Sportscentury- Al Unser

he led more laps than any other driver owners called him a money man who could always find a way to win even when time was running against him at Indianapolis in 87 you know al is basically at the end of his career and then he wasn't wanting to admit it at the end of the 1986 season 487 Penske was faced with a dilemma I'm gonna have to let somebody go would it be Rick Mears no would it be Danny Sullivan no so it would have to be al there was a little bit ention because obviously he had he'd driven for Audrey and won a couple of championships for Roger in 83 and 85 and he wasn't renewed there was a guy that had won the race three times he had no car no ride at all and there in the first week he didn't first we qualify he didn't have a car he was rather dejected because he felt as though he was no longer connected to racing he felt as though he didn't have a home it was hard keeping his spirits up that month was eight days and the week you know it just went by you were just like--all and this is just so hard for him you just wanted you know you wanted to go to somebody and say hey put him in your racecar he's a really good race star Verte he didn't really have much of a chance of doing anything didn't have a ride nothing was going well he was dejected and every day I would see him and he looked terrible Sunday came and six o'clock came and you know al hadn't fallen fired my son he was having problems so I said well I'll stay here this week and see if I can help him and that was when Danny and Gaius was driving for Roger Penske Danny crashed and got hurt and couldn't drive the race car Roger I'm sure he get out his old book and you know that most of the the best one that they could anybody could ever get would be my father al had been the ultimate winner he'd won the championship for us he was available and certainly someone that we knew that would have the experience to put a car in the winner's circle it was a natural they literally overnight ran down and got ahold of Al said come on you got to drive the car for us even at that he was an incredible longshot just to get in the race let alone them to do well in it al was not too happy with Roger but at the same time he knew it was a good ride and he knew the team was great team but no new cars were available for the 47 year old unser so they thought well we need to get an 86 for Al but you know let's check out stop here what have we got the car that they ran just about three weeks before it arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was in Reading Pennsylvania not in their race shop but on display in a hotel a week before the 1987 race unser ran 20th qualifying for the Indy 500 field of 33 graded a longshot unser was unimpressive in the early going the green flag goes the expectation is that from the pole position world radical I can remember in that race he was about ready to get lapped by a lot of the cars and I said I can't believe I got laughed I stood up in that car and started driving it like I should've drove it to start with I remember being aware that he had suddenly emerged if anything how I'm sir that's right I forgot he was in this race number 25 being driven by her senior stealthily moving up in the unser style he was in a position to win with less than 25 laps to go he was a very calculating smooth is still very determined driver that didn't show his determination he was able to mask his competitiveness senior wins this race you can make a strong case for him as the greatest Indianapolis 500 driver I was sitting up in one of the Suites it turned four with my mom and she said you know your dad has a good chance of winning this and I'm thinking yeah he's way back there Mario's running away with it yeah balance Athena was one of the smartest drivers I've ever raced against and it often said you know what I wish I could have some of his patients I know it would have worked for me many times as it happened to Mario time and again his engine blew he's out of the race Roberto Guerrero inherited the lead closing laps of the race and Roberto Guerrero came into the pits he had been nursing a bad clutch the entire race this time it actually bit him this pit stop I thought people were silly when he said that they cried or I would see women cry after their husbands went to waste and I thought this is too good I mean why are you crying that silly that I know the last few laps of that race and the last lap the tears came I got that checkered flag and everybody says we can't believe you wanted to race us as me after nine frustrating years unser made it back to Victory Lane following AJ Foyt as the second four-time Indy 500 winner in victory circle he holds up his four fingers he's surprised that it's happened again you know it's not like a totally elation fist in the air it's just well you know I did a good job Thank You Roger forgiving me a carat I was typical al unser you know and hell's kind of okay and yeah you knew deep down inside you know he kind of stuck it to the entire racing community when you've had as much experience and knowledge as Al Unser has had over the years and you've been so called put out to grass and you come back and you and you were in the Indy 500 boy are you a happy chappy he'd showed up with the world he wasn't a washed up bald man he'd shown that he'd do it in the biggest race so lose a bit of payback for him was a bit of a demonstrating to the world to the I can still do the victory in my opinion displays an attribute that he had throughout his career and that was the ability to analyze the race and wait his turn and pounce when the opportunity presented itself the answers go back generations if you were a nun sir you Rach that's that what's the way it was well you're tenacious son of a you know what there's nobody in this family any way shape form gives up very easy there's a love for racing but it's not that there's something deeper there's a desire to know who you are and what we're capable of born May 29th 1939 in Albuquerque New Mexico Al Unser was the youngest of four sons his daddy's garage was right on highway 66 and at that time he was the only one in temps their floors were painted red and I mean those floors were spotless you can see her facing them and that was one of Daddy's qualities I mean it had to be first-rate Jerry would say I guess you could say in many ways as a true western guy he was a guy who a self-made man and raced a little bit himself he was not an easy guy in where shape or form he's a set tough high standards and drove his kids jeurys senior and his two brothers Luis and Joe shared an ultimate goal racing in the Indy 500 then tragedy struck in 1929 and then Uncle Joe got killed they were out trying the cars out one day they were getting ready to go to in Annapolis and something went wrong or they never knew what then that was really the formation of the unser mentality that was built into the part of the family mythology it added to it add to the mystique of Indianapolis for them and it added to the mystique of being a racing driver but the dream of Indy would not be realized until the next generation of Unser's owl would have to wait for his chance because of the hierarchy of a German family alles the end of the tale and not grudgingly so that's just the way it works it's an old-world family al you know he had a bit a lot of work on Bobby's Carter said before here we got a chance to get into a car you learned a lot from everybody in the family Al's a bit of a quiet fellow and a bit of a sponge and he just sit and watches and takes the best from everybody the four brothers raced on the local dirt tracks at Albuquerque in modified stock cars and that's where I out started and was very very successful and very quick and competitive right away they're fiercely competitive as a family but also they really unite if there's anything against one of them why they all gather together as a as a unit the protective us against them family attitude was demonstrated time and again in the mountains of Colorado with the legendary Pikes Peak Hill Climb Sanchez have won that maybe 20 times in the race classes of the climb it's a remarkable record their remarkable high speed was everything to them that's what their father that our uncle their grandparents grew up doing Uncle Louie became the old man of the mountain Uncle Louie that what they say is they he owned Pikes Peak he won so many races there then of course all of the ends are kids and since they could they if they ran Pikes Peak okay Louie was the king of the mountain and it was always in the newspapers that way then can we adored him so when we went up there we brought a new attitude a new way of driving Pikes Peak a new way of doing race cars honking oh he didn't like the Albuquerque boys coming up I mean it was kind of taking the Thunder away from him a little bit and in those days he had to be 21 the race and we decided daddy and mom said ask me if I would like to run up there right so we started planning about three years I had to do it about a year in advance when I was 20 years old we started telling everybody we was I was actually a year older but on the day before he was to qualify young owl was turned in nobody down here to howl that was dr. Luiz only one the cut up that it didn't take long to figure out who did it he did a few things like that that was kind of bad and immediately daddy just quit talking dunk Louie it was the last time they ever talked we owned our own car that year and we didn't win any money and we were really flat broke I mean we came home on a credit card in two dollar bills daddy and mom sent me down and said you know don't let this discourage you and him but yet deep down that hurt you know and it was something that I don't think it discouraged me towards wanting a race I think that it inspired me towards showing them that I was gonna beat them two months earlier Al's oldest brother Jerry had arrived at Indianapolis seeking to qualify for the 500 it was the second day of practice and at that time it still wasn't mandatory to wear a fire retardant uniform he hit the wall and there was fire he was taken to the hospital and I know several people that went up to visit him and he seemed to be okay but they didn't know about burns Jerry lived for 17 days but he eventually passed away from kidney poising it shook us all up pretty hard you know that Daddy mom set us down and told us that Jerry was doing what he wanted and what he loved and they were still behind us and they were still for us to continue if we wanted to in those days if you were a professional racing driver it was highly unlikely that you were going to see the end of your racing career the fact that it was a sport where you could die gave it added value that the family legacy in that way just made al as it did I believe all of his brothers and everyone in the family a stronger man it was an incentive bet the answers were going to prevail and that nothing was going to hinder that even though death interfere but they were gonna come back and fight they were fighters five years after the death of Jerry jr. his twin Louie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis ending his career as a driver meanwhile Bobby had already started racing at Indy I met Bobby at that time and I met his dad in the garage area and I was talking to his dad about Bobby was going to be a real comer and his dad told me he says you haven't seen the best one yet he's still at home of course he was talking about Al Unser Bobby was fairly successful and that kind of stimulated Al he was smaller and quieter and I think he had this obsession to try and beat his brother when Bobby went in Annapolis it inspired me again of saying well maybe I can do it you know maybe I have the talent the Indianapolis Speedway is the world series of auto racing I mean in my opinion there's no race in the world that compares to the Indy 500 the Indy 500 has been a symbol of speed of everything that is American for a very long time it is a single most important racing event that happens every year you don't have to tell somebody with your necklace 500 is when you say Indianapolis everybody knows it's about speed if you really want to become famous you have to drive at Indianapolis and if you're lucky enough to win it that makes you even twice as famous when you raised in a racing family you dream of in Annapolis it's a place that is on the top of the totem pole in 1965 Al Unser at 25 arrived at Indy but in the days prior to the race he didn't have a car fast enough to qualify for the 500 the defending champion interceded AJ Foyt was a pretty amazing guy at spotting talent AJ didn't think winning was worth anything if all the good guys weren't there running so it was only logical that if one of the good guys was there and didn't have a ride and he was capable of making it available he was going to do it and he sought it out was a no BS guy a very unpretentious guy was a guy like AJ who had come up from the dirt tracks and had proven that he was a very very good dirt track racer and that was something that AJ had a tremendous amount of respect for one day for it came by my garage and he says where's that younger brother yours course Floyd's always a grump you know they want to drive a car I said yeah it was drive a car he ended up ninth but I think he was running sixth at one time he was very very smooth and I think several people came around afterwards and either to hear more to others read him and said you know boy he's smooth balance it was kind of one of the dark forces in the field because he just didn't run out on his mouth like a lot of people you know he was just quite and easygoing but he's tough to beat very smart very smart and smooth and reserved as a driver Unser's combustible behavior off the track raised some doubts about his commitment allons are had a side of him that was up for this way you may have looked on Alice being kind of smooth running water but he was a little radical from time to time most rates are so low but on the honoree side anyway because I think you live in a dangerous atmosphere and a lot of times when you're out playing around or doing something always looking for a little thrill practical killed for part-and-parcel the Indy 500 death was commonplace and these guys wanted to live life to the fullest while they were around so he was part of that have a good time bunch in Indianapolis he's always pulling stunts they had a fire extinguisher and they had it stuck they knock on the door one of the drivers and they stuck this fire extinguisher in the room when he opened the door they shot this powder in the room and the only thing it was the wrong room it was a Salesman well I first heard about him in 1969 that was my first year at Indy and he was the favorite or one of the favorites and a day or two before the race he broke his leg right in the motorcycle it was on a motorcycle clowning around and I think probably showing off to a couple of girls and he ended up doing a wheel stand coming over and he broke his ankle and it took him out the racer unser quickly recovered from his injury and proved his doubters wrong by winning five races over the remainder of 1969 Allen sure was not reckless at all if he was reckless it was probably letting himself out a little bit he wasn't racing off the track he had his moments but on the track he was a completely different person he was a very very intelligent driver very rarely made a mistake he's got a fire that rages and signed him and I think that's the real key is that he has this burning desire to be the best but he doesn't let it affect him outwardly too much at least not where many people see it he keeps it inside and he does it on the track rather than off the track by 1970 Al Unser was on the verge of stardom fortified by top flight mechanic George big Noddy and the Vell Parnelli Jones team he approached Indy with victory in his crosshairs I think mostly the change in his career was he suddenly ended up with really good stuff and to put him behind the wheel of a really good car was to mean nobody else was gonna win for a while the brains that were running the team putting the thing together Al's ability it all meshed at the right time now was the class of the field you've really arrived as the icon of the sport but is that year he went ten races that year he was also all dominant in the dirt races it was a dream come true but yet you know I can sit back now and look at it and say well it was meant to happen the other family was on top of the racing world his brother had just done it a couple of years before and now he comes along it kind of had things mastered I think they was a step ahead over everybody else and it just seemed like it was easy for him to win at first I thought it was also because the villains part on the car was so superior but then as as time went on I realize how much L contribute to that I think it took a couple years for him to realize the potential he had that was a lot more humble a lot more unsure of himself then when he took off and suddenly you know he knew hey I'm pretty good at this victorious in his second straight Indy 500 in 1971 unser was crowned prince of his sport but if winning had been difficult speaking to the press was nearly unbearable for the quiet man from the southwest I found it a little bit like pulling teeth to talk to I all early on in press boxes once he became successful after the 7071 races and he would come to the front I looked like he's come to the front who would be a groan or moan from the test box everybody knew that if he won it was gonna be a bad interview you know everything was neat that was his favorite word Al's never been comfortable talking about himself I liked the joke about the best interview I ever had thou was when he was injured in a crash at Michigan he had a couple broken ribs and a broken leg and they had him on painkiller and he was laughing and having funny there's the best interview I've ever had with him l is not an easy person to get close to it he could be quiet a little bit standoffish at times but it really is a certain amount of shyness I've been on holiday with him I've been around many times very friendly but I wouldn't say I ever got close to him he's the type of person that you look at almost from a distance and admire that that's al unser unser celebrity wore and his wife Wanda whom he married in 1958 and their three children he was always gone we missed him being around there like a regular dad that was there you know every day after 5:00 the worst feelings of course are you know going to school and and and have everybody think that you're the rich and famous and they take things out on you he was travelling the country in the world and I think as happens in many of these instances you know mom is at home raising a family he's out about racing around the world becoming more and more of a celebrity having all the ladies throw themselves at him so many opportunity like other great athletes you know you've lined up to see a baseball field and the basketball play some women are lined up waiting for the guys to come ahead well race drivers are pretty much the same attraction it's not so bad being married it's when you have a family and the wife is put in the middle there where if she doesn't travel with her husband she's gonna lose him and if she doesn't stay with her children the kids have no parents after his marriage to Wanda ended in 1971 al went into a slump on the racetrack but if victories were scarce he showed no signs of letting down especially when the competition involved his older brother Bobby there is a competitive nature that can't stop they used to have this deal in the Christmas period where they would both go on holiday to Chama New Mexico and they would spend the holidays working on their snowmobiles and they would come out like two nights of the Elizabethan period one Unser from one side of the field and one from the other and pity the team that lost his Bobby at one point went to Alaska and shot a grizzly bear well Al's react to that was the goal of shoot similar there and mount the whole thing and have it in the front doorway and indicated to me that he just had a 1-up his brother growing up and Bobby unser shadow could have not been easy he had a humongous ego and you know it could dwarf anybody now I'm sure it worked out when they're growing up the brother thing when you get up in a really professional part of motor racing has to end because you're representing big companies big money we're always brothers then we're always a close family we can't be affected we can't let our racing affect each other in that way we have to be two different drivers that Molalla are extremely supportive of each other as long as they're not both in the same room they're both in the same room they're going at each other uncle Bobby's style of life is how he drives you know just full steam ahead and just run over anything that it takes to get there and my dad's his style is more calculative thinks about it there were times in that relationship when they didn't get along well but that was always secondary to anything that was really important in their family their brothers they love each other they may not always like each other but they do love each other after marrying Karen Barnes in November of 1977 Al Unser enjoyed one of his most successful years in 1978 he had a phenomenal season there were three 500-mile races Indianapolis Pocono and Ontario and he won all three probably was one of the main reasons why he was so successful in the long-distance races because discipline and control of your mind plays such a huge role he was so nonchalant just laid-back about this dangerous job that we all did but if danger on the racetrack did not deter unser tragedy at home had a crushing effect in 1982 when his 21 year old daughter Debbie came too close to what her father handled was such a parent ease Debbie went to the lake that night and I don't think she'd been there probably an hour - and when three or four of them jumped into a dune buggy and they were running down the lake and she was sitting on some guy's lap and they hit a rut and she flew up and hit the rotate and it got her right in the temple and she died instantly the other people in the dune buggy were not even injured that was the idol of his a life when his daughter and I know it like anybody else it took something out of him for a while I think it probably affected him on how he viewed life in general and how fragile life is I mean here the whole lots are family out there driving race cars to the limit and his daughter goes to the lake one weekend and doesn't come back that's pretty hard to take dad is someone who's very hard to read his emotions he just said that that's just the way it is and we got to be strong about it and you know we got to remember the the happy times that we had with Debbie and and you know that's all we can do now well my daughter got killed that was Bobby and still is an empty feeling how is one of those racers who's able to put aside the family the personal stuff the outside businesses when they're in the race car instead of saying I can't go on because my daughter has been killed al buried himself more in racing then before because it was his escape there's a lot of tragedy around racing you learn to deal with it or you can't be here a just 32 Al Unser had gleaned wealth fame and glory from one of the most dangerous sports in the world it was not surprising that his son yearning to follow in his father's path started racing karts at the age of nine dad the way he did it I didn't feel I was being pushed although you know later on in the end when I got to Indy and so on and him watching him do interviews about myself and and he says that he did push me and I got to thinking about it yes he did push me I knew that little al was going to be a race car driver because from the time he could walk he wanted anything that had wheels on it I never knew that he was going to be competitive and actually end up that in Annapolis it was a dream sure but again you don't know where that ladder stops when you climb it but al continually climbed the ladder my dad really he just pulled me aside and he said that he didn't care what I did for a living as long as I gave it my best effort and that's all he cared about and so him telling me that helped me a ton because I did feel a lot of pressure on me because of Allen sirs son I really thought that when al came along and he started racing that it would be pretty easy for me to be able to handle it I said you know I did it with my brother I should be able to do with my son but all of a sudden I woke up to a brand new deal it isn't the same I was more involved in knowing l was doing and Karen worry was on the racetrack and if there was a yellow flag or a wreck brother he was involved in it early on in L juniors career l see you're worried about him I think s how good he was and how good he was becoming he became less so and then he decided this kids too good he started to be competitive with him in 1983 the unser publicity engines shifted into overdrive when the first father-and-son rivalry in the history of the Indy 500 was established this thing was kind of in the doldrums along in the eighties I think the fact that they raced with an against teacher there was a tremendous sell for raising that rivalry mental out to the Speedway number one number two little on sale to know that and they're willing to step into his footsteps al junior became one of his father's chief competitors that rival father and son battled for the car championship here is this guy Alan sir senior that's supposed to be the best and oval track racing and in order to deny his son a championship he has to beat his son at Tamiami Park in Miami Florida a road course everybody expected him to give it up because he'd been racing for years and really sort of like let Al jr. win the championship rocketing to a secure position al jr. stayed at least two slots ahead of his father in their race for enough points to win the championship family emotions swirled on the track and off now that allowed with win the championship by one spot now that's pretty good for an offseason deal I do not want little al to win the championship I want Big Al to win it because I realized he's he's basically at the end of his rope he doesn't realize it yet but I know that he is there was so many mixed emotions because I was so proud of my father because he's either gonna win the championship or I'm gonna win the championship trying to catch up fast as he can he has got to catch up I couldn't look at that car as my son I couldn't look at it as a loan to junior plays closing on the number 6 car Roberto Moreno Bobby even get around have you been counting on all your fingers and most your toes then he's got a championship it's gonna be one point of the good he's right on his bumper now dad has got it in the palm of his hand to give his thumb the championship all he's got to do is slack off that throttle one little teeny bit they said I had to decide amaya father in this instance or by her race driver and he said they decide today I was a race driver we came down to the last three laps of the race and he says you have to pass Moreno to win the championship so I did and that how had to thrive on the edge he had to really stand on it and slip and slide and and take chances and and do things that he normally wouldn't do there was a wreck going into turn one on that first corner so I was like the last one through and alls I have to do is finish one card in front of my father and I win the championship and then no one's behind me no one's behind me and then about a half lap later who shows up behind me my dad right behind me and I'm going no way this is impossible he's got himself a national championship there's outlets our senior the new national chapter you get the checkered flag and then dongdong means that I had just won the championship against my son it was a rude awakening you know it was something that I think now I think back in and it was an empty feeling and I pulled alongside of him and I tried to tell except that I was sorry here's the moment the first meeting between father and son that was really classic to see those two hugging each other after their last race both of them seemed really really happy that senior had had won the championship I could have given that championship dial by not passing Marino but how would I face my crew my sponsors and my son I can honestly sit back and say now that I'm happy I won my brother came to me once Bobby and says you're not even competitive now you should retire and I I looked at him and I said I'll tell you something I said I still want to race and I'm still gonna race don't bother me by 1992 how unser senior was still competitive running third at the Indy 500 but his son finished first the tide in their rivalry had clearly turned Big Al enjoyed his sons victory in 92 more than he would have his own fifth victory he couldn't wait to get out of his car and go and hug a little while it's not normally a very emotional man washing his emotions there in Indian 92 it was a real treat to see him enjoy something that much I think once the hell saw that his son was ready to take off and going that's good let's let him do that mouth kind of faith at 54 allen's her seniors career was running on vapors I wasn't up to speed as I should have been there was problems with the car and all of a sudden I'm out standing watching owl running him qualified he sat on the pole that year and it made me so happy here I have problems of my own and all of a sudden I'm more interested in something else my son when it came time to retire he called me in his garage says I can't do it he said I'm not gonna drive in the back of the pack he says that's it and you know there wasn't any big to-do about it divorced from his second wife Karen since 1988 now senior eased into the robes of the unser family patriarch it's always been pretty known through our generation that Uncle Al is the man that if you got on clown with the problem he sits down in lessons to you he thinks about what you need al senior has been right there with me since my dad was killed racing he's definitely been more of a father to me he's quiet to people that he doesn't know but once he gets to know ya once he gets to care about you at least from a racecar driver standpoint he really communicates well after earning almost 7 million dollars and reaching third place on the all-time victory list Al Unser senior finally took his foot off the pedal in May of 1994 he still lives by the side of old highway 66 out there the same house that he built for the family years ago not the most picturesque setting in the world but it's fine ver al al is probably as dedicated eraser as there's ever been he comes from a racing family they've lost people on the racetrack they've had lots of tragedy David lots of success but racing is their life Allen sir had the uncanny ability to close within striking distance of victory in almost every race he ran his focus physical endurance and sensitive handling of the car kept him on the Raceway when other drivers were finished or in a pit for repairs if the trick is to last an unser was on a track by himself for sportscentury I'm Chris Fowler

Channel: TheRacingJungle

Views: 36,341

Rating: 4.8301158 out of 5

Keywords: espn, sportsentury, al, unser, sr, documentary, indy, 500

Id: 0C5S769825Q

Length: 41min 36sec (2496 seconds)

Published: Sun May 27 2012