IMS Historian Donald Davidson's Reflections
  IMS Historian Donald Davidson's Reflections |
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#1 
06-29-2004 11:00 PM |
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 IMS Historian Donald Davidson's Reflections It must have been around 1977 when we started hearing, "Al Unser Jr. will very likely be THE great driver of the future." Prophecies of multiple Indianapolis 500 victories were already being made by those who had seen him race go-karts, in spite of the fact that he was only about 15 years old. Evidently, the sages knew what they were talking about. By the time he qualified for his first 500 at barely 21 years of age, he had already won the SCCA Super-Vee title and the Can-Am series on road courses, and was equally adept at sliding sprint cars around rutted dirt tracks. He kept piling up the victories, and more importantly, the finishes. Truly following in the footsteps of his father, he emerged as a master tactician who possessed a delicate touch; was seemingly always where he needed to be, and was blessed with the ability to nurse his equipment to the finish. In the nine Indianapolis 500s between 1986 and 1994, he completed 1,770 of 1,800 laps (averaging almost 197 laps per race). From a personal point of view, I really wish he would keep going for another couple of years because of what is statistically within his reach. He is second to Arie Luyendyk in all-time accumulated 500 prize money, and during this most recent race, he squeezed by Johnny Rutherford for sixth in total competition miles completed. Luyendyk and Mario Andretti were (and are) both within his reach for next year and a mere 146 laps each for the next two 500s would move him to third ahead of Gordon Johncock. Only his father and A.J. Foyt would still rank ahead of him. It has been a truly phenomenal career, and one that is so special for us because we have watched him grow up from childhood and we have always been so moved and inspired by the extent to which he loves and cherishes this place. We have never seen a more grateful or appreciative winner … and there have been some good ones. Read Full Story 
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#2
05-25-2008 06:44 PM |
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American Racing American racing is in great shape. You have racers that are in the Indy 500 only because they can get sponsors. Milka Duno? Come on! You can't be serious? Skinny the tires and shorten the wings and we will see who can drive! I know you can't say anything negative about Milka Duno but Bill Vukovich and Pat O'Connor, Jimmy Bryan and many others are rolling in their graves with what has happened to Indy car racing.
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#3
05-26-2008 07:01 PM |
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re: American Racing Quote: Originally Posted by Arch American racing is in great shape. You have racers that are in the Indy 500 only because they can get sponsors. Milka Duno? Come on! You can't be serious? Skinny the tires and shorten the wings and we will see who can drive! I know you can't say anything negative about Milka Duno but Bill Vukovich and Pat O'Connor, Jimmy Bryan and many others are rolling in their graves with what has happened to Indy car racing. There will always be 1-shot drivers at Indy. For the amount of money involved there ALWAYS will be. It is certainly true they don't have as good a chance as the well funded teams, but why shouldn't they at least have a chance? Maybe if they do a good job at Indy someone will give them a chance. Would you say Vitor Meira should stay away since his team only has one car and not nearly as much money as the big-3 teams? If you believe that then you take away a 2-time 2nd place finisher. People don't remember AJ Foyt because he won hundreds of races of all types. He is remembered because he won the Indy 500 4 times.
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#4
09-14-2008 03:15 AM |
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STP Paper Hat Hi Donald, Would you know what year STP and USAC put out a Promotional paper hat about Mario Andretti? A friend of mine found one in her Father's souvenirs but it has no date on it and we would like to find out what year that was issued. Thank You! Nancy
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