Al Unser

Al Unser

Born: May 29, 1939
Age: 85
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Biography

Alfred "Al" Unser (born May 29, 1939) is an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser, Jr.. Now retired, he is the second of three men to have won the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race four times, the fourth of five to have won the race in consecutive years, and won the National Championship in 1970, 1983, and 1985. He is the only person to have both a sibling (Bobby) and child (Al Jr.) as fellow Indy 500 winners. Al's nephews Johnny and Robby Unser have also competed in that race.

After his son Al Jr. joined the top circuit in 1983, Unser has generally been known by the retronymic name of "Al Unser, Sr." or "Big Al."

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Personal life

Unser was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the youngest of four brothers. His father Jerry Unser and two uncles, Louis and Joe, were also drivers. Beginning in 1926 they competed in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, an annual road race held in Colorado.

Joe Unser became the first member of the Unser clan to lose his life to the sport, killed while test-driving an FWD Coleman Special on the Denver highway in 1929.

Al's oldest brother Jerry became the first Unser to drive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, qualifying 23rd and finishing 31st in the 1958 Indianapolis 500. However, tragedy struck the next year when he was killed from injuries sustained in a fiery crash during a practice session.

Middle brother Bobby drove in his first Indianapolis 500 in 1963, becoming in 1968 the first member of the family to win, and in 1983 son Al Unser Jr. drove in his first.

Unser married Wanda Jesperson in 1958 and they had three children- Alfred Jr., Mary, and Deborah. Deborah died in a dune buggy accident in 1982.

Al Unser and family own and operate the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Racing career and Indianapolis 500

He began racing in 1957, at age 18, initially competing primarily in modified roadsters, sprint cars and midgets. In 1965 he raced in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time and finished ninth.

He won the Indy 500 in 1970, two years after his brother, Bobby. During the race, he led for all but 10 of the 200 laps and averaged 155.749 miles per hour (250.654 km/h). His quick pit stops were a factor in the victory. That season he won a record 10 times on oval, road and dirt tracks to capture the United States Auto Club national championship. Unser competed in USAC's Stock Car division in 1967, and was the series Rookie of the Year.

In 1971 he won the Indy 500 again, starting from the fifth position with an average speed of 157.735 mph.

Unser's bid to become the first three-time consecutive Indy 500 champion was thwarted when he finished second to Mark Donohue in the 1972 Indianapolis 500.

Despite starting the 1978 Indianapolis 500 from the fifth position in an FNCTC Chaparral Lola, Unser's car was considered before the race to be a second-tier entry at best, if not an outright long shot to win. Moving to the front of the field for the first time on lap 75, he and opponent Danny Ongais engaged in an on-again off-again duel for 75 more laps, before an engine failure on Ongais' car on lap 150 allowed Unser to assume a commanding 35 second lead. Although suffering right front-wing misalignment due to impacting a tire on his final pit stop, a situation that led to the lead shrinking steadily over the race's final 20 laps, it nevertheless proved wide enough for victory by 9 seconds to spare at the checkered flag. Unser's race average speed of 161.363 mph (259.689 km/h) ranked as the then-second fastest ever run (one mile per hour less than the then-1972 record), and would not itself be topped for second for four more years.

In the 1983 season, Unser joined Team Penske and drove for 4 years in a Penske-owned car. Unser controlled the late stages of the 1983 Indianapolis 500, leading 61 laps. With less than 20 laps to go, Unser got challenges from Tom Sneva who led the most laps. With help from his son - who was several laps down - Unser began pulling away from Sneva. However Sneva got by Al Jr., and set sail for Unser Sr.. Sneva caught up to Unser within 1 lap of passing Al Jr., and passed him to retake the lead with 9 laps to go. Sneva then easily pulled away to win the race by 11 seconds, avenging his firing from the team in 1978. After the race, Unser Jr. was penalized 2 laps for his actions as well as having passed 2 cars under caution on lap 170.

Fourth Indy 500 victory

Main article: 1987 Indianapolis 500

In 1987, Penske's slate of drivers included Rick Mears, Danny Ongais and Danny Sullivan. Unser was dropped.

Ongais crashed into the wall during the first week of practice, suffering a serious concussion, and was declared unfit to drive. Penske then turned to Unser to fill in. Both the new Penske PC16 race car and its new Chevrolet-Ilmor engine had been unreliable throughout testing, practice and qualifying. Penske elected to race the backup car, a 1986 March-Cosworth, the same combination of chassis and engine that had won the previous four Indy 500s. The year-old March was removed from a Penske Racing display at a Sheraton hotel in the team's hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, and hurriedly prepared for a return to active competition.

At start Unser was in the 20th position. On a day when heavy attrition felled most of the field's front-runners, including the overwhelmingly dominant Newman-Haas entry of Mario Andretti, Unser worked his way steadily forward and took the lead on the 183rd lap, after Roberto Guerrero's car stalled on his final pit stop. Averaging 162.175 mph (260.995 km/h), Unser bested a charging Guerrero by 4.5 seconds to win his fourth Indy 500, only five days before his 48th birthday. In doing so he tied Foyt as the winningest Indy 500 driver and broke brother Bobby's record as the oldest Indy winner.

Unser rode the wave of his fourth Indy victory to secure a ride at Penske for the Michigan 500, Pocono 500, and Marlboro Challenge for 1987. Near the end of the year, Unser had two other starts. He drove as a substitute for Roberto Guerrero at Nazareth, and had a competitive run until crashing a few laps short of the finish. He was then hired to drive the brand new Porsche Indy car at Laguna Seca. The team was still in its infancy, and the car dropped out. Unser left the team after only one race.

In 1988 and 1989, Unser returned to Penske to secure a ride at the three 500-miles races (Indianapolis, Michigan, Pocono).

Retirement

After reorganization at Team Penske in 1990, Unser was finally crowded out of his part-time ride. With competitive rides filling up, and his career dwindling down, he joined the sub-par Patrick Racing Alfa Romeo team for 1990. After dropping out at Indy, Unser crashed in practice at Michigan and broke his leg. He quit the team after the crash.

He spent most of the month of May 1991 shopping around for a competitive ride. The restrictions on the number of leases to the Chevy Ilmor engine kept him out of a ride during the first week of practice. A last-minute deal with the UNO Granatelli team (where he would be Arie Luyendyk's teammate) fell through when there was not enough time to prepare the car. Instead of jumping into another car "just to make the show," Unser sat out the 1991 race and watched from the sidelines for the first time since 1969.

In 1992, Unser entered the month of May for the second year in a row without a ride. During the first week of practice, Nelson Piquet was involved in a serious crash, and was unable to drive. Unser was hired by Team Menard to fill the position vacated by Piquet. Unser drove to a 3rd-place finish, his son Al Unser, Jr. won the race. It was Team Menard's best Indy 500 finish, the best finish ever for the Buick Indy engine, and the first time the Buick engine had gone the entire 500 miles (800 km).

In 1993, driving for King Racing, he led 15 laps to extend his career laps-led record.

A month shy of his 55th birthday, Unser entered the 1994 race with Arizona Motorsports, hoping to qualify for what would be his 28th Indy 500. The team was very underfunded, and Unser had considerable trouble getting the car up to speed. On the first weekend of qualifying, he waved off after a poor qualifying lap. After some minimal practice the following day, he quit the team. He announced his retirement on May 17, 1994.

Career highlights

Unser has led the most laps of any driver in the history of the Indianapolis 500, at 644. Unser tied Ralph DePalma's long standing record of 612 laps led on the last lap of his 4th victory.

Unser holds the record of being the oldest driver to ever win the 500 at 47 years old (1987), breaking the previous record set by his brother Bobby.

Unser won two 500-mile races at Pocono (in 1976 and 1978) and two more at Ontario (in 1977 and 1978) bringing his total of 500-mile race wins (including four Indianapolis 500s) to eight.

Unser was the 1978 IROC champion. He also competed in the 1968 Daytona 500 and four other NASCAR Winston Cup & Grand National races, all held on road courses with a best finish of fourth (twice).

Awards

  • In 1998, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
  • He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.

Racing record

CART results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points
1979 Chaparral Cars
PHX

ATL1

ATL2

INDY

TRE1

TRE2

MIS1

MIS2

WGL

TRE3

ONT

MIS3

ATL3

PHX2
5th 2085
1980 Longhorn Racing
ONT

INDY

MIL

POC

MDO

MIS

WGL

MIL

ONT2

MIS2

MEX

PHX
8th 1153
1981 Longhorn Racing
PHX

MIL

ATL1

ATL2

MIS

RIV

MIL2

MIS2

WGL

MEX

PHX2
10th 90
1982 Longhorn Racing
PHX

ATL

MIL

CLE

MIS

MIL2

POC

RIV

ROA

MIS2

PHX2
7th 125
1983 Team Penske
ATL

INDY

MIL

CLE

MIS

ROA

POC

RIV

MDO

MIS2

CEA

LS

PHX
1st 151
1984 Team Penske
LBH

PHX

INDY

MIL

POR

MEA

CLE

MIS

ROA

POC

MDO

SAN

MIS2

PHX2

LS

CEA
9th 76
1985 Team Penske
LBH

INDY

MIL

POR

MEA

CLE

MIS

ROA

POC

MDO

SAN

MIS2

LS

PHX

MIA
1st 151
1986 Team Penske
PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

POR

MEA

CLE

TOR

MIS

POC

MDO

SAN

MIS2

ROA

LS

PHX2

MIA
NC 0
1987 Team Penske
LBH

PHX

INDY

MIL

POR

MEA

CLE

TOR

MIS

POC

ROA

MDO

MIA
13th 39
Vince Granatelli Racing
NAZ
Porsche Motorsports
LS
1988 Team Penske
PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

POR

CLE

MIS

POC

MDO

ROA

NAZ

LS

MIA
19th 23
Vince Granatelli Racing
TOR

MEA
1989 Team Penske
PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

MEA

TOR

MIS

POC

MDO

ROA

NAZ

LS
16th 14
1990 Patrick Racing
PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

MEA

TOR

MIS

DEN

VAN

MDO

ROA

NAZ

LS
35th 0
1991 AJ Foyt Enterprises
SRF

LBH

PHX

INDY

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

MEA

TOR

MIS

DEN

VAN

MDO

ROA

NAZ

LS
40th 0
1992 Team Menard
SRF

PHX

LBH

INDY

DET

POR

MIL

NHM

TOR

MIS

CLE

ROA

VAN

MDO
16th 15
Team Penske
NAZ

LS
1993 King Racing
SRF

PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

TOR

MIS

NHM

ROA

VAN

MDO

NAZ

LS
33rd 1
1994 Arizona Motorsports
SRF

PHX

LBH

INDY

MIL

DET

POR

CLE

TOR

MIS

MDO

NHM

VAN

ROA

NAZ

LS
NC -

CART career summary

Year Team Wins Points Championship Finish
1979 Chaparral Racing 1 2085 5th
1980 Longhorn Racing 0 1153 8th
1981 Longhorn Racing 0 90 10th
1982 Longhorn Racing 0 125 7th
1983 Penske Racing 1 151 1st
1984 Penske Racing 0 76 9th
1985 Penske Racing 1 151 1st
1986 Penske Racing 0 0
1987 Penske/Porsche/Granatelli 1 39 13th
1988 Penske/Granatelli 0 22 19th
1989 Penske Racing 0 14 16th
1990 Patrick Racing 0 0
1991 Foyt Racing 0 0
1992 Penske/Menard 0 16 15th
1993 King Motorsports 0 1 32nd
1994 Arizona Motorsports 0 0

2 championships, 4 victories.

Indianapolis 500 results

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Reason Out Team/Entrant
1965 Lola Ford 32nd 9th Anstead-Thompson
1966 Lotus Ford 32nd 12th Crash STP-Granatelli
1967 Lola Ford 9th 2nd Mecom
1968 Lola Ford 6th 26th Crash Retzloff
1969 Lola Ford Withdrew due to motorcycle accident
1970 Colt Ford 1st 1st Parnelli
1971 Colt Ford 5th 1st Parnelli
1972 Parnelli Offy 19th 2nd Parnelli
1973 Parnelli Offy 8th 20th Broken piston Parnelli
1974 Eagle Offy 26th 18th Dropped valve Parnelli
1975 Eagle Offy 11th 16th Broken connecting rod Parnelli
1976 Parnelli Cosworth 4th 7th Parnelli
1977 Parnelli Cosworth 3rd 3rd Parnelli
1978 Lola Cosworth 5th 1st Chaparral
1979 Chaparral Cosworth 3rd 22nd Blown transmission Chaparral
1980 Longhorn Cosworth 9th 27th Dropped cylinder Longhorn
1981 Longhorn Cosworth 9th 17th Longhorn
1982 Longhorn Cosworth 16th 5th Longhorn
1983 Penske Cosworth 7th 2nd Penske
1984 March Cosworth 10th 3rd Penske
1985 March Cosworth 7th 4th Penske
1986 Penske Chevrolet 5th 22nd Handling Penske
1987 March Cosworth 20th 1st Penske
1988 Penske Chevrolet 3rd 3rd Penske
1989 Penske Chevrolet 2nd 24th Clutch failure Penske
1990 March Alfa Romeo 30th 13th Patrick
1991 Did not attempt to qualify; entry did not materialize
1992 Lola Buick 22nd 3rd Menard
1993 Lola Chevrolet 23rd 12th Foyt
1994 Lola Ford-Cosworth Incomplete qualifying attempt; retired during practice Arizona

4 Wins, 1 Pole

Indy 500 qualifying results

Year Att # Date Time Qual
Day
Car # Laps Qual
Time
Qual
Speed
Rank Start Comment
1967 11 05-13 11 1 5 4 164.594 10 9
1968 14 05-18 14 1 24 4 167.069 6 6
1970 11 05-16 11 1 2 4 3:31.4900 170.221 1 1
1971 9 05-15 9 1 1 4 3:26.1600 174.622 5 5
1972 4 05-14 14:38 1 4 0 BLOWN ENGINE
1972 32 05-20 11:43 2 4 4 3:16.0600 183.617 13 19
1973 12 05-12 12:41 1 4 4 3:04.7300 194.879 8 8
1974 33 05-18 16:56 2 15 4 3:15.7700 183.889 16 26
1975 13 05-10 12:47 1 4 4 3:14.1200 185.452 13 11
1976 18 05-15 17:30 1 21 4 3:13.2800 186.258 9 4
1977 4 05-14 11:29 1 21 4 3:03.7200 195.950 4 3
1978 17 05-20 13:10 1 2 4 3:03.2300 196.474 7 5
1979 6 05-13 12:51 1 2 4 3:07.0100 192.503 3 3
1980 11 05-10 12:19 1 5 4 3:13.0900 186.442 12 9
1981 6 05-09 16:36 1 88 4 3:06.8000 192.719 14 9
1982 16 05-15 15:31 1 10 4 3:04.0800 195.567 23 16
1983 8 05-21 11:44 1 7 4 2:58.2580 201.954 8 7
1984 7 05-12 12:53 1 2 4 2:56.0900 204.441 10 10
1985 11 05-11 12:01 1 11 4 2:51.0030 210.523 7 7
1986 33 05-10 17:53 1 11 4 2:49.5750 212.295 7 5
1987 45 05-16 12:02 3 25T 4 2:53.5580 207.423 15 20
1988 9 05-14 12:07 1 1 4 2:47.2350 215.266 3 3
1989 1 05-14 12:00 1 25 4 2:41.0950 223.471 2 2
1990 36 05-19 12:54 2 40 4 2:49.7420 212.087 31 30
1992 32 05-10 17:41 2 27T 4 2:40.8980 223.744 12 22
1993 12 05-15 11:55 1 80 3 WAVED OFF
1993 33 05-16 12:10 2 80 4 2:45.5530 217.453 32 23

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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