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Johnny Unser

{{short description|American racing driver}}

{{Infobox racing driver

| name = John William Unser

| image = Johnny Unser.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Unser in 2009

| nationality = {{flagicon|USA}} American

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|10|22}}

| birth_place = Long Beach, California, U.S.

| death_date =

| retired = 2001

| related to = Jerry Unser (father)
Al Unser (uncle)
Bobby Unser (uncle)
Al Unser Jr. (cousin)
Robby Unser (cousin)

| last series = 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

| year = 1996–1997

| prev series = CART

| prev series years = 1993–1994

| titles =

| title years =

| awards =

| award years =

}}

Johnny Unser (born October 22, 1958) is an American 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.

On January 14 2008 Johnny Unser was named as the race director for the 2008 Champ Car Atlantic Championship.[https://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story/?ID=227283&hubname=auto_racing Johnny Unser named Atlantic Race Director], TSN.ca, January 14, 2008 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==

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! 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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|POR
18

|CLE

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|TOR
17

|MIC

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|NHA
18

|ROA

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|VAN
21

|MDO

|NAZ

|LS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|44th

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|0

!{{cite web|url=https://racing-reference.info/drivdet/unserjo01/1993/R|title=Johnny Unser – 1993 CART Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 15, 2023}}

1994

! Dale Coyne Racing

|SRF

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|PHX
DNQ

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|LBH
DNQ

|INDY

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|MIL
DNQ

|DET

|POR

|CLE

|TOR

|MIC

|MDO

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|NHA
15

|VAN

|ROA

|NAZ

|LS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|39th

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|0

!{{cite web|url=https://racing-reference.info/drivdet/unserjo01/1994/R|title=Johnny Unser – 1994 CART Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 15, 2023}}

==IndyCar==

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! Year

! Team

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! Rank

! Points

! Ref

1996

! Project Indy

|WDW

|style="background:#CFEAFF;"|PHX
9

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|INDY
33

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 24th

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 56

!{{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/unserjo01/1996/O/|title=Johnny Unser – 1996 Indy Racing League Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 6, 2023}}

rowspan=3 | 1996-97

! Project Indy

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|NHM
DNQ

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|LVS
22

|WDW

|PHX

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

!

| rowspan=3 style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 24th

| rowspan=3 style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 107

! rowspan=3| {{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/unserjo01/1997/O/|title=Johnny Unser – 1997 Indy Racing League Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 6, 2023}}

Hemelgarn Racing

|  

|  

|  

|  

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|INDY
18

|  

|  

|  

|  

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|LV2
19

!

Byrd-Cunningham Racing

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

|style="background:#CFEAFF;"|TXS
10

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|PPIR
21

|CLT

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|NH2
13

|  

!

1998

! Hemelgarn Racing

|WDW

|PHX

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|INDY
25

|TXS

|NHM

|DOV

|CLT

|PPIR

|ATL

|TX2

|LVS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 40th

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 5

!{{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/unserjo01/1998/O/|title=Johnny Unser – 1998 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 6, 2023}}

1999

! Hemelgarn Racing

|WDW

|PHX

|CLT
C

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|INDY
32

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|TXS
15

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|PPIR
13

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|ATL
13

|DOV

|PPI2

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"|LVS
23

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|TX2
DNQ

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 27th

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 57

!{{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/unserjo01/1999/O/|title=Johnny Unser – 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 6, 2023}}

2000

! Indy Regency Racing

|WDW

|PHX

|LVS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|INDY
22

|TXS

|PPIR

|ATL

|KTY

|TX2

!

!

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 42nd

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 8

!{{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/unserjo01/2000/O/|title=Johnny Unser – 2000 Indy Racing Northern Lights Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=August 6, 2023}}

==Indianapolis 500 results==

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
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=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
Year

! Team

! Co-drivers

! Car

! Class

! Laps

! {{Tooltip|Pos.|Overall position}}

! {{Tooltip|Class
pos.|Class position}}

{{24hLM|1995}}

|align="left"| {{flagicon|USA}} Callaway Competition

|align="left"| {{flagicon|ITA}} Enrico Bertaggia
{{flagicon|DEU}} Frank Jelinski

|align="left"| Callaway Corvette

| LMGT2

| 273

| 9th

| style="background:#DFDFDF;"| 2nd

colspan="8"|{{center|{{small|Source:{{cite web|title=Johnny Unser|url=https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/track-record/driver/johnny-unser-5505|publisher=Automobile Club de l'Ouest|access-date=August 7, 2023}}}}}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/UnserJohnny.htm Johnny Unser at ChampCarStats.com]

{{Unser family}}

{{Dale Coyne Racing}}

{{Byrd Racing}}

{{Hemelgarn Racing}}

{{Project Indy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unser, Johnny}}

Category:1958 births

Category:American people of Swiss-German descent

Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers

Category:24 Hours of Daytona drivers

Category:Champ Car drivers

Category:Indianapolis 500 drivers

Category:IndyCar Series drivers

Category:Living people

Category:Sportspeople from Long Beach, California

Category:Racing drivers from California

Category:Unser family

{{US-autoracing-bio-stub}}

Category:Dale Coyne Racing drivers