Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
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Unser Notable Sports Figures<br />
Awards and Accomplishments<br />
1960 Finished second to brother Bobby at Pike’s Peak Hillclimb<br />
1964 Made Indy car debut at Milwaukee and won Pikes Peak<br />
Hillclimb<br />
1965 Finished ninth in first Indy 500 and won Pikes Peak Hillclimb<br />
1967 Finished second at Indy 500 and named USAC Rookie of the<br />
Year<br />
1968 Won five races in a row and grabbed five poles<br />
1970 Won first Indy 500 and nine other races; named Driver of the<br />
Year<br />
1971 Indy 500 win<br />
1977 Won Indy car races at Pocono, Milwaukee, and Phoenix<br />
1978 Took “Indy Car Triple Crown” with wins at Indy 500, Pocono,<br />
and Ontario; named Driver of the Year<br />
1987 Fourth Indy 500 win<br />
1991 Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<br />
1998 Inducted into International Motorsports Hall of Fame<br />
Rutherford, who also retired in 1994, offers his expertise<br />
to aspiring race car drivers as a staff member of the Indy<br />
Racing League as coach and consultant. Some of the<br />
new drivers see him as a dinosaur who couldn’t possibly<br />
help them, Unser told Hank Kurz Jr. of the Associated<br />
Press. But “I tell them in 1992 and 1993, I was still running<br />
230 miles an hour around the speedway. That<br />
wakes them up.” Another passion of Unser’s is shared<br />
with son, Al Jr. The two have committed $1.5 million of<br />
their own money to building an auto museum on family<br />
land in Albuquerque. Father and son have set up a nonprofit<br />
foundation to raise more money for the planned<br />
50,000-square-foot center on a twelve-acre site.<br />
One of the greatest auto racers of all time, Unser<br />
stands as an inspiration for aspiring racers everywhere<br />
and especially for other members of the Unser clan who<br />
remain active in racing. This latter group includes his son,<br />
Al Jr., and nephews, Johnny and Robby Unser. Only<br />
Unser Sr., Foyt, and Rick Mears have managed to take four<br />
checkered flags at Indy, an incredible feat for a racer of<br />
any age, but made all the remarkable for Unser, who posted<br />
his final win at the Brickyard at the age of 47. Unser,<br />
who was active in racing across four decades, has been<br />
enshrined in both the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<br />
(1991) and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame<br />
(1998) in honor of his unique contributions to the sport.<br />
CONTACT INFORMATION<br />
Address: Al Unser Sr., c/o Indy Racing League, 4567 W.<br />
16th St., Indianapolis, IN 46222-2513.<br />
FURTHER INFORMATION<br />
Books<br />
“Al Unser.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture,<br />
five volumes. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.<br />
1668<br />
Bentley, Karen. The Unsers. Broomall, PA: Chelsea<br />
House, 1996.<br />
Dregni, Michael. The Indianapolis 500. Minneapolis:<br />
Capstone Press, 1994.<br />
Periodicals<br />
Kurz, Hank, Jr. “Unser Sr., Rutherford Use Status to<br />
Teach.” Associated Press (July 3, 2002).<br />
Latta, Dennis. “Unsers Rev Up Plans for Car Museum.”<br />
Albuquerque Journal (March 14, 2002).<br />
Other<br />
“Al Unser Sr.” International Motorsports Hall of Fame.<br />
http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/<br />
1998/Al_Unser_Sr_main.htm (October 23, 2002).<br />
“Al Unser Sr. Is Oldest Indy 500 Winner.” ESPN Classic.<br />
http://espn.go.com/classic/s/add_unser_al.html<br />
(October 23, 2002).<br />
“Champion Details: Al Unser.” CART: Championship<br />
Auto Racing Teams. http://www.cart.com/Fan<br />
Resources/Champion.asp?ID=7 (October 23, 2002).<br />
“Sibling Rivalry Pushed Al Unser to Indy Greatness.”<br />
Indy500. com. http://www.indy500.com/press/1998/<br />
champions/aunser.html (October 23, 2002).<br />
“Unser Brothers Find Success on Different Life Paths.”<br />
Indy500. com. http://www.indy500.com/press/1999/<br />
unser-051999.html (October 23, 2002).<br />
Bobby Unser<br />
1934-<br />
American race car driver<br />
Sketch by Don Amerman<br />
Bobby Unser came from a family of racecar drivers.<br />
He made a name for himself as a driver who pushed<br />
himself and his cars to the limit. He drove fast and hard<br />
all of the time, and has won numerous racing championships<br />
throughout his career, including three Indianapolis<br />
500 titles. Unser has been the center of<br />
controversy because of his sharp opinions about what is<br />
fair and just, both on and off the track.<br />
Born to Race<br />
Robert William Unser was born on February 20,<br />
1934 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to a family destined<br />
to race. His grandfather, Louis Unser, was a mechanic<br />
whose three sons were the first to ride up Pike’s Peak, a<br />
14,110 foot high mountain on the edge of the Great<br />
Plains, in the 1920s. This was the first race of what
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