Racing, Writers Alike Will Miss Straight Shooter Bobby Unser

Now that it’s been several days since Bobby Unser passed away on May 2, a thousand stories have been told about him.

Here’s one more.

Just over 10 years ago, the Boca Raton Concours imported a massive number of automotive personalities to Florida, including three racing Unsers—Bobby, his brother Al and Al’s son, Little Al, nine Indianapolis 500 wins between them.

It was unusual to have an opportunity to interview all three, so I took it, showing up just after a presentation concluded that featured the three Unsers on an outdoor stage, discussing their racing careers and taking questions from the audience, moderated by a man whose name you would know. The moderator was a friend, and I greeted him as he walked off the stage. Actually stalked off the stage would be more accurate.

“Give me my damn check and let me get out of here,” he said tersely.

Uh oh. What happened?

“I thought I was moderating a discussion with all three Unsers, but it turned out to be only one," the moderator said. "No matter who the question was for, Bobby ended up answering it.”

Thirty seconds later he was gone, and it was time for me to start Unser-interviewing. I found Al, and got a solid five minutes on tape of, “Yes, no, it was an honor, there are some great drivers out there, I can’t pick out just one as the best, here’s your hat, don’t let the door hit you…”

No, of course it wasn’t that bad, but Al is from the steely generation, where actions speak louder than words. But there was no action, so I was done.