Johnny Unser

John William Unser
John William Unser
	Unser in 2009
Nationality	American
Born	October 22, 1958; Long Beach, California
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

Johnny Unser (born October 22, 1958) is a former race car driver. He is the son of open wheel driver Jerry Unser, 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 a race start. 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 very first series start in 1996 at Phoenix International Raceway. His last major open wheel race was the 2000 Indy 500.

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

American Open Wheel

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
1993	Coyne	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND	MIL	DET	POR 18	CLE	TOR Ret	MIC	NHA 18	ROA	VAN Ret	MDO	NAZ	LS	44th	0
1994	Coyne	SRF	PHX DNQ	LBH DNQ	IND	MIL DNQ	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	NHA 15	VAN	ROA	NAZ	LS	39th	0

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
1996	Project Indy	WDW	PHX 9	INDY 33									24th	56
1996-97	Project Indy	NHM DNQ	LVS 22	WDW	PHX								24th	107
	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
1999	Hemelgarn Racing	WDW	PHX	CLT C	INDY 32	TXS 15	PPIR 13	ATL 13	DOV	PPI2	LVS 23	TX2 DNQ	27th	57
2000	Indy Regency Racing	WDW	PHX	LVS	INDY 22	TXS	PPIR	ATL	KTY	TX2			42nd	8

Indy 500 results

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

References

Johnny Unser named Atlantic Race Director, TSN.ca, January 14, 2008

External links

Johnny Unser at ChampCarStats.com

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[1] Johnny Unser named Atlantic Race Director, TSN.ca, January 14, 2008