motor from Bill Rose, which blew after two laps, Mehler said. We took the motor out and there was too much damage. The car sat in his grandmothers garage for maybe six months.

He hit on an idea. I told him I would take my old, steel block modified engine to Tim Engler and see if he could make it run, he recalled. If Tim could make it work, I wanted to borrow the car and try it. I wanted to see what I could do in a good car because this one had all the  bells and whistles. Tim fixed it up and installed an old injection system that had been on a car that had won the Copper World Classic.

Once Engler had completed his work, Mehler was anxious to get the engine wizards assessment of what he could expect.

Tim said the engine didnt make a lot of power, Mehler shared. But he said you can tell it was a modified motor because it was as smooth as a pancake and made amazing torque.

Engler also admitted he had no idea how it would perform in a sprint car. It filled the bill. He won seven of the eight steel block sprint car races he entered with a second-place finish constituting the only blemish on a near-perfect season.

That car handled like a micro, he said. There wasnt enough power to pull a wheelie, but I could drive the hell out of it. I got decades of experience in just eight races.

During the offseason, racer Bub Cummings reached out and suggested that Mehler give 305 racing a real try. He headed to the Tulsa Shootout and by the time he left the Oil Capital he had liquidated his micro inventory. Soon a new 305 was in the garage and he also purchased a winged car from Chase Stocken and dropped his steel-block engine in the bay.

His plan was to race the entire slate of Indiana 305 races but junked his car in the first race at Circle City. In the madcap effort to keep in the game, he realized he needed a fresh approach to the sport.

That is when my racing changed, he said. Now it was all on me. My dad wasnt going to bail me out. I decided I was not going to show up at the race track unless I had enough parts in the trailer.

When it came to the 305s an old bugaboo came back.

I struggled in the 305 in 2023, he said. Bcause Im not a winged guy. I have over 100 career wins in a micro and two of them are in a winged car. Funny enough those came in Koerts car.

Then a second-place run at Lincoln Park buoyed his confidence, and in the end, he had four top ten finishes. There was hope. The steel-block series was another matter. In 23 starts, he scored five wins and 10 top fives on his way to the title.

To understand Mehler is to understand that he was not going to quit until he had figured winged racing out. On May 1, 2024, he notched his first 305 win at Lincoln Park Speedway and by the end of summer he was the track champion. In steel block action at Circle City Raceway, he never landed outside the top five in any race, and with two wins he topped the points. Over the course of the last two seasons, he has notched 18 wins in a non-winged sprint car.

Ever restless, he has even found a home in the Midwest Throwback Series and thoroughly enjoys the competition.

The Throwback stuff is fun because it is madness that cars that are this old are running this competitively, he said. I drive a 1987 Nance for Dan and Jason Metzinger, and it is magical when the track is slick. You could go fast around a skating rink in that car. Now it is a little terrifying to run when the track is heavy.

Two of Mehlers favorite moments came in the Metzinger Motorsports entry. When he scored a win at Highland Speedway in Illinois, he realized that his owners were a bit misty eyed. It turned out it was their first win in two decades of competition. The next highlight came in unusual circumstances. The throwback group appeared at Red Hill Raceway in late August only to learn they really werent going to race. Undaunted, his team signed up for the Midwest Thunder Series 410 event where Mehler carried his ancient 360 steel-block car to a 10^th-place finish.

While racing is important, he has a full life outside the cockpit. Using his degree, Mehler is a Senior Partnership Accountant for Heartland Dental a Dental Services Organization.

I do purchase accounting, he said. I study financials and see if a dental office we want to buy is worthwhile or if we want to sell. Our specific audience are dentists who dont want to worry about payroll, HR, ordering, and collections.

He met his future wife, Lessy, in college, and the couple are proud parents of active daughter Izzy. As they were getting the finances together to start their dream home, they lived in a fifth wheel for over a year. How committed is he? When he says he lives in his shop it is more than just a saying.

Describing the home he actually built with his father he says, My office is upstairs, and the master bedroom and my daughters bedroom is right below me. We have glass French doors on the westside of the kitchen and there sits the sprint car. I really do live in my race shop.

He will be busy in 2025.

I plan to run the 305 as often as I can and I am getting a 410 motor, he said. I also built two DRC cars, one for steel block racing and I also hope to race the 410 with the Midwest Thunder series. I want to run against some stronger competition to see where we are. I know I am down on power, but I think we are there in every other capacity.