Indy 500 legend joins Leadfoot
ON FIRST TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND, AL UNSER JNR WILL DRIVE 1915 STUTZ
Al Unser jnr, Indy 500 Champion in 1994 ( left) and in 2007 ( above and top). American motorsport in the early ’ 90s via successes in their respective fields of IndyCar and hill- climb rallying. Despite this, the pair only recently met.
“Of course I had heard of Rod, and we crossed paths a little bit. I was in the IndyCars and he was doing his own thing with Toyota. Pikes Peak means a lot to the Unser family, so each year that race runs the whole family is interested in it.
“For Rod to go up there and have the success that was extremely good.”
Their paths eventually crossed for the first time at the Toyota Celebrity Race that ran alongside the IndyCar Series at Long Beach earlier this year. It was there that Unser jnr accepted an invitation to compete at Leadfoot.
“We got talking and he mentioned to me that he does this once a year. He said, ‘ Al would you be interested?’ and I said ‘ Sure!’
“I’ve never been to New Zealand. I’ve been to Surfers [ Paradise] of course, in the years that the IndyCars were there, but I never went over to New Zealand. So I’m excited about coming, and being a part of this whole thing.”
Unser jnr, whose career also boasts two CART championship titles, laments the direction that modern motorsport has taken, including IndyCar.
“I love IndyCars, of course. I love the Indy 500. [ But] I wish the innovation was in the series, like the ’ 80s and ’ 90s when I drove.
“With all of them being Dallaras, spec cars, it’s kind of lost the excitement for me. Because I think the IndyCars and the Indy 500 is all about developing the automobile and taking it to places it’s never been before.
“With how expensive racing is I can understand why they’ve gone with spec cars, but I wish it was the way it was when you could build your own car and own engines.”
“Any kind of event that can bring back the old cars that were the most advanced cars of their time — for people to be able to see that and the development of the automobile and how it’s gone forward, I think when they get up there and they hear them run and see them run, I think it’s great.”
The 2017 Leadfoot Festival is on February 4 and 5, with several more historic names to be announced.