BY FAST FRIENDS
Albuquerque resident won Indianapolis 500 3 times
Bobby Unser is honored at gala dinner held in conjunction with the Long Beach Grand Prix.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Threetime Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser was honored in front of an elite capacity crowd of auto racing dignitaries Thursday during the Road Racing Drivers Club “Evening with Bobby Unser.” The event was in conjunction with the running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Bobby Rahal, RRDC president and dinner emcee, saluted not only Unser, but the rest of Unser’s Albuquerque-rooted racing family.
“He’s part of one of the most revered families in motorsports,” Rahal said. “I think maybe the Unser family is the racing family of motorsports, with Bobby, Al, Al Jr., Louie, Joe and Jerry Sr. We’re not talking two or three generations or two or three people. We’re talking 10, 11, 12, that have given everything for the sport we love so much.”
Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981. He ranks fifth in IndyCar career wins with 35, a total recently tied by Scott Dixon.
Previous honorees include Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Brian Redman and Mario Andretti. Gurney and Jones were in the audience, along with Unser’s brother Al, a four-time Indy 500 champion.
“It’s the most impressive night I think I’ve ever had in my life,” Bobby Unser said. “Just look at all the people here that I just never, ever thought I’d see again. My mechanics are here — the guys who did all the work. You just don’t know how it makes me feel to see all the people that I’ve known for so many years; some I didn’t want to admit how long we’ve known each other. It’s just an amazing night.”
Opening the evening was a video tribute to Unser written and narrated by RRDC member Sam Posey. The video featured the often contentious yet humorous on-air disagreements between the two when both were commentators on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” in the 1980s and 1990s.
An original painting by acclaimed artist Randy Owens depicting the No. 3 Eagle Mk4 Offenhauser that Unser drove to his first Indy 500 victory in 1968 was signed by champion drivers and other racing legends attending the dinner and presented to Unser.
On display were the PC9B Penske that Unser drove to victory in the 1981 Indy 500, and the Gurney Eagle in which he dominated qualifying for the Indy 500 in 1972.
After a spirited interrogation from Rahal and journalist Robin Miller, Bobby Unser said: “I could talk about it forever. I have 35 years of good stories.”