Bobby Unser feted by RRDC for all-around career

Bobby Unser’s lofty racing goal as a youth was to win the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb in his native Colorado, which he accomplished at age of 22 in 1956. Among his ambitions then was to break his Uncle Louis’ record of nine overall victories in the “Race to the Clouds.” The Indianapolis 500 wasn’t an ambition so much as his career destiny.

Unser was the guest of honor Thursday night during the rollicking Road Racing Drivers Club Evening with Bobby Unser Presented by Firestone. The event, hosted by RRDC president Bobby Rahal and laden with on- and off-track stories, is an annual fundraiser for the organization’s young driver initiatives.

“I really didn’t have a desire to go to Indianapolis. Then Parnelli (Jones), who was the boy wonder of all racing in the United States, came to Pikes Peak and we instantly became good friends," Unser related. "Then one day he said, ‘You really need to go run Indianapolis.’ I said that I didn’t think I was good enough to go there. I was having fun running sprint cars and midgets and anything to make a buck.

“He didn’t say anything about it, and it wasn’t too long later that I got a phone call from Parnelli, who said, ‘I got your car to run Indianapolis.’ I thought, ‘What am I going to do now?’ I’ a little boy from Albuquerque. It doesn’t usually work out.”

In this instance, it did. Unser’s career expansion included three Indianapolis 500 wins and two Indy car championships.

“I look at the names that were honored before me and they were either my bosses, good friends that raced me on the track or my heroes – (Dan) Gurney, (Roger) Penske, (Jim) Hall, (Brian) Redman, Mario (Andretti) and, of course, the man that helped me get my first ride at Indianapolis in 1963, Parnelli Jones.

“Good chance without Rufus' help at Indy that year you’d never have heard of Bobby Unser at the Speedway.”

Unser won the Indianapolis 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981, and was the first to surpass the 180 mph and 190 mph markers in qualifications. He is tied with three-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon for fifth on the all-time Indy car victory list with 35, and is third on the career pole winners list with 49. Unser won the USAC Indy car title in 1968 and ’74, and retired from Indy car competition in 1982.

But he wasn’t finished racing, and in 1986 – after a 12-year absence from the Pike’s Peak event – broke a tie with his uncle with his 10th overall victory.  He totaled 13 wins on the 14,000-foot Colorado mountain, including two stock car class victories (1969, 1974) and a sports car class win (1963).

Have we seen that car before?

Unser's 1968 Indy 500-winning Offenhauser, which was the backdrop of his chat with Rahal, was driven by Paul Newman in the 1969 feature film "Winning."

Concurrently with the RRDC event was the premiere of the documentary "Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman" in Los Angeles..

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