Unser, 4-time Indy winner, dies
Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday following a long illness. He was 82.
Unser died at his home in Chama, N.M,, with his wife, Susan, by his side, Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday. He had been battling cancer for 17 years.
"My heart is so saddened. My father passed away last night," son Al Unser Jr., himself a two-time Indy 500 winner, posted on social media. "He was a Great man and even a Greater Father. Rest In Peace Dad!"
Unser is the third member of one of America's most famed racing families to die in 2021. His oldest brother, three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser, died in May, and Bobby Unser Jr. passed six weeks after his father.
Known as "Big Al" once his own son made a name for himself in racing, Unser is part of an elite club of four-time winners of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." Unser won the Indy 500 in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987, and is the only driver in history to have both a sibling and a child also win one of the biggest races in the world.
His final victory at age 47 made him the oldest winner in Indy 500 history. He dominated in his first Indy win in 1970 by starting from the pole and leading all but 10 of the 200 laps. Unser beat runner-up Mark Donohue by 32 seconds that year.
Unser led over half the laps in three of his Indy 500 victories, and his 644 total laps led at Indianapolis is most in race history. He made 27 starts in the Indy 500, third most in history, and qualified once on the pole and five times on the front row.
Unser won three Indy car national championships over his career, and his total of 39 victories is sixth on the all-time list.
He and son Al Jr. were the first father-son pairing at Indianapolis, and in 1985 they battled one another for the CART championship. A pass in the closing laps of the race gave Unser a fourth-place finish in the season finale at Miami's Tamiami Park road course, and it was enough for him to beat Al Jr. for the championship by a single point. He fought back tears while describing the "empty feeling" of defeating his son.
FILE - Formula 1 race car driver Al Unser waves three fingers in Victory Lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after winning the 62nd Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis, Ind., on May 28, 1978. Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Al Unser Jr., left, talks to his father, Al Unser, before practice at the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex in Homestead, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002. Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez, File)
FILE - Race driver Al Unser of Albuquerque, New Mexico sprays champagne around the crowd in the winner's circle after winning the California 500 on Sunday, Sept. 3, 1978 in Ontario. Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo/Brinch, File)
FILE - Four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, Al Unser, poses with the Borg-Warner Trophy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Winner of this year's Indy 500, Helio Castroneves, gathered with other four-time winners A.J. Foyt (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977), Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987) and Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) at the track. Castroneves won the race in 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2021. Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)
FILE - Al Unser is congratulated by his mother after winning the 54th running of the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind. May 30, 1970. Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - Formula 1 race car driver Al Unser is seen in 1993. Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Indy 500 champs (from left) A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser joke with the crowd as they stand along the pit wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 21, 1988. Foyt and Unser have each won the 500 four times, Mears have won twice, and Sullvian one. Mears, Sullvian and Unser will start the start from the race from the front row; Foyt has not yet qualified. (AP Photo, File)
File - Al Unser Jr., left, talks with his father Al Unser Sr., before the start of qualifications at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Saturday, May 10, 2003. Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman, File)
FILE - Bobby Unser is all smiles in the victory circle just after he won the California 500, March 10, 1974 in Ontario, California. He beat his brother Al by less than a second. Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, following years of health issues. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)