RIP: Bobby Unser

I have to admit that I don't have much general knowledge about open wheel racing prior to at least the 90s.
The Indy 500 was the only time I was ever exposed to it. In the 70s, a kid in the south didn't even know they raced at places like Milwaukee and Pike's Peak.
I still don't know the difference in most of the USAC series, and the whole USAC/CART stuff and then IRL... it's so much easier with one sanctioning body.

 

The stretch between 1961 and 1987 was definitely the golden era for open-wheel racing.

In addition to the eventual transformation of the sport from front-engine roadsters and dirt-track sprint cars to low-slung, aerodynamic winged rear-engine rockets, there was a Right Stuff feel to the guys who thrived and survived across that major change.

Parnelli Jones. A.J. Foyt. Bobby Unser. Mario Andretti. Al Unser. Gordon Johncock. Johnny Rutherford. Other than Parnelli and Mario, all multiple winners of the 500 over a stretch where those were the dominant names at the Speedway no matter how much the cars evolved. They withstood the British invasion (Clark, Hill, Stewart) and each had their own fan base. The second tier was Lloyd Ruby, Pancho Carter, Bill Vukovich Jr., Gary Bettenhausen and Tom Sneva, all great drivers in their own right but never able to win consistently enough to reach that level.

Then came Mears and Michael and Little Al and Danny Sullivan before Emmo and the Brazilians found their way to the Brickyard with a second foreign wave of top talent.

But just like astronauts, it seems if the danger of the time period didn't kill you (and at least a third of the 1958 500 grid died in racing accidents), you got to live a long life.

 

Shoooooooot. None of them boys ever won at Bristol or Darlington, so they must not be too good.

 

Interestingly enough, when the 500 and 600 were run on separate days, Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Donnie Allison all ran extremely competitively at the Brickyard. Donnie was Rookie of the Year in 1970.

Dick and Jim Rathmann (who were actually Jim and Dick after switching IDs at a race where one of them was under age), Bobby Johns and Paul Goldsmith also crossed over extensively back in the day.

Rutherford won a Daytona qualifying race and Mario and A.J. won the 500. Gordon Johncock ran multiple 500s as well.

Racing was so much more fun when sponsors and manufacturers didn't run things.

 

The Wood Brothers pitted Clark to his Indy 500 win, too.

 

I believe the Woods also introduced the idea of "stagger" at the Speedway by manipulating air pressures and tire diameters. Nobody had ever seen that before. Plus the Woods basically created the idea of modern pit stops. They were true innovators.

And Smokey Yunick certainly introduced some fascinating design concepts, including the "sidecar."

When people try to compare F1 and IndyCar in the present, the biggest issue is that ICS is a spec series -- all of the chassis are identical -- so the ability to innovate has been severely curtailed. It saves money and artificially creates closer competition, which is supposed to keep a Lewis Hamilton from lapping the field every weekend.

Do I agree? Hell, no. I much prefer the era when Johnny Rutherford dominated in Jim Hall's ground effects Chapparal. The Lotus. The turbine. The rear wings. Penske's Mercedes PC-23.

Set ground rules and let the boys have at it.

 

Me, too.
It kills me when people claim the "racing" is so much better now because fields are bunched.
1. Somebody laps the field? Tough. It was the best car and driver that day. Don't like it? Build a better car. It's called racing.
2. The fields are bunch because of mandated and arbitrary cautions with three laps to go.

 

I just thought it was cool when one of them was running on Firestone and the other was running on Goodyear. Their mom used scissors and thread to make FIREYEAR AND GOODSTONE jackets.

 

The phantom cautions are the worst.

NASCAR’s overtime rule encourages more of them, because people can make dumbass moves with two to go and no matter how stupid it is, they’re ok if they don’t suffer the ramifications. The noted scholar Darrell Waltrip once said “cautions breed cautions,” and he’s correct.

 

I recall not too many years ago that we had such a loose sports section that I ended up running a story on Michael Schumacher and his clinical progress and status. Keep in mind this is an area where "motor sports" automatically means "NASCAR."

I could not be more certain that more than a few someones picked up that section and declared, "Schoo-MACK-er? He never won no Cup."

 

Oh, that must be the guy running for Mikey in the Boosch Series. McDowell. Shoemaker. Same difference.