Early life

Unser was born in Colorado Springs Colorado, the third oldest of 4 brothers. When he turned 1, his family moved to Albuquerque New Mexico. In 1950 at the age of 15, he won his first championship in Southwest Modified Stock Cars. From 1953 to 1955 he joined the Air Force and became a top competition sharp shooter in military matches, though he later bitterly regretted it. In 1955, Bobby, and brothers Jerry and Al Unser decided to pursue racing careers in USAC. In 1959, his brother Jerry Unser died in an automobile accident at the Indianapolis 500.

Bobby is the father of two sons, Bobby Jr. and Robby, and two daughters, Cindy and Jeri.

IndyCar career

Unser came from a family of racecar drivers. He won numerous racing championships throughout his career, including three Indianapolis 500 titles. He debuted in 1955 at Pike's Peak, dubbed "Unser's Peak" because of his family's history of success at the hill climb. He finished fifth that year, behind his two brothers. A year later he won his first of a record 13 championships at Pike's Peak. He won six straight titles from 1958 to 1963. His streak ended in 1964 when his younger brother Al won the race.

Unser raced in his first Indianapolis 500 in 1963. He crashed early and placed thirty-third. His first Indy-car win came in 1967 at Mosport, Ontario. A year later, Unser won his first Indianapolis 500, setting the record as the first driver to race over 170 miles per hour at Indianapolis. In 1969 Unser won his first USAC National Driving Championship.

In 1972, Unser set another Indianapolis 500 record for the fastest qualifying time at 195.94 miles per hour. In 1974, he won his second USAC National Driving Championship and a year later he won his second Indianapolis 500 in a race that was rain-shortened on lap 174. From 1979 to 1981, Unser raced in the CART series for Team Penske winning ten races. In 1980 he became the first driver to win the California 500 four times. His career ended in 1981 following a debacle at Indianapolis.

1981 Indianapolis 500 controversy

Bobby was the center of one of the most controversial finishes in Indy 500 history at the 1981 Indianapolis 500. Unser won the pole in the #3 Roger Penske-owned car and led the most laps (89 laps).

On lap 149, during a caution period, Bobby and Mario Andretti made their pit stop and headed back to the race. Bobby passed eight cars during the caution, while Mario passed two cars. Unser went on and won the race, but was stripped of it the following morning in favor of second-place finisher Mario Andretti. After a 5-month lawsuit and protest by Penske, Bobby Unser was re-awarded the win in October 1981. But for his infraction, Unser was instead fined $40,000 ($104,000 in today's money).

But the controversy and financial impact (Unser once estimated that the commercial endorsements he lost because of the delayed result cost him $1 million) caused a bitter Unser to retire from racing at the end of the year. In a 1982 interview Unser refused to come out of retirement and said he retired because following the controversy he became disillusioned with auto-racing and lost his passion for driving race-cars. "Regardless of the outcome it's been ruined for me. I would paint out racing if I painted my future," said Unser in an interview at the time. Unser sat out the 1982 IndyCar season but planned to make a comeback in 1983 driving for Patrick Racing (ironically the team that was stripped of the win). However he changed his mind and retired in 1983.

In his autobiography Winners are Driven, Unser expressed his beliefs that the debacle was politically motivated and that USAC disqualified him (and benefited Andretti), hoping to start a falling-out between Pat Patrick, Mario's car owner & owner of Patrick Racing, and Roger Penske (owner of Unser's car); in order to destroy CART. He claimed that Patrick's team did not protest the finish and that Patrick was on Unser's side in the controversy.

Other achievements

Was the 1975 IROC champion.

Challenged Dan Gurney to improve the performance of his 1971 USAC car, leading to the development of the Gurney flap.

Won the 1993 Fast Masters championship.

In 1993 he set a new Bonneville Salt Flats record at Bonneville Speedway of 223.709 in a D/Gas Modified Roaster that stood for 18 years.

Leads the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with 13 wins setting a new track record 9 times.

After retiring from Indycar driving in 1982, Bobby did developmental work for Audi, lapping one at 206.8 MPH. And in 1986, after a 12-year absence from the Pike’s Peak race, he won his event for the tenth time driving an Audi Quattro, breaking the tie he had with Uncle Louis for nine overall victories apiece. The 1986 win brought Bobby’s total number of Pike’s Peak victories to 13, including two stock car class victories (1969 and 1974) and a single sports car class win (1963).

In 2003 he published a book, ““Winners are Driven: A Champion’s Guide to Success in Business and Life”.

Broadcaster

Unser became a television commentator for Indycar races after his retirement working for the ABC, ESPN and the NBC. In 1989 The National Academy of Televisions Arts and Sciences awarded ABC "Indianapolis 500" as "Outstanding Live Sports special" for the "National Sports Emmy Awards", Bobby receiving announcer honors with Paul Page, Sam Posey and others. He also broadcast several NASCAR events between 1986-1994 alongside Ned Jarrett and Bob Jenkins. The most famous NASCAR race Unser broadcast was the 1989 Winston in which Rusty Wallace won by wrecking Darrell Waltrip with 2 laps to go; Unser was the first broadcaster of the broadcasting team to spot the post-race fist-fight between Wallace and Waltrip's pit crews.

Awards

• He was selected as one of Sports Illustrated's "Top Five Athletes" in the popular magazine's first twenty years, along with the Martini & Rossi, and Olsonite "Driver of the Year" awards in 1974.
• He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
• He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1997.
• He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1997
• Unser was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994.
• 1999-Presented with Indy 500 Front Row Award. 9-time front row qualifier (68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77, 80, 81)

Federal criminal charges

On 20 December 1996, in Colorado, Unser and a friend became lost while snowmobiling near Unser's New Mexico ranch. They abandoned one stuck snowmobile before a storm blinded them both. When the second snowmobile stopped working, they spent two days and nights in subzero weather before finding a barn where they were found. Both men were suffering badly, his friend was suffering from hypothermia, and Unser had vomited blood during this time. Unser was later convicted of a Federal misdemeanor, "unlawful operation of a snowmobile within a National Forest Wilderness Area" (16 U.S.C. 551, 36 C.F.R. 261.16(a)), and was fined $75. Maximum penalties could have been up to six months in jail and up to $5,000.00 in fines. Unser appealed, claiming to have been lost before the accident, but the court ruled that maps were widely available and it was a public welfare offense, thus intent was not necessary. Unser appealed this decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his writ of certiorari was denied.

Racing record

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

USAC

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
1975	All American Racers	ONT1	ONT2	ONT3	PHX	TRE	INDY	MIL	POC	MIS	MIL2									3rd	2480
	Jerry O'Connell Racing											MIS2	TRE2	PHX2
1976	Fletcher Racing	PHX	TRE	INDY	MIL	POC	MIS	TWS	TRE2	MIL2	ONT	MIS2	TWS2	PHX2						6th	2080
1977	Fletcher Racing	ONT	PHX	TWS	TRE	INDY	MIL	POC	MOS	MIS	TWS2	MIL2	ONT2	MIS2	PHX2					35th	75
1978	All American Racers	PHX	ONT	TWS	TRE	INDY	MOS	MIL	POC	MIS	ATL	TWS2	MIL2	ONT2	MIS2	TRE2	SIL	BRH	PHX2	12th	1122

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
1979	Team Penske	PHX	ATL1	ATL2	INDY	TRE1	TRE2	MIS1	MIS2	WGL	TRE3	ONT	MIS3	ATL3	PHX2	2nd	3820
1980	Team Penske	ONT1	INDY	MIL1	POC	MDO	MIS1	WGL	MIL2	ONT2	MIS2	MEX	PHX			2nd	3714
1981	Team Penske	PHX1	MIL1	ATL1	ATL2	MIS1	RIV	MIL2	MIS2	WGL	MEX	PHX2				7th	99

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1963	Kurtis 500K	Novi	16th	33rd
1964	Ferguson P104	Novi	22nd	32nd
1965	Ferguson P104	Novi	8th	19th
1966	Huffaker 66	Offy	28th	8th
1967	Eagle 67	Ford	8th	9th
1968	Eagle 68	Offy	3rd	1st
1969	Lola T152	Offy	3rd	3rd
1970	Eagle 67	Ford	7th	11th
1971	Eagle 71	Offy	3rd	12th
1972	Eagle 72	Offy	1st	30th
1973	Eagle 73	Offy	2nd	13th
1974	Eagle 74	Offy	7th	2nd
1975	Eagle 74	Offy	3rd	1st
1976	Eagle 74-76	Offy	12th	10th
1977	Lightning Mk1/77	Offy	2nd	18th
1978	Eagle 78	Ford Cosworth DFX	19th	6th
1979	Penske PC-7	Ford Cosworth DFX	4th	5th
1980	Penske PC-9	Ford Cosworth DFX	3rd	19th
1981	Penske PC-9B	Ford Cosworth DFX	1st	1st

Indy 500 qualifying results

Year	Att #	Date	Time	Qual Day	Car #	Laps	Qual Time	Qual Speed	Rank	Start	Comment
1967	4	05-13	4	1	6	4	—	164.752	9	8
1968	6	05-18	6	1	3	4	—	169.507	3	3
1969	12	05-24	12	2	1	4	3:32.1600	169.683	3	3
1970	24	05-16	24	1	3	4	3:33.6400	168.508	8	7
1971	17	05-15	17	1	2	4	3:24.7600	175.816	3	3
1972	13	05-14	16:49	1	6	4	3:03.7300	195.940	1	1
1973	19	05-12	13:28	1	8	0	—	—	—	—
1973	29	05-12	17:20	1	8	4	3:01.6500	198.183	2	2
1974	14	05-11	11:40	1	48	4	3:14.4100	185.176	8	7
1975	16	05-10	13:14	1	48	4	3:08.4100	191.073	3	3
1976	1	05-15	14:36	1	3	1	—	—	—	—	PULLED OFF
1976	34	05-16	13:15	2	3	4	3:11.9800	187.520	5	12
1977	6	05-14	11:44	1	6	1	—	—	—	—	PULLED OFF
1977	32	05-14	16:48	1	6	4	3:02.0700	197.726	2	2
1978	30	05-20	17:07	2	48	4	3:04.9400	194.658	10	20
1979	17	05-13	14:08	1	12	4	3:09.5600	189.913	4	4
1980	23	05-10	14:16	1	11	4	3:09.4800	189.994	3	3
1981	19	05-16	11:36	1	3	4	2:59.5100	200.546	2	1

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Unser participated in 2 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix.

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	WDC	Points
1968	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P126	BRM V12	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	CAN			NC	0
		BRM P138												USA	MEX

[ Source: Wikipedia ]