It was cool hearing about all the backgrounds from which they all came. If you were good at going fast, you eventually made it to Indy. Hell, the Unsers were mountain climbers...lol
Not only that, but Jerry Unser, the first of the racing Unsers to qualify at Indy, won the USAC stock car championship in 1957, and while he didn't race stock cars that much, Bobby raced for the same team that won the 1970 NASCAR championship with Bobby Issac, Nord Krauskopf's K&K Insurance team, in the mid-70s, and finished fourth in the 500-mile race at Riverside that Mark Donohue won in 1973, driving for the legendary Holman-Moody team that longtime rival Mario Andretti once won the Daytona 500 driving for.
Ironically enough, Dick Simon's two best Indianapolis 500 performances came in his final two starts, in 1987 and '88, when he was well into his 50s. He wound up finishing sixth in 1987 (which might have been fifth if he'd not run out of fuel near mid-race) and ninth in 1988. It appeared that he would finish in the top 5 in the 1973 race, but like so many others that day, he ran into engine trouble, which came a lap after Bobby Unser had dropped out. Yet, so many cars were out of the race at that time that he still wound up 14th (both Simon and Unser completed 100 laps, but since Unser was the first of the two to have completed the 100 laps they ran, he was scored 13th and Simon 14th).
Danny 'On The Gas' Ongais....what a beast. RIP
It was cool hearing about all the backgrounds from which they all came. If you were good at going fast, you eventually made it to Indy. Hell, the Unsers were mountain climbers...lol
Not only that, but Jerry Unser, the first of the racing Unsers to qualify at Indy, won the USAC stock car championship in 1957, and while he didn't race stock cars that much, Bobby raced for the same team that won the 1970 NASCAR championship with Bobby Issac, Nord Krauskopf's K&K Insurance team, in the mid-70s, and finished fourth in the 500-mile race at Riverside that Mark Donohue won in 1973, driving for the legendary Holman-Moody team that longtime rival Mario Andretti once won the Daytona 500 driving for.
Dont know how many good finishes Dick had. Had alittle bad luck maybe. Not the best team i guess, but hey, he drove in the indy 500.
Ironically enough, Dick Simon's two best Indianapolis 500 performances came in his final two starts, in 1987 and '88, when he was well into his 50s. He wound up finishing sixth in 1987 (which might have been fifth if he'd not run out of fuel near mid-race) and ninth in 1988. It appeared that he would finish in the top 5 in the 1973 race, but like so many others that day, he ran into engine trouble, which came a lap after Bobby Unser had dropped out. Yet, so many cars were out of the race at that time that he still wound up 14th (both Simon and Unser completed 100 laps, but since Unser was the first of the two to have completed the 100 laps they ran, he was scored 13th and Simon 14th).