Johnny Unser (born October 22, 1958) is a former race car driver and current race steward for the USF Juniors series. He is the son of open wheel driver Jerry Unser Jr., cousin of Al Unser Jr. and Robby Unser, nephew of Al Unser and Bobby Unser, and first cousin once removed of Alfred Unser. Unser's father, Jerry, died in a racing accident when Unser was seven months old. He made 5 starts in CART in 1993 and 1994 with a best result of 15th. He joined the Indy Racing League in its inaugural 1996 season but had a transmission failure during the pace lap of what would've been his first Indianapolis 500 and was not credited with completing any laps. In 1997 he made his first start in the Indy 500 starting in the 35th position after League and Speedway owner Tony George added his and Lyn St. James' car to the field because slower cars than theirs were guaranteed starting positions because of prior races. He went on to finish 18th, his best "500" result in 5 starts. Unser drove the majority of his IRL races for Hemelgarn Racing and in his 14 career IRL starts he had a best finish of 9th in his first series start in 1996 at Phoenix International Raceway. His last major open wheel race was the 2000 Indy 500.
| John William Unser | |
|---|---|
 Unser in 2009 | |
| Nationality |  American |
| Born | October 22, 1958 Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Retired | 2001 |
| Related to | Jerry Unser (father) Al Unser (uncle) Bobby Unser (uncle) Al Unser Jr. (cousin) Robby Unser (cousin) |
| Indy Racing League IndyCar Series | |
| Years active | 1996–2000 |
| Teams | Project Indy Byrd-Cunningham Racing Hemelgarn Racing |
| Starts | 15 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 24th in 1996–1997 |
| Previous series | |
| 1993–1994 | CART |
On January 14 2008 Johnny Unser was named as the race director for the 2008 Champ Car Atlantic Championship.[1] He is currently a driver coach and adviser to the Mazda Road to Indy and racing adviser and spokesman for Cooper Tire. He is an official for Indycar in Race Control and is also the owner of Unser Racing, Karting and Entertainment track in Denver, Colorado.
Racing record
editAmerican Open Wheel
edit(key)
CART
edit| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Dale Coyne Racing | SRF |
PHX |
LBH |
INDY |
MIL |
DET |
POR 18 |
CLE |
TOR 17 |
MIC |
NHA 18 |
ROA |
VAN 21 |
MDO |
NAZ |
LS |
44th | 0 | [2] |
| 1994 | Dale Coyne Racing | SRF |
PHX DNQ |
LBH DNQ |
INDY |
MIL DNQ |
DET |
POR |
CLE |
TOR |
MIC |
MDO |
NHA 15 |
VAN |
ROA |
NAZ |
LS |
39th | 0 | [3] |
IndyCar
edit| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Project Indy | WDW |
PHX 9 |
INDY 33 |
24th | 56 | [4] | ||||||||
| 1996-97 | Project Indy | NHM DNQ |
LVS 22 |
WDW |
PHX |
24th | 107 | [5] | |||||||
| Hemelgarn Racing | INDY 18 |
LV2 19 |
|||||||||||||
| Byrd-Cunningham Racing | TXS 10 |
PPIR 21 |
CLT |
NH2 13 |
|||||||||||
| 1998 | Hemelgarn Racing | WDW |
PHX |
INDY 25 |
TXS |
NHM |
DOV |
CLT |
PPIR |
ATL |
TX2 |
LVS |
40th | 5 | [6] |
| 1999 | Hemelgarn Racing | WDW |
PHX |
CLT C |
INDY 32 |
TXS 15 |
PPIR 13 |
ATL 13 |
DOV |
PPI2 |
LVS 23 |
TX2 DNQ |
27th | 57 | [7] |
| 2000 | Indy Regency Racing | WDW |
PHX |
LVS |
INDY 22 |
TXS |
PPIR |
ATL |
KTY |
TX2 |
42nd | 8 | [8] |
Indianapolis 500 results
edit| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Reynard | Ford-Cosworth | 16th | 33rd |
| 1997 | Dallara | Infiniti | 35th | 18th |
| 1998 | Dallara | Oldsmobile | 25th | 25th |
| 1999 | Dallara | Oldsmobile | 30th | 32nd |
| 2000 | G-Force | Oldsmobile | 30th | 22nd |
24 Hours of Le Mans results
edit| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Callaway Competition
|
 Enrico Bertaggia Frank Jelinski
|
Callaway Corvette | LMGT2 | 273 | 9th | 2nd |
Source:[9]
| |||||||
References
edit- ^ Johnny Unser named Atlantic Race Director, TSN.ca, January 14, 2008
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1993 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1994 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1996 Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1997 Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1998 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser – 2000 Indy Racing Northern Lights Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ "Johnny Unser". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
External links
edit
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