Al Unser

Unser was born the youngest of four sons to a family with deep roots in American motorsport. His father and two uncles were drivers competing in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb from 1926 onwards. His uncle Joe Unser was killed in 1929 while test-driving a car on the Denver highway. His oldest brother Jerry became the first Unser to drive at Indianapolis, qualifying 23rd for the 1958 race, before being killed by injuries sustained in a practice crash ahead of the 1959 race.

Middle brother Bobby drove his first Indianapolis 500 in 1963 and went on to win the race three times. Al Unser began racing in 1957 at age eighteen, competing initially in modified roadsters, sprint cars, and midgets. He made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1965, finishing ninth.

Unser's breakout came in 1970 when he joined Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing. That season he won a record ten times on oval, road, and dirt tracks to capture the USAC national championship, and he won the Indianapolis 500 leading all but ten of the 200 laps at an average speed of 155.749 mph.

In 1971, Unser won Indianapolis again with Vel's Parnelli Jones, averaging 157.735 mph. On that occasion he made history by winning the race on his birthday — his 32nd — the only driver ever to do so. His attempt to become the first three-time consecutive winner was ended in 1972 when he finished second to Mark Donohue. He continued with the team until 1977, though competitive form dipped in the middle years of that period following a chassis change and an unsuccessful Formula One campaign by the team.

For 1978, Unser moved to Jim Hall Racing and drove a Chaparral Lola that was considered at most a second-tier entry before the race. Unser reached the lead for the first time on lap 75 and engaged in a long duel with Danny Ongais. When Ongais's car suffered engine failure on lap 150, Unser took command and held on to win despite right front-wing misalignment from a pit lane incident in the closing stages. His average speed of 161.363 mph was the second fastest ever run at Indianapolis at the time.

After a three-season spell with Longhorn Racing during which he went winless but by his own account found the experience personally rewarding, Unser joined Team Penske in 1983. He won the IndyCar national championship that year and again in 1985, with a driving style built around consistent top-five finishes across the season.

Unser's fourth Indianapolis 500 win, in 1987, became one of the most celebrated stories in the race's history. Dropped from the Penske lineup for that year, Unser spent the first week of practice without a ride, turning down offers he considered inadequate. The situation changed when regular Penske driver Danny Ongais suffered a concussion in a crash, and the team's new Penske PC-16 chassis proved uncompetitive during practice. Roger Penske retrieved a one-year-old March-Cosworth from a hotel lobby display in Reading, Pennsylvania, where it had been on promotional exhibit, had it hurriedly prepared for the race, and offered it to Unser.

Starting twentieth on the grid, Unser worked through the field over 183 laps as attrition eliminated the front-runners, including the seemingly dominant Newman-Haas entry of Mario Andretti. Unser took the lead on lap 183 after Roberto Guerrero's car stalled during its final pit stop, and held on to win by 4.5 seconds at an average speed of 162.175 mph. In winning, he tied Foyt as the winningest Indianapolis 500 driver and broke brother Bobby's record as the oldest winner.

Outside Indianapolis, Unser won two 500-mile races at Pocono and two more at Ontario, California, bringing his total of 500-mile race wins including Indianapolis to eight. He won the IROC championship in 1977-1978. He also started five NASCAR races, achieving a best finish of fourth at the 1968 Daytona 500 and the 1969 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside.

Unser's final Indianapolis 500 start was in 1993, where he led fifteen laps to extend his career laps-led record at the Speedway. He attempted to qualify in 1994 with a severely underfunded team but withdrew after an unsuccessful first qualifying attempt and announced his retirement on May 17, 1994. His son Al Unser Jr. won that race on his father's 55th birthday.

Unser led 644 laps in total at the Indianapolis 500 across his career, the second most in the race's history. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1986, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998. He died from cancer on December 9, 2021, aged 82, in Chama, New Mexico.