Al Unser, Four-Time Indy 500 Winner, Dead
At 82
Associated Press,
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: Black Conservative Voice,
12/11/2021 5:42:11 AM
Al Unser, a driver who won the Indianapolis 500 four times during his career, died Thursday following a long illness at his home in Chama, New Mexico, Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday.
Known as "Big Al" once 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."
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/11/2021 6:38:30 AM (No. 1003297)
Four victories. It takes incredible talent and reflexes just to get on the track out there. RIP
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
jj1319 12/11/2021 8:28:36 AM (No. 1003353)
Good Lord, Al was a top level racer and a wonderful, fair warrior. Very gracious in victory. Truly a man's man.
7 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Urgent Fury 12/11/2021 8:35:50 AM (No. 1003359)
I remember back when the Indy 500 had all American drivers, and it was a big deal in our family. AJ Foyt was my favorite driver.
5 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 12/11/2021 9:32:23 AM (No. 1003420)
One of the best drivers ever. RIP, sir.
1 person likes this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
czechlist 12/11/2021 10:21:08 AM (No. 1003472)
as teens weused to sneak transistor radios with ear plug into school to listen thpo the Indy 500 as we didn't get Memorial Day off. It was ussually one of the last days of the school year and most teachers indulged us.
With all respect, the drivers get the accolades but it takes an entire competent team to keep the race care performing for 500 miles.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
bassman 12/11/2021 10:35:08 AM (No. 1003487)
A great man and race car driver that came from an era when racing was truly a great sport.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Winnie SC 12/11/2021 11:01:03 AM (No. 1003515)
That whole family has a serious drinking problem (which doesn't make them bad people). I wonder how Al Jr. is doing these days.
RIP.
1 person likes this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Grounded 12/11/2021 11:10:43 AM (No. 1003524)
Al knew that in order to win the race, you had to finish the race and didn't try to run the wheels off of his race car. His biggest rival, Mario Andretti, always pushed his cars hard and ofttimes was rewarded with an early trip to the garage as Al cruised to victory. R.I.P. Big Guy.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
hershey 12/11/2021 11:40:07 AM (No. 1003562)
We keep losing the good ones, and the azzzholes live on forever..you know who I mean...
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 12/11/2021 2:18:25 PM (No. 1003757)
Exactly right , #10. Living near Daytona and Sebring, and not being much of a stock car fan, I was a sports car guy, and since two of the worlds most prominent sports car endurance races were held near enough to easily drive to, became a big fan of Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours races.
Andretti was a really skilled driver...no doubt, but he just didn't "get it" that an endurance race required going as fast as the car could go for 12 hrs or 24 hrs, not going as fast as the car could go....until it broke. I lost a lot of respect for Andretti for not being able to run as fast as say, Jo Siffert, Brian Redman, Dan Gurney, Pedro Rodriquez, Mark Donahue, or many other US or foreign drivers of the late 60s early 70s in endurance racing without 'beating up' the car. Andretti did better in shorter races, like Formula 1 and the 250 mile or 200 mile USAC races.
I remember watching Andretti and NZ driver Chris Amon sharing a Ferrari 312P at Sebring, IIRC, '69, a lovely car. It was clear that Andretti was shifting at least 300 RPMs higher than Amon, which in an endurance race is just stupid. Soon enough, the Ferrari hit a piece of another car's broken bodywork, damaged the cooling system and the car started to trail blue smoke after repairs....signs of engine damage. Did Mario back off and shift a bit lower RPMs to preserve the already slightly wounded engine, survive to the end of the race? Of course not, but Amon did. Amazingly, the car, overheating and regularly needing water stops, survived to the end, in 2nd.
Unser really understood that Indy was a 500 mile race and you had to run reasonably well, stay out of crashes and not abuse the car early on. If you were in a good place, and the car was still healthy at the 400 mile point....THEN you could start pushing, and a whole bunch of drivers with worse "head work" would already be gone or have a car limping home on a prayer. I was way more a fan of Big Al than Mario.
2 people like this.
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Comments:
One of the best racing teams around. They have been slammed this year with 3 deaths. My heart goes out to this family. Al's oldest brother Bobby died in May and 6 weeks later Bobby jr passed away. Prayers to this family for comfort. One death is hard but more is knee buckling.