This is part two of a three-part story written by Bruce Martin about the life and recent passing of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser. Check back Wednesday for part three of this story.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – If there were ever two drivers, and two brothers, who were different, it was Bobby and Al Unser.
Bobby Unser was vocal and opinionated out of the race car and a hard charger behind the wheel of a race car He drove a race car like Mario Andretti, pushing it to its limit on practically every lap.
Although he went on to win three Indianapolis 500s, 37 Indy car races (27 in USAC, 10 in CART) and 52 poles in his career, Bobby Unser admitted in later life if he had maybe taken care of his equipment better, he would have won more races.
“Bobby didn’t finish all these races, either,” Al Unser told SPEED SPORT in 2016. “Like Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones. Parnelli said to me one time he wished he had my patience. But I don’t know whether it was patience or the fact that I just want to finish the race.”
Al Unser was quiet and often had a very dry sense of humor. During his racing days, Al Unser would have never been named to an all-interview team by the media, but his teammate at Penske Racing, Rick Mears, told SPEED SPORT he was one of the best teammates he ever had.
“Al and I got along from the very beginning and was a tremendous help on sharing information,” Mears said. “Al and I got along great because we both spoke the same language.
“The difference between me and Al was I spent a lot of time focusing on qualifying and Big Al thought it was more important to set up the car for the race and wherever he qualified, as long as he had a good race car, he was happy.
“But one thing about Al, if he were on the lead lap toward the end of the race, you knew that is who you were going to have to beat to win the race.”
Al Unser firmly believed that in order to finish first, first you had to finish.
If Bobby Unser drove the car to its limit, Al Unser conserved his car, keeping it within striking distance of the leaders.
That served Al Unser well as he won 39 Indy car races in a career that began with his first race in 1964 and ended when he announced his retirement on a practice day for the 1994 Indianapolis 500.
If Bobby Unser drove like Andretti, then Al Unser’s driving style was more like Mears.
Ironically, the driver who saved his race car and conserved his equipment remains the all-time lap leader in Indianapolis 500 history with 644 laps led.
There’s a good reason for that. When Al Unser drove the Johnny Lightning Special for team owners Vel Miletich and Parnelli Jones in 1970, he led 190 laps in the 200-lap Indianapolis 500. He won the race from the pole and defeated Mark Donohue by 32.16 seconds.
“I could do what I wanted in that race,” Al Unser told SPEED SPORT when he was awarded his Baby Borg for that 1970 victory at a special dinner on May 28. “It was one of those now where I can sit here and tell you it was a dream come true. Whatever I wanted to do on the race track that day, I could do. That happens once in a million times in a driver’s career. I was lucky enough to be part of it.”
He went back-to-back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1971, starting fifth and leading 103 laps in the Johnny Lightning Special to defeat Peter Revson’s McLaren by 22.88 seconds.
“When you are lucky enough to circle yourself with good people to make a good team function and you have everything going your way, it’s easy to be able to say now that ‘I won the race,” Al Unser said. “But if it weren’t for the people that were around me to make it happen, I couldn’t say that. George Bignotti was the key.
“George Bignotti hired the right people and I believed in George.
“Before George got involved in racing, he was a florist. He cut up flowers. George always knew how to surround himself with good people. The engine man that we had. He worked down the street 24 hours a day. With guys working for you like that, it all came together.
“Parnelli was a key factor, but Vel was in the background. He was another one of those people that if you had a problem, Vel would work it out and find out where the problem was. Parnelli was one of the most fantastic race car drivers I’ve ever seen. When he sat in a race car and fastened that seat belt, he knew only one thing and that was to win.
“Parnelli and Foyt were like Tigers.”
In 1978, Al Unser drove Jim Hall’s Chaparral Racing First National City Traveler’s Checks Special to his third Indianapolis 500 win after leading 121 laps. Second-place Tom Sneva was the only other driver on the lead lap at the end of the race.
In 1979, he led 85 laps in Hall’s Pennzoil Special but finished 22nd after the car experienced transmission failure.
He left Hall’s team at the end of that season and spent the next three year’s racing for Bobby Hillin’s operation.
Al Unser left the year before Hall introduced the famed Pennzoil Yellow Submarine that Johnny Rutherford drove to victory in the 1980 Indianapolis 500. It was a car that revolutionized Indy car racing as it featured the first true ground effects design. Drivers no longer had to lift in the corners at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the ground effects sucked the car to the track surface.
Did Al Unser regret his decision to leave?
“No,” he said firmly. “It’s easy to say today I could have, but if you aren’t happy, get your butt out. I wasn’t happy, so I left.
“Jim Hall and I had different theories and we weren’t getting along, so it was time for me to leave and I left. Was I sorry? I can’t say I didn’t have the car with Bobby Hillin that I did, but you have to understand the reason why I didn’t have it because there was another designer I didn’t like.”