May 3, 2021
Bobby Unser, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and part of the only pair of brothers to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, has died. He was 87.
He died Sunday at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico of natural causes, The Indianapolis Speedway said Monday. Unser won the Indy 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981.
His younger brother, Al, is one of only three four-time Indy 500 winners in race history. Al Unser won the race in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987. The Unser family tradition stretched to Al Unser’s son, Al Unser Jr., who won the Indy 500 in 1992 and 1994.
Bobby Unser was born Feb. 20, 1934, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but moved with his family as a child to New Mexico. His father owned a garage along Route 66 so he and his brother grew up tooling around in old jalopies before he began his racing career in 1949 at Roswell New Mexico Speedway.