RIP: Bobby Unser

[maumann]

Three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser dies

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Finished last in his first 500 and first in his last one. His younger brother won four and his nephew won twice.

Outspoken, funny and always engaging. One of the best TV analysts because of his candor. Always loved him ragging on Sam Posey, who couldn't be more different in background but they shared a love of open-wheel racing.

RIP. His brother Jerry was killed at Indy. Hopefully they're racing each other again.

 

[User 150927]

The Unsers were big in what really seems to have been the golden age of Indycar racing. We'd go on memorial Day picnics and take a transistor radio so we could listen to the race. The Unsers, along with AJ Foyt, figured prominently

 

[Driftwood]

RIP

The clock is ticking on a lot of the old greats across all forms of motorsports.

 

[garrow]

Indeed. RIP to one of the greats.

 

[Ookpik]

RIP.

 

[playthrough]

Damn, losing Uncle Bobby sucks. Imagine we'll see some if not all of his Indy winners in the parade laps later this month.

 

[maumann]

The Unser Racing Museum in Abq is a definite must-see. We were lucky enough to chat with Al the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta two falls ago.

 

[misterbc]

RIP

The clock is ticking on a lot of the old greats across all forms of motorsports.

Just in Top Fuel there are ‘50/60s icons like Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, Connie Kalitta, Chris Karamesines all of whom made their names driving slingshot rails; engine in front. I’ve sat in a couple...The Royal Canadian and Jerry Ruth cars and it’s almost a miracle that more fatalities weren’t recorded. Blower explosions and raging oil and nitro fires were common and in a very cramped cockpit with limited escape options. I remember when the full Nomex suits were first worn and the in cockpit fire extinguishers installed and that was v late 60s.

 

[garrow]

The Unser Racing Museum in Abq is a definite must-see. We were lucky enough to chat with Al the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta two falls ago.

Very cool. I have never been to New Mexico, and that is on my list for when I go. I did get to see Al's last Indy 500 championship car at the Penske museum in Scottsdale that same year.

 

[Driftwood]

Just in Top Fuel there are ‘50/60s icons like Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, Connie Kalitta, Chris Karamesines all of whom made their names driving slingshot rails; engine in front. I’ve sat in a couple...The Royal Canadian and Jerry Ruth cars and it’s almost a miracle that more fatalities weren’t recorded. Blower explosions and raging oil and nitro fires were common and in a very cramped cockpit with limited escape options. I remember when the full Nomex suits were first worn and the in cockpit fire extinguishers installed and that was v late 60s.

Big - 89
Snake - 80
Bounty Hunter - 83
Petty - 83
Allison - 83
Cale - 82
AJ - 86
Mario - 81
Unser - 81

 

[misterbc]

AJ Foyt 86
5 time 24 Hr LeMans champ Derek Bell 79
Jackie Stewart 81
Sadly, Moss just passed at 91.

 

[playthrough]

Thanks, Robin Miller. As more of these legends go to the big track in the sky, how many scribes and outlets will be left to retell the stories?

MILLER: There was nobody like Bobby Unser

 

[playthrough]

The Unser Racing Museum in Abq is a definite must-see. We were lucky enough to chat with Al the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta two falls ago.

We might have been in ABQ at the exact same time. Took the family in 2019 to the Balloon Fiesta, stayed in Santa Fe, drove over to the Grand Canyon. One of our best vacations. Alas, my family is all women and I couldn't talk them into the Unser museum. Shame on me.

 

[Driftwood]

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.

 

[maumann]

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.

 

[Driftwood]

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

 

[maumann]

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.

**** and Jim Rathmann (who were actually Jim and **** 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.

 

[Driftwood]

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.

**** and Jim Rathmann (who were actually Jim and **** 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.

 

[maumann]

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.

 

[Driftwood]

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.