RIP Al Unser Sr.

[Della9250]

 

[garrow]

RIP to a legend.

Here's the photo I took of his last Indy 500 victory car at the Penske museum in Scottsdale:

 

[playthrough]

Reunited with his brother and I’m sure Robin Miller has chatted him up already. RIP, legend.

 

[wicked]

Been a helluva year in the open wheel world. Keep Mario and A.J. ensconced in glass, please.

I feel like Al never got his proper due because of his peers. Guy could wheel it.

 

[Azrael]

 

[maumann]

Damn. First of the four 500 winners to die.

This hurts more than Uncle Bobby because I got a chance to chat with Big Al at the Unser Museum four years ago. He talked about owning a junkyard while he was still in high school, and building his first car out of used parts to go to Pikes Peak. Plus, he told a funny story about how A.J. Foyt liked to come up behind guys and give them bear hugs. Al said A.J. nearly crushed his rib cage, he was that strong.

Lots of guys can muster up the courage to go fast and use up everything the car has before the checkers. Al was the kind of guy who knew exactly what the car had and was smart enough to keep that in reserve until he needed it.

The two Johnny Lightnings were the class of the field (although Donohue's Penske in 1971 was on rails before it retired with mechanical issues) in 1970 and 1971. But Al used his head and stayed out of trouble, building comfortable leads both times.

The 1978 race was quite different. The Chapparal was still two years away from being the dominant car and the Lola wasn't as quick as the new Penskes or Parnelli's car. Danny Ongais and Tom Sneva -- two hard-chargers -- jumped out in front while Al patiently stayed among the front group for the first third of the race. He eventually took the lead on lap 76 and when Ongais' car blew up with 55 laps to go, Unser had a comfortable advantage over Sneva.

Unfortunately, Unser overshot his pits on his final stop and his front wing collided with one of the tires. It took several seconds for the crew to push him back to the refueling hose, and they opted just to fuel the car and send him back out. Sneva also went fuel only and was gaining rapidly, more than a second a lap, on Unser's crippled ride -- but Al knew Sneva didn't have enough laps left to pass him.

The best Al Unser win has to be the 1987 race. He didn't have a ride for the 500 -- and was planning to fly back to ABQ -- until Ongais suffered a concussion in a practice crash and Penske took a year-old "show car" from the lobby of a hotel and put Al in it. He qualified in the middle of the seventh row and just barely missed getting taken out of the race on the first lap by a spinning Josele Garza.

Mario Andretti had the race well in hand at the halfway mark, having lapped the entire field with the exception of Roberto Guerrero. In fact, Al was close to two laps behind at that point in fifth, as attrition was extremely high that day. On lap 130, Tony Bettenhausen lost a tire and Guerrero ran into it, sending it over the north short chute wall, killing a spectator in the topmost row. But it also damaged Guerrero's clutch cylinder, which put him down a lap.

With 25 laps to go, Andretti had a full lap lead over Guerrero and Unser with just 12 cars running. He started to back off, which seemed prudent. But the Andretti curse reared its head when doing so caused a valve spring to break two laps later. Now Guerrero seemed the sure winner and put Unser a lap down on lap 180, but when he pitted two laps later, the clutch refused to engage, and he sat helplessly in the pits as Unser surprisingly found himself not only back on the lead lap, but in the lead.

Mario brought out a late-race caution, giving Guerrero one last shot at Unser with four laps to go. But the wily veteran had six lapped cars between himself and the second-place car, and pulled away for win No. 4.

The museum guide in Albuquerque swore the car they have on display is the "winning" car. But IMS also has one which probably has the most pieces of the 500 winner. So my guess is several "replicas" were made (since there were several old March 86C chassis available).

 

[playthrough]

 

[Azrael]

Thing about AJ is, he always looks ready to kick your ass.

And is.

 

[maumann]

My wife Gwen and Big Al in 2018.

 

[ChrisLong]

When the Unsers were racing, it was the first time I remember seeing parents show up with homemade jackets -- one said FIREYEAR and the other said GOODSTONE. Mom made 'em with scissors, needle and thread.

 

[maumann]

When the Unsers were racing, it was the first time I remember seeing parents show up with homemade jackets -- one said FIREYEAR and the other said GOODSTONE. Mom made 'em with scissors, needle and thread.

Great memory. During the tire wars, Bobby was on one and Al on the other. One of those jackets is at the Unser Museum.

 

[maumann]

A.J. hadn't been feeling well in May and there was talk he wasn't going to be at the race. So I'm glad somebody snapped that shot of all four with the Borg-Warner. Foyt's about to turn 87 next month (one week after my father hits the same milestone).

 

[ChrisLong]

Great memory. During the tire wars, Bobby was on one and Al on the other. One of those jackets is at the Unser Museum.

I always remember that when I see brothers playing against each other and they show the parents. Jeff and Jered Weaver come to mind. It happens a lot now, especially in the NHL. Saw it last night when Anaheim played Columbus -- Buddy and Eric Robinson. They didn't show the parents, that I recall.

 

[playthrough]

A.J. hadn't been feeling well in May and there was talk he wasn't going to be at the race. So I'm glad somebody snapped that shot of all four with the Borg-Warner. Foyt's about to turn 87 next month (one week after my father hits the same milestone).

IMS has always done a fantastic job with photography, I bet the planning for that shot was in the works 10 seconds after Helio took the checkered flag.

There was a great 500 program cover several years ago that had AJ, Al and Mears on the cover, with a foldout of three-time champs Helio, Dario, Rutherford and Uncle Bobby. Helio and Dario, both still active at the time, were looking longingly across the fold at the four-timers.