First visit to Unser Racing Museum on its final lap was worthwhile

May 27—I'm not a car guy, OK?

For me, a car is a car is a car. The internal combustion engine is as much a mystery to me as the secrets of life itself.

Auto racing? You jest.

I never exceed a posted speed limit, at least as far as you know. When I'm driving my accustomed 54.999 mph on Paseo del Norte and someone jets past me doing at least 70, which happens all the time, I shake my head. Lawbreaker!

All this is to explain why until Friday, some 18 years after it opened and three days before its permanent closing, I'd never visited Albuquerque's Unser Racing Museum.

Now, I have. And what did I see?

Cars. Lots of cars, in all shapes, colors, sizes and vintages. Photos, videos and plaques, as well, celebrating the remarkable history of Albuquerque's Unser family. Pretty impressive; glad I made the pilgrimage.

It was none of the above, though, that truly resonated with Mr. Not a Car Guy. It was a time line, etched in silvery metal encircling a sleek, flashy yellow race car that Al Unser Sr. drove to victory at Indianapolis in 1987, that capsulized the experience for me.

In 1934, according to the timeline, Louis Unser, brother of Albuquerque garage owner and patriarch Jerry Unser Sr., won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

In 2004, Robby Unser, the son of three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby Unser, won on the same Colorado mountain.

Idle your motors on that for a moment, folks. Seven decades. Through twelve U.S. presidencies, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to George W. Bush. That's how long the Unsers were winning races.

How many? Had I tried to count the victories listed on that time line, in races big and small and on all kinds of roads and tracks, they'd have had to lock the doors that night with me still inside.

And that list might not have been complete. Did it include victories on the Albuquerque dirt tracks, where the Unsers cut their automotive teeth back in the '50s?

And, well, OK. Not being a car guy, but being an Albuquerque native and a Journal sports writer, I've long been aware of the Unsers, what they've accomplished and what they've meant to our city.

I've edited hundreds of stories about the Unsers, and written a few. I've talked on the phone with Bobby several times, Al Sr. and Robby on occasion. (Never Little Al, for no reason that I know of.)

Before my ink-stained-wretch days, I used to listen to the Indy 500 on the radio — something I did even when a telecast was available because I found it more dramatic:

"Now to so-and-so at turn three ... Rodger Ward has taken the lead!" And so on.

My first memory of the Unsers is a tragic one: Jerry Jr.'s death at Indy after crashing on a 1959 practice lap.

Four years later, Bobby Unser drove at Indy for the first time. In 1968, he won the first of his family's nine titles — four for Big Al, three for Bobby, two for Little Al — at the Brickyard.

It was at Pikes Peak, though, where the Unsers truly dominated. Louis the elder's win in 1934 — Jerry Jr.'s twin brother was also named Louis — was the first of 25 for the family, according to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb website.

Louis, Bobby, Al Sr., Al Jr. and Robby have all been Kings of the Mountain.

Certainly, the almost two-decade gap between Robby's fourth and final Pikes Peak victory and the present day plays a role in the museum's closure and the transfer of its collection to the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska.

As well, Bobby and Al Sr. both died in 2021 and Al Jr. lives in Indianapolis.

With the Unsers' dwindling presence in Albuquerque, so, too, has interest waned — though one wouldn't have known it on Friday, as repeat visitors and first-timers alike came to view the Unser-abilia before the closing. The Unser Museum was never a huge draw, averaging some 20,000 visitors per year since it opened in 2005. Many more people will see the collection in Nebraska.

Still. ...

It should be noted that Loni Unser, Jerry Jr.'s 23-year-old granddaughter and the daughter of Johnny Unser, an accomplished driver in his own right, placed second in her class at the 2022 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Maybe they're moving the museum because it's still growing.

Unser Racing Museum

1776 Montano NW

Open Sunday-Monday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., before its permanent closing

Admission: $10 adults, $6 seniors/military, kids under 16 free