Al Unser, seen in 1993, was one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times. He died Thursday in New Mexico after years of health problems. He was 82. (AP file photo)
Al Unser, one of only four drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500 record four times, died on Thursday after a long illness. He was 82.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday that ours died at his Chama home with his wife Susan by his side. He fought cancer for 17 years.
Ours is the third member of one of America’s most famous racing families to die in 2021. His eldest brother, three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser, died in May, and Bobby Unser Jr. died six weeks after his father.
Known as “Big Al” when his own son made a name for himself in racing, Unser is part of an elite club of four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”. Ours won the Indy 500 in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987 and is the only rider in history to have both a sibling and child who also win one of the greatest races in the world.
His last win at the age of 47 made him the oldest winner in the history of the Indy 500. Ours has won three national Indy car championships and 39 victories over the course of his career. He led a total of 644 laps in Indianapolis.
The Unser family achieved a record of nine wins at the Indy 500; Al Jr. won the Indy 500 twice – in 1992 and 1994. Coincidentally, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., and Bobby Unser all won their last Indy 500 racing for Roger Penske.
We were at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this year to welcome Helio Castroneves as the newest member of the four-time winners’ club. Ours did the feat according to AJ Foyt, and Rick Mears won his fourth in 1991. Castroneves won in May, becoming the first new member in 30 years.
“On some days the racetrack smiles at you and on some days it’s the other way around,” said Unser during the July celebration. “You don’t always think that you will win because your chances are very slim. There are 32 other guys who want it as badly as you do. “
Ours received his “Baby Borg”, the 18-inch replica of the Indy 500 winner’s Borg-Warner Trophy that lives on-site at the Speedway Museum, during a celebration in May with family and friends. He was due to be honored in Indianapolis in 2020 on the 50th anniversary of his 1970 victory, but the celebration has been postponed due to the pandemic.
Both Castroneves and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato praised Unser on social media, with Sato describing our speech at the awards ceremony in May as “very funny and so charming”.
“Great respect,” said Sato.
The youngest of four racing driver brothers, Unser was born in Albuquerque in 1939 into a family of hardcore racing drivers. His father, Jerry Unser, and two uncles, Louis and Joe, were also drivers. From 1926 the family began participating in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, an annual road race in Colorado.
As Al’s eldest brother, Jerry, the first Unser qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in 1958; he died in an accident while training the following year.
Ours started racing himself in 1957 at the age of 18, but mainly started in sprint cars. He made it to Indy in 1965 and was part of the rookie class with future Indy 500 winners Mario Andretti (1969) and Gordon Johncock (1973, 1984).
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