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Albuquerque, New Mexico has been the home of the racing Unser family since 1936, when Jerry Sr moved there from Colorado Springs.
Jerry and his two brothers were pioneer competitors at the Pikes Peak hillclimb; soon all four of his sons – twins Jerry Jr and Louis, as well as Bobby and Al Sr – would become racing drivers, too.
The Unser Racing Museum celebrates four generations of drivers who between them have nine victories in the Indianapolis 500. Al Unser Sr (born 1939) has four of them, the final one coming in 1987. Unser entered the race when regular Penske driver Danny Ongais was injured in a practice crash.
The year-old March 86C chassis shown here was retrieved from display in a hotel lobby. Unser qualified 20th but profited from late-race misfortune for Mario Andretti and Roberto Guerrero to take the win. A must for motorsport fans, let's see the other race car delights on offer at the museum:
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Corvette Pikes Peak Car (1961)
Al Unser Sr’s family has been scaling Pikes Peak since 1915. His uncle, Louis Jr, won the hillclimb nine times from the early 1930s, a feat later matched by his nephew Robby, who is Bobby’s younger son.
Al Sr built this Corvette-based special with a 395bhp engine for his second crack at Pikes Peak in 1961. The following year he returned to finish second behind Bobby. The car was crashed in 1963 but restored for display in 2002.
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Novi-Hotel Tropicana Special (1963)
The powerful but temperamental, supercharged V8 Novi engine first ran at Indy in 1941. In its later years it was further developed by the Granatelli team, but it never made it to victory lane. This Hotel Tropicana Special was entered for Bobby Unser in 1963 but he retired after two laps.
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AAR Eagle-Offenhauser (1968)
Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers organization built the Eagle to compete in both Formula 1 and the Indy 500. The Leader Card entry driven by Bobby Unser was one of two Eagles at the 1968 500 that ran with the Offenhauser motor, and Unser emerged victorious from a three-way battle with Lloyd Ruby and Joe Leonard.
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Johnny Lightning Dirt Car (1970)
Al Unser Sr won every one-mile National Championship dirt race in the 1970 season, the last in which the one-mile oval events counted for championship points. Unser relied on the same lineup with whom he raced to victory at Indy that year – team owners Vel Miletich and Parnelli Jones, chief mechanic George Bignotti and Firestone tires. The car was built the previous year by Grant King.
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PJ Colt-Johnny Lightning Special (1971)
Al Unser Sr used the Johnny Lightning Special – named after the toy car brand – to win his second straight 500 at Indianapolis in 1971. It was also his fourth win in the first five USAC races that season. The Colt was built by the Vel Miletich/Parnelli Jones team. It was based on a 1968 Lola design and had a turbocharged Ford V8.
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Offenhauser 159 (1968)
A line-up of notable race engines in the Unser museum. In the front is a 1968 Offenhauser 159 four-cylinder turbo of the type raced to victory in the Indy 500 by Bobby Unser. Its V8 rival from Ford, which powered Al Unser Sr to two Indy victories, is right behind.
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Oldsmobile-442 Indy Pace Car (1970)
The 442 – four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual transmission and two exhausts – was a muscle-car response to the likes of the Pontiac GTO. This example was modified with race suspension and engine tweaks to ensure it could keep a steady 170mph when pacing the 1970 Indy 500 in the hands of former winner Rodger Ward. Afterwards it was presented to the winning driver, Al Unser Sr.
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Jomoro-Mighty Microbe (1970)
The Mighty Microbe is a two-thirds-scale Grand Prix car for children up to the age of 10. It represents a late-1960s Formula 1 car and was designed by former Alan Mann Racing engineers.
This example was one of three delivered to the US for the sons of Indy winners Parnelli Jones (PJ), Mario Andretti (Michael) and Al Unser Sr (Al Jr). All three children went on to become successful race drivers. Only seven of the 50 Mighty Microbes built are thought to survive.
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Nance-Sprinter (1979)
At the start of his career, Al Unser Jr traveled the southwestern USA racing sprint cars on local dirt tracks. With backing from Pennzoil, he drove this particular car for owner Lyle Dill and chief mechanic Walter Judge to the 1979 Colorado State Championship at the age of just 17.
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March-84C-Cosworth (1986)
Al Unser Jr scored his and the Galles Racing team’s first CART race win in this “Silver Bullet” car at Portland in 1984. He went on to finish sixth in the championship.
Galles Racing was founded by Rick Galles, whose family-owned Chevrolet dealership continues in business close to the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque.
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Penske-PC-23-Mercedes (1994)
One of two Marlboro-Penske cars in the museum, this Mercedes-powered PC-23 chassis took Al Unser Jr to his second Indy 500 triumph as well as his second CART championship in 1994.
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Dodge-Avenger Sports Coupe (1994)
Al Unser Jr won two IROC (International Race of Champions) titles, in 1986 and 1988 – the last non-NASCAR driver to do so. He drove this Dodge Avenger, nicknamed ‘The Pink Panther’, in 1994, winning the final race of the season at Michigan Speedway.
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G-Force-Oldsmobile (2001)
Al Unser Jr in this Galles Racing G-Force emerged on top from a battle with Sam Hornish Jr at the 2001 Gateway Indy 250, an Indy Racing League event in St Louis. It was the penultimate victory of Unser’s IndyCar career and the last for Galles.
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Chevrolet-Impala NASCAR (2012)
Dale Earnhardt Jr piloted this Impala to victory in the Michigan 400 in 2012, his first win in four years. It features promotion for the Batman movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, with Bane (Tom Hardy) and Batman (Christian Bale) depicted on opposite sides.
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Sterling truck
Among the vintage vehicles on display in the recently added Annex is this beautifully restored Sterling truck. Sterlings were popular with the US Army during World War I due to their ease of maintenance and interchangeability of parts.
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Ford-Model ‘A’ Phaeton (1930)
Al Unser Sr has a collection of Model ‘A’ Fords, the car in which he and his brothers learned to drive. Some, including this Phaeton, are on show in the museum. The Model ‘A’ replaced the Model ‘T’ from 1927 and came in seven body styles.
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Chevrolet-Pickup (1941)
Made with an eye on deployment during wartime, this rugged half-ton pickup was powered by a 3.5-litre, six-cylinder engine that produced 89bhp.
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Lola-Chevrolet (1991)
This distinctive, Uno-sponsored, Granatelli-red Lola was driven by Arie Luyendyk to victory at the Nazareth CART race in 1991, as well as to third place at Indianapolis, where Luyendyk had won the previous year. Al Unser Sr had been hoping to run a sister car at Indy in 1991, but the deal fell through.
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Chevrolet-Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car (1978)
Another Indy 500 Pace Car, this time from 1978. Speedway president Tony George drove this car (VIN #002) during the parade laps before Al Unser Sr won the race for the third time. This was the first year in which a Corvette had paced the 500, in the year of the car’s 25th anniversary. It was also the first time a car with a stock drivetrain had paced the race.
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Unser Racing Museum
Located about 5 miles north of downtown Albuquerque, the Unser Racing Museum is open daily. Admission cost is $10, while the cost for pensioners and military is $6; children under 16 go for free.
The exhibits are spread between two buildings and aside from the dozens of race cars and other vintage vehicles there is also a motorsport art gallery and the Unser archives of trophies, helmets, race suits and memorabilia. See the museum website for more information.
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