RIP Uncle Bobby Unser

Who?

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Unser is survived by his wife, Lisa, sons Robby and Bobby Jr., and daughters Cindy and Jeri.

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are the 2 boys both named Robert then???

One of the funniest stories Uncle Bobby ever told involved David Pearson. He told it six years ago when he was being roasted.

Uncle Bobby of course knew the Pike's Peak Hill Climb course so well he could've driven it at speed blindfolded. (He won it 13 times in three different classes.) He knew there was one spot where if you went over the side, there was another lane or access road or something where you'd land without any issues and not go tumbling down the mountain.

Anyway, Pearson was there checking the race out, and Parnelli Jones and Uncle Bobby offered to take him up the course and David said sure, he wanted to see what it was like. Parnelli was driving, Pearson was in the passenger seat and Uncle Bobby was in the back seat.

They were going up the course and all of a sudden Uncle Bobby puts his hands over Parnelli's eyes, Parnelli starts screaming, he goes over the side at the right spot (Uncle Bobby left a crack where he could see), Pearson is screaming and about to s*** his pants, and they land on the access road. Apparently Pearson chased Uncle Bobby around the place wanting to kill him.

Aside from the hilarity, consider the coolness quotient of Bobby Unser, David Pearson and Parnelli Jones in the same car at the same time ...

Lil Al only has 2? He only won it once for Penske?

Okay that is right, he won with Galles (Valvoline) in 92 and I guess couple years later with Penske.

I remember the year none of the Penske's qualified, want to say it was the year after Lil Al's last Indy win.

Here's another hilarious Uncle Bobby story that Robin Miller the famous Indy writer tells. And he got Uncle Bobby to admit it in public.

Uncle Bobby was ... I have confirmation of this because I never was around him (used to cover racing) but I knew someone who knew him well enough to hang out with him ... a horn dog of the highest level.

When he was at Indy, he'd stay at the Howard Johnson's. When he didn't have anything going on at the track, he'd go to the Kroger nearby. He'd put a frozen turkey in his basket and he'd start trolling the store. He'd see someone who caught his fancy, and would go up to them and say, "Hello, I'm Indy 500 champion Bobby Unser. I love your city but I also love turkey. I'm staying over at the Howard Johnson's and there's no oven or anything. Would it be possible to come back to your place and cook this turkey?"

Robin swears that Uncle Bobby got lucky on multiple occasions.

Can you imagine any of today's button-down product spokesmen being that brazen and that ingenious?

Like I said, they broke the mold.

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David Pearson

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To quote the late, great Stuart Scott, "He was as cool as the other side of the pillow."

Aside from Earnhardt, Pearson is the greatest driver to ever wheel a stock car. They are 1A & 1B in my book. Dude had 105 wins and only ran the full schedule 3X. Those 3 years he won the championship. Imagine if he'd of run the full schedule for say, 10 years? He'd of won 300+ races and 8 -10 titles. He was That. Damn. Good.

RIP Bobby.

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Aside from Earnhardt, Pearson is the greatest driver to ever wheel a stock car. They are 1A & 1B in my book. Dude had 105 wins and only ran the full schedule 3X. Those 3 years he won the championship.

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Yep. Pearson easily a better driver than Petty ever was. Petty was known more for having the best cars than being a great driver.

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Yep. Pearson easily a better driver than Petty ever was. Petty was known more for having the best cars than being a great driver

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Exactly. That and Petty had the $$$ to run the full schedule, which back then was 60 some races.

Anyone who says Petty was better than those two doesn't know racing or just looks at the win total. Hell you could make a case for Gordon being better than Petty.