Bobby Unser is, arguably, the undisputed king of the Pikes Peak hillclimb, winning the championship 13 times. At Indianapolis, he was a winner three times, in 1968, 1975 and again in 1981. He has 35 career Indy Car wins and was the first to go 190 miles per hour at Indianapolis.
Born Feb. 20,1934, Unser started by driving modified stocks around his Albuquerque, N.M., home. He won the state’s title at age 15 and repeated at age 17. By 1956, he was a champion of the Pikes Peak hillclimb and starting in 1958, he put together a string of six consecutive titles. He was to continue to dominate for years.
When you think of stock cars of 1969 you naturally think of NASCAR and Ford. David Pearson won the 1968 and 1969 NASCAR Championships in is blue and gold number 17 Ford Torino/Talladega. Bobby Unser also drove a Ford in NASCAR that year for his friend Smokey Yunick. It was the black number 13 Ford Talladega. However, it was another Yunick powered Ford that was setting setting records in 1969. That was the number 92 1969 Ford Torino that set a record at Pikes Peak with Bobby Unser at the wheel?
The video below is from an interview at the 2016 Muscle Car And Corvette Nationals (MCACN) in Chicago. Although the interviewer represents that car as a Talladega and it does have a few Talladega design clues it does not have the extended aero Talladega nose.
Interesting to see is the Boss 429 engine sitting in an engine bay that seems to have abundant room for the monster Boss 9 race engine. Today, this car remains as it raced in 1969. The car is an unrestored, original survivor race car!
