By Dave Lewandowski
indy500.com
Friday, September 16, 2005
Al Unser enthusiastically describes the various rooms that contain some of the most precious artifacts of his family's racing career. His vision is about to become reality.
Thirty-five years after the first of his four Indianapolis 500 victories, he'll proudly help cut the ribbon to open the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque, N.M. The grand opening of the 13,000-square-foot facility at 1776 Montano NW that will showcase the family's contributions to racing is Saturday, Sept. 17.
"We wanted to honor the Unser family for what we have done, honor the racing fraternity and to try to show the public what racing is about," four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser said. "Things like that really make it great. Everybody who comes through I think will be impressed."
Brothers Al (Alfred) and Bobby (Robert William), plus Al Unser Jr. in recent years have been the catalysts in collecting items from cars to helmets to trophies for rotating displays. A collective nine Indianapolis 500 victories for the Unser family will be represented.
"Over the years, you never end up with everything that you should of because the Unsers had one thing in mind and that was racing and to win," Al Unser said. "It surely wasn't to build a museum. Now we are building the museum, so we still search for items that are different.
"Between the three of us - Bobby, Al and I - and (nephew) Johnny Unser, we could probably fill three museums. We'll pick certain items that will showcase racing - like the Indy room and Pikes Peak - and then two other rooms that will be made up of different cars like hot rods and street rods. Then there's a place called Jerry's Garage, which will honor my father because he's the one who got us going in this."
Jerry (Jerome Henry) was the second son born to Louis and Marie Unser, who emigrated from Switzerland in the late 1800s. The family eventually settled in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Jerry and his brothers were the first to ascend Pikes Peak on a motorcycle and sidecar in September 1915, the year before a road was built to the summit. After he married Mary Craven in 1931, Jerry opened a filling station and garage on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, N.M. - hence the room that also will play host to receptions and public events.
The location for the museum wasn't the family's first choice, but after scouting existing buildings, Al Unser found diamond in the rough.
"I thought the layout would be a perfect museum," said Al Unser, driver coach and consultant to the Indy Racing League. "We tried to put it on corner of Unser and Central. I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, but we've rebuilt the whole building.
"I've said many times that I needed to go see a head doctor to figure out why I did this project. It's been difficult. But I think it will be worth it. You take three years ago I couldn't see the end of the tunnel, and now it's becoming reality, and it makes us very happy. Everybody said we couldn't get it done in that length of time. Well, it's going to give us a lot of satisfaction when we do it."
For more information, visit www.unserracingmuseum.com.
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