A Special Tribute to the one and only Bobby Unser

Author Bones Bourcier joins Rico and Ken in a special tribute to racing legend Bobby Unser, who recently passed away at the age of 87. A member of one of the most iconic families in racing, “Uncle Bobby” was a three-time Indy 500 winner, a record-setter at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a member of the Indy 500 Hall of Fame and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. He will also be fondly remembered as one of the most colorful and popular drivers in motorsports. This episode features highlights from a 2018 interview, as well as personal insider stories shared by those who knew him best. Please join us in this special tribute to the one and only Bobby Unser.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. This segment of the Skinny is brought
to you by Toyota. It's a mournful day in the
motorsports industry. But with that said, we have to talk
about Bobby Answer in a bright light. He was a

(00:20):
man that was full of energy, a charismatic competitor when
he came to the race track. There's no question he
was one of the most talented drivers of all time.
But what he really did was light up a room.
His personality was absolutely second to none. And for the
next few minutes, we're gonna spend some time listening to

(00:41):
some stories about Bobby. With Bobby, Uncle Bobby, and Bobby
Gold joining me as always, Rico Elmore sitting alongside close
personal friend with Uncle Bobby, and we couldn't be prouder
to have Bones in here with us as well. Talk
about a historian of the sport and another that that
is so familiar with Uncle Bobby. Of course we're talking

(01:04):
referring to Bobby Unser and all of his stories, his races,
his career along the way. Thanks for making the time,
Bones good to be here. I wish it was for
a different reason. But it's always good to talk about Bobby,
you know. It's it's one of those things. And you know,
they none of us are gonna get out of this
deal alive. And at eighties seven years old, man, he
had a hell of a run. Yeah he was, you know,

(01:26):
he was. He was wide open, and I mean it
was it was funny. I was talking to Robin Miller
and we were we were joking, and I said, yeah,
he uncle Bobby doesn't realize there's time zones, because he'll
call you at nine or ten o'clock at night, and
you will talk to him at nine or ten o'clock
at night, and you'll talk to him exactly how long

(01:46):
he wants to talk to you, because that's when the
conversation will be over because you're like, I gotta go, well, hey,
go on a minute, I got one more the you
know it just so I uh, I will miss those
phone calls. I have been, uh, you know since the
whole COVID deal went, you know, started going on. I
was going through Albuquerque and I I reached out, you know,

(02:09):
and uh, I wanted to wanted to see how he
was and and uh, and you know, I listen the
things that that cats went through or went through in
his life. Man if I make a DA eighty seven,
I think I'm doing some pretty big stuff right there.
So that's pretty wild. I had a chance to. Of course,

(02:29):
when this happens, you go back and you start digging
up some of the old stories and and I found uh,
I found her. Robin Miller held that roast for him
and some of the biggest names, I mean, Johnny Rutherford,
Penskey on their PARTNELLI Jones on there, and I mean
just the Rick Mires, I mean, the biggest names in
our industry, and they're all bashing, you know, on on

(02:50):
Bobby and Bobby just in there eating it up, laughing.
And he finally got a chance to speak and he said, well,
I'm pretty sure that almost none of this stuff is true. Yeah,
right right off. The batter said, oh, well, there's probably
something that's pretty true. We know that. But he's such
a character. And he actually got h Roger to swear
twice during when during Roger's portion of roasting. You know,

(03:10):
I mean, Pensky is always so uh calm and collected
and all that for him to swear twice, it it
took an answer to get that out of him. You know,
that was a wonderful night. I know you have some
great stories. Anything come to mind about about Bobby? I
just you know, I mean, all of us know people
in this sport who have achieved a lot of uh things.
You know, we know people have won the five hundred.

(03:31):
We know people who have drivers who have great natural speed.
We know guys who are so technically as stute that
they can make a team better. Uh. And we know
drivers who are hilariously funny. But Bobby is the only
guy I can think of that achieved as much as
he did. Uh, And yet it was just a NonStop

(03:51):
laugh factory, you know what I mean. He's like, You're like,
you're crazy next door neighbor. If you're crazy next door
neighbor won the five D three times, you know, he's
just to I think, one of the neatest guys I've
ever met. Um, That's probably a great way to describing
he was a guy next door that had ridiculous talent

(04:13):
and endless energy. I'll never forget. Uh the guess who?
And we were trying to guess who the people were
still in it that we knew, but we couldn't guess
that either. But anyhow, they were playing at the s
v R A Deal one year and I think it's
the year that Bobby drove, so, I mean it's probably
like three or four years ago. I think probably four

(04:33):
years ago now. But anyhow, Bobby drove in it, you know,
and Kelly was in his eighties then doing it. And Uh, anyhow,
I'm setting out there on the golf cart and he
walks over to somebody. I had no idea who it was.
He says, you get him in here. He's parking in
here by me because Bobby sitting there on his golf cart,
set there, watching the show and he's the may was like, yeah,

(04:55):
we're with him. You know, it's like no questions. So
it was. It was. It was pretty wild. I mean
the first time I ever met him was several years ago.
And and uh, big Red God, God rest her soul
as well. Um, you know, she was over bartending at

(05:17):
at one of the suits and turned two. Bobby's there
and doesn't have any sunglasses. Well I fixed that. And
the picture that the picture of of us together was
was from that was from that day. So it was,
and man, he was on it. He was wide open

(05:38):
that day. He was he was on on a run.
I mean, right to the very end. He was at
the Chili Bowl, you know. I mean, this guy, he
had a passion for racing that never died. And he
was at the Chili Bowl almost every year. You know,
it became kind of a can't miss deal for him.
And he knew those people. You know, he'd go around
and talked to everybody every year, Sammy's Windel or whoever.

(05:59):
And he just sort of a citizen of the racing world.
You know, he knew people at every different level. Um,
Robin Miller and some other people joke about him being,
you know, the mayor of Albuquerque, but Bobby was kind
of the mayor of wherever he was that had given mark.
You know, if he was in here, he'd be the
mayor at the speedway and the suites and the press
room on Pit Road, anywhere he was. He had a

(06:22):
way of just pulling the conversation toward him. Uh, and
the conversation was never dull, and you never heard the
story the same way twice. You know, he was just
the he lived it, you know, I mean, he really
did live it right to the end. And it's uh,
you know, you're sad to see him gone. But this
is one of those deals where people talk about celebrating

(06:42):
a life, and I think after everybody gets over the
initial sadness of losing him, that's a life to be
celebrated right there. I mean, he was, he was the duke,
you know, and and you know he uh one one
evening again when he had forgotten what time zones were,
but one evening he called me and we got into
the conversation about Roger buying the Speedway, and uh, he

(07:07):
he was. He was elated. He was absolutely elated, and
he goes, he goes. The only thing I can tell
you is we need to get my brother back there.
Big All needs to come back because you know what
us guys coming back there, and that meant something to him,
coming back to the Speedway and being a part of that,
because he's part of what built that. And you know,

(07:30):
he would talk about his brother and you know, I
really hope Al comes back and and you know, and
embraces us. Roger needs all of us in this and
we need to build this thing better than ever. And
told me about when he was trying to buy the
mouse house from Mary. The mouse house is right, I mean,
no longer, which, by the way, that was gone in

(07:50):
one day, which was pretty surprising. I was like, oh,
there it is. I drive by the next day there's
like it's like, hold on a minute, I thought that
was there yesterday, you know, But and how I don't.
I can't remember exactly the story. But Mary was upset
about something. He is, you know, almost got that house
bought from her. I mean, it's rice, it's landlocked. But

(08:11):
that would be Bobby have a house right at the
speedway so everybody can come to see Bobby answer. You know.
He was so uh he loved talking to people. Um
and it didn't matter if if if it was media, people,
other racers, fans. You know, he was a natural born
uh entertainer, I think, you know, in his own way.
I mean, it was all it was unscripted a lot

(08:33):
of times, unfiltered, uncensored. But Bobby was the best. And
that's what I said, you know, at the top of
the show. As good as he was a race car driver,
it was his charisma, it was his personality, the way
he lights up a room or lit up a room
when he was in there. It was it was all
about Bobby and just because of his energy. He just

(08:55):
brought big energy, and nobody else tried to get in
the middle of it because they were trying to live
send to what he was talking. It's answer. It's just
like hef Hutton when when Bobby speaks, people listen, right,
and if anybody else did talk at the end, that
what they had to worry about was that at the
end of their story he'd correct him. Now, Son, that's
not exactly how it was, And according to Paul Paige,

(09:16):
that was exactly what he did. On the broadcast. Sam
Posey would tell would say something and he would say, well, Sam,
you're you're incorrect on that he said, and then he
would tell a complete story and he'd come back full
circle and then say the same exact thing that Posey said.
But it was his idea, so it was all good.
He say, Sam, you're just flat wrong. And Sam was

(09:37):
an accomplished guy. But you know, Sam was smart enough
to know that that that added something to the broadcast.
You know, you gotta let Bobby be Bobby. You try
to make him into Sam, and you couldn't make Sam
Bobby either. You know, that was a great team Page
feeling like he was watching a tennis game standing in
between the tour. I was back and forth. Stand back enough,
and you know they're they were getting ready to go

(09:57):
at it, you know, and the story and I don't
think it's on here about when he got placed on
the turn too sweets, that's not on here, right, So,
you know, speaking of his broadcast age, you know, he
said that this fella from New York that didn't have
any clue what was going on at that track, thought
he was going to fix old Uncle Bobby. He goes, well,

(10:18):
he had another thing coming, is what he had. And
I said, okay, I said, what what's going on? He goes,
He goes, well, he goes, they thought they would go
ahead and put me in a suit and tie, setting
on top of the turn two sweets and degree weather,
and thought they'd just go ahead and roast me up there.
And he goes, but he goes they they had started

(10:40):
the race, and he said they had the tower boom,
you know, the camera and it was panning around and
he said, that same fellow that put him over there
because of him fighting with Sam and raising hell in
the booth all the time. They thought, we're putting him
over there where we can just click him off. You
know what I mean. If he starts rolling the cameras
rolling around and it goes past the turn two sweets,

(11:03):
and the guy says, hey, go back to that, So
he goes back to it. There's these nice tents up there. Now,
there's girls serving drinks and food and all this and that.
And the guy comes across the radio and says, the
hell do you think you're doing? He said, son, I've
been here a long time, I got friends, and jug
jug Eckert had set this whole thing up, drinks, tents, fans.

(11:30):
I mean, everybody's told various versions of that story. But
he Bobby didn't necessarily know what he wanted to eat
an hour from now, so you had to bring him
a bunch of different things. I might want chicken, I
might not want chicken. Perfect. Well, we've we've kicked things
off here. Everybody's already laughing a smile on their face,

(11:51):
and of course, I mean, that's exactly what Bobby brought
to the room. Of course, So we're gonna get to
our first story here, and as I mentioned at the
top of the show, we'll have a lot to Bobby
onser Gold here. So let's kick the first one off
on fifty years at Indianapolis. He calls me one morning,
and I thought, that's a little strange, you know, I mean,

(12:11):
he wants something normally like me. And and so he says,
I want you to do the parade. I says, man, guys,
I don't do those parades. I did him for years.
You know. It's that's enough, you know. I mean, I
don't particularly like the parades. I guess. So he says,
Bobby says, do you realize you've been here? This is

(12:35):
your fiftieth year since you won your first race here. Well, there,
I am really quick to take him my pin out.
I'm on my desk. I'm adding and subtracting because I
can't do it in my head like you can't. Rico
can do that. Some people can't. I can't. So there,
I said, man, treaty been fifty years. How could there

(12:57):
be fifty years? And so I said, Doug number one,
if you really want it done, I'll always do it
for you. That's good. I mean that's your standard number two.
Fifty years, I says. I didn't think I've been been
there that long. I mean fifty years a long time. So,

(13:19):
and I didn't believe until I figured it out on
my paper there, you know. And I'll tell you we
got more happy people in the parade. I mean, talk
about a turn on. My wife is there and I
brought my two daughters back this year. They were up there,
taking around on the thing and waving at the people,
and I mean, the thing ends up being fun, not

(13:41):
like the old deals, old days, because Mario and I
used to go and and getting the back to the convertibles,
like now we've got orange ones this year. That's what
we used. This way. It was really fun because we
had a whole float, had the people on both sides,
and they were really I mean, I had lot of
fans out there. I love it. He's given me all

(14:03):
kinds of credit about how what a mathematician I am
or something. But you know, and he was good at that.
He was good at making you feel good too, which
was a special thing about him. But you know, he's
sitting there and he's he's uh, he takes it on
and says, yeah, you know what, if you want me
to do it, I'll do it. And that's that was
that was him. And I mean, I you know, on

(14:26):
his birthday, I text, I text Lisa, and I said, hey,
you know, really miss you guys, and uh, and I
can't wait to see you guys soon. And I listen,
I kind of just talking to a few people, you know,
the same people, and and I kind of knew that
it probably wasn't that great where you know, where he

(14:47):
was at right and right then and there and uh,
but she text me back, she goes, it means a lot.
Bobby smiled, and I mean, pretty pretty tough deal. So
one thing about the parade Number one, I have a
hard time believing that Bobby didn't want to be in
front because he he loved being Bobby Answer. And I

(15:07):
don't mean that in the bed. He knew what he
meant to people. You know, it was a bigger deal
to have that parade with him than without him. And
I'm sure that he's dead, honest when he's when he says,
you know, it was fun seeing the people and waving
and all that. I mean, he he ate up, you know,
the idea of being an Uh, he loved being Bobby Answer.

(15:31):
Like like I said about being the mayor, I'm sure
he was the mayor of that moment in the parade.
You know, babies and whoever, whoever the mayor or governor,
was had nothing on oh no zero. I mean this
guy was more like than any any of that going on.
But you know, and you know, I mean arguably his
bigger name is Mario Andretti. You know, I mean everybody

(15:51):
a household name. Uh. Now, the Answers have since fallen
out of the limelight for a number of years now,
so maybe not so much anymore. But when you take
a look, good what the Answer family has done. I mean,
oh my god, you know Pike's peak, um Uncher's peak.
You know, for all the success they they had there,
it was kind of dubbed answers peak. And then if

(16:11):
I'm not mistaken, you'll know bones I believe they the
family was one nine times. Yeah. And Bobby, when you
think about it, he he last drove a race car
here at the Speedway. I mean that's a long time ago. Uh.
To carry the degree of fame and popularity, recognizability, credibility.

(16:31):
You know, he could go in any garage in gasoline
alley and the drivers not only knew who he was,
of course you'd expect him to know who he was,
but they all respected him. You know, he he knew
enough about what cars were doing today. He could talk
shop with the current driver or an old driver. I
mean he was. He's a self taught engineer asked him.

(16:51):
Robin Bellerie of course brings that up. But he, uh,
you know, he was just such a big part of
the fiber of of this beat. When I think that
personality he had in retirement, you know, you take a
guy like Mario. I mean, Mario I think learned during
his f one years that he was sort of expected
to be a diplomat for American racing. UH an ambassador.

(17:14):
Johnny Rutherford is the same way, you know, for within
this country. I mean, he's as good an ambassador to
for racing as you could ever have. Foight, you know,
AJ is a little cranky anyway, But the biggest thing
is I think he's been in pain, you know, for
the last fifty years. He's been hurt enough, you know,
so it's harder to get a sustained laugh out of
a j But Bobby was always happy to be Bobby,

(17:35):
So he did like that quirky personality. I mean, there
there's no one like him, and I mean all those
guys are unique in their own way. But he told
me the story of when uh Ronald Reagan invited him
to the White House, him, Big Owl, Little Al, and
Little Al's girlfriend at the time. Okay, so they stay

(17:58):
at some hotel and this is Bobby telling the story,
of course, which is nothing short of awesome. He says,
oh yeah, he goes, uh, he goes we uh, we
get ready and you know, we'd stayed the night and
the next day, we're getting ready and we're going to
dinner at the White House and he says uh. He says.
Little Al comes out with his uh, with his girlfriend

(18:21):
and we're all in tuxedo. She's in a beautiful dress,
and he says, Now, you didn't say anything about our
president or anything in that room, did you last night?
A Little Al was like, oh no, no, I don't
know what you're talking about. You know. He's like, nothing, No,
I wouldn't. What do you mean? He goes and you
guys weren't messing around last night. Worry because they bugged

(18:43):
these rooms and they want to make sure that the
people they are inviting. So of course Bobby and Big
Al have Little Al completely spun out at this point,
you know, I mean, jacking him up and telling him
that that's what has taken place. So they're setting out.
They're waiting on the limo to show up to pick
him up. Right, take you to the White House is

(19:03):
a big deal. The limo never shows. They have to
call a taxi. So think about this. This is Reagan eighties, right,
So it's all these garbage checker taxi cabs that the
floors are rotted out in, I mean bad cars. So
he ends up he ends up pulling out or the

(19:24):
cab gets there, picks them up. They all pile in there,
and uh, the taxi driver said where to? And he
said the White House. He's like, sure, buddy, where to? Like,
you know, this guy is an idiot. So anyhow he showed.
They showed at the White House and they're on there
at the back gate. Well, the next thing, you know,

(19:45):
Al Tell Al's always putting Bobby up to everything, is
that is Bobby would say he has get out there
and find out where we're supposed to be going. So
he okay, So Bobby gets out, walks up a secret
service guy on the gate. He says, hey, we're supposed
to be here for the dinner. Where and he goes
I immediately knew who I was, you know, immediately knew

(20:08):
who you know, and uh, he's talking to him and
he says, you're on the wrong side of the building.
You get the property, you gotta go to the other side.
He's like, Okay, get back in the car. Now. They're
in the limo line, in the checker cab. Okay, all
these beautiful limousines, all shined up, they're in line. They

(20:31):
pull up underneath you know, the the where you pull
in and the dropping everybody off. And they're getting out
of the car and the Secret Service guys are looking
at these guys like what are they doing here? Like,
clearly they don't belog here. There's a checker cab dropping
them off at the doors. So beautiful, great stuff, and

(20:53):
there's plenty more to come along. We're gonna take a
quick break here, and when we come back for this
very special tribute to Bobby answer will have some more
golden stories. This segment of the Skinny is brought to
you by our good friends at General Tire. For over

(21:14):
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(21:36):
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to find your local dealer, head over to General Tire
dot com. Once again, welcome back to the Skinny. A
very special tribute to Bobby Answer. We appreciate all the
memories he gave us all along the way in a
very rich life that lasted for eighty seven years. Initially

(21:58):
born in Colorado Springs at the very young age of one,
moved to Albuquerque, of course, lived there ever since. And
that's where everybody is familiar with his hometown being is
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Uh went to school for a
long time, but did not make it to the end.
He bailed out and and quit a little bit earlier.
I think by then Bobby had taught them all they

(22:19):
were going to learn. I think I think that's great.
I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he said here. Can
you imagine exactly where Rick Mery said? He said, you know,
Bobby taught me pretty much everything I owe. I know,
just ask him, can you imagine being the poor old
schoolmarm in those days that had Bobby Answer for a student.

(22:40):
I mean, I can't believe, you can't imagine. I think
he lived by his own rules from day one. Yeah,
I can't imagine him as an unruly young kid, much
less a teenager. Right, he had to be a handful
and he obviously he had a natural amount of intelligence,
So I'm sure that there were things he did take
on board easily. And he might have got frustrated with school.

(23:02):
His brain was spinning on fire all the time. The
ideas were just one after another, and and I mean
wild ideas. Yeah, and not not afraid, Tom, not afraid
to climb in a plane. We'll talk about that in
a little bit first, but let's go back and uh
listen to some gold here about him quitting school. I
just quit school. I mean the only thing I did

(23:24):
was English and out of mechanics and the wrestling team,
So no reason to keep doing that. The girls always
did my English for me. Some girl did it, you know.
I mean I didn't do anything and school my out
of mechanics teacher. I mean I knew so much more
about the cars than he did. He'd give me thirty

(23:44):
five cents to go down and go to the movie
during his time that he has me in the auto
the Candy's class Lost. Yeah, get lost. You know, I
just walking little ways down to the first year or
you know, so go and watch a movie. You know,
folks wouldn't give me the thirty five cents the Duck school,
but the teacher would know. Sounds to me they were

(24:07):
forcing you out. So we'll go with that. Well, you
know what what happened, Rico. That would embarrass me so bad.
Go to school Monday morning. My English was real pretty
English teacher. I could remember that, and she'd make me
stand up in front of the class and she'd read
the newspaper articles on Bobby just winning the races that weekend,

(24:30):
and that used to embarrass me so bad. I just
said the heck with it. I'm not gonnnderstand. This institution
is not for me. That's great, I mean, just absolutely
great stuff. So so and I got it. This is
one of my favorite stories, okay, that that he has
shared and him buying an airplane with the money from

(24:53):
his winnings at Pike Pike's Peak. So Carl hit it.
You got it. The way that this whole whole thing
goes down here. I have one Pike's Peak one year.
I gotta tell you about this real quick. And it
was a good pay day year, in other words, really
made some money. And it was my own car. So
soon I got went home, got my bills paid. Very

(25:15):
few times did I ever charge anything that I couldn't
pay for, But with a race car, I just couldn't
afford all that at one time. So I got the
magneto on the wheels from Hallebran and got all that
stuff from somebody. Now I gotta pay it. Well, it
was a good pay year at Pike Speak, and I
want it. And so I went to work and uh

(25:38):
got home and and paid my bills, bought an airplane
thirty three hundred bucks. That's all the money I had left,
thirty three hundred bucks for an airplane because I had
to go to California every weekend and that yeah, yeah,
and I didn't have a license. So but I bought
the airplane, and I and I really really really I

(26:02):
don't know how I could afford it, because that was
all the money that was left. But I'd go to California. Aggett,
give me a hundred and fifty bucks, sometimes a couple
of hundred bucks for being there. And and who had
had in the business, Parnelli Jones, he had a he
had a flying club. His chief mechanic, Johnny Paulson ran

(26:27):
ran the flying deal. Of course, not when they're racing
back here in the summer. Paulson took the liking to me.
One day, I'm going out there in my airplane. I
land there at Compton and Paulson says, now, give me
the key to that airplane. On my airplane, I poured
the oil in the top and I tried to fly
while it was running out the bottom. You don't did something. Really,

(26:50):
It was worn out, you know, And Paulson got tired
of me doing this, and and so he just said,
leave the plane here and get you a plane home.
It was Texas International or something before Southwest. So I
got that home. I thought, Wow, he's going to try
to stop them oil leagues for sure. Well, the engine

(27:11):
was worn out and jumped, you know, so he took
the whole thing out. The crankshaft was cracked, the case
was cracked, I mean, everything was junk. And that Pulson
fixed that whole thing up for me. And he knew
I didn't have any money, and so he didn't charge
me any money. He saved your life, oh I tell you.

(27:31):
And I'm flying that thing at night half the time too.
I mean talked about being in in no license. You know,
I didn't know about weather. I couldn't fly bad weather.
And if I running the clouds somewhere, I just land
on a little dirt road somewhere, wait till it blows over,
and crank it up and go again. But somehow another
I always got to the racetrack that always on a

(27:54):
Saturday night probably, and I had to be home. And
remember it was taking me eighteen hours to drive out there,
and and it was all open range. That means the
Indian didn't have any fences. And I gotta go through
all that country with the sheep and the cows on
the road, and I mean, and if you hit one,

(28:15):
you gotta pay for it, and you gotta do it
on the spot. I don't have that much money. I
can't do that. It was cheaper to buy an airplane
than hit a cow. And absolutely absolutely, and so what
was it to fly? How abouch? How far to uh fly?
Time to get there? Well, I could make I had
to make one stop Prescott, Arizona. So so it takes

(28:37):
me seven hours. In other way, that could fly it
in seven hours eighteen hours to drive. So that's pretty easy.
That was that's even worth risking your life, apparently, And
like all the racing, all the hundreds of miles an
hour on a track, was not the most dangerous thing
you've done. It's flying an airplane that we had some

(28:59):
trying and went, Now, my you know, I got married
here and there, you know, And and so I make
a little money here and there. You know, I endorsement
binders started being fairly good. And long story short, One
day I go over to the airport and the guy

(29:19):
that owns the airport and Mr Cutter, big company, right.
Mr Cutter and my dad were really good friends. He
knew that my dad didn't have a lot of money
because some of the airport was on my father's property.
And they don't ever talk about it. They just do it.
I just the way it was. And so I go
over to the airport one day to get my little

(29:40):
thing and go someplace, and Mr Cutters standing there and
and he says, Bobby, give me the keys of that
hated cessilist because he was a Beechcraft deal And so
he says, give me the key to that airplane. You
oars out there and said, under a tree out there,
get a little shade, you know. And so I don't

(30:00):
know why he wants that. That's strange, but I mean
Mr Cutter's big man, you know. So I give him
the key to my plane, and he gives me a
key to another plane. He says that this is your airplane,
that one is mine now, and I says, and he's
given me a bonanza. This is too high on the

(30:22):
pecking order. This doesn't make sense. I have no money,
in the words God, I have no way to pay
for that. And so I told Mr Cutter, I says,
Ter Cutter, I have I have no money. I says.
People might think I'm rich, but I'm telling you I'm
plenty poor. I don't have any money. But he says,
and he was probably right, I'm going to get myself

(30:43):
killed if I keep flying in that airplane because he
knows I don't have a license. He knows I shouldn't
be up in the sky. He knows all these things.
And so I said, okay, I says, well, he said
don't worry about. I got somebody's gonna check you out
right now. So it puts his one of his pilots says,

(31:05):
go show Bobby how to fly this airplane. Now I
got a bonanza. Now I can make California without stopping
at Prescott. In other words, Albuquerque straight to Compton, California,
with no stops in between. No, I'm really big shot.
How quick can you get there? Then? Uh? I think

(31:26):
I think that one was taking me about I'll be
five hours. Yeah. Yeah, that's like setting the world record,
right yea Alburquerque to basically l A. Wow, that was
a good deal. I mean l A has always got bad.
Remember in those days, you couldn't see anywhere. You just

(31:47):
start going down into the valley and it smells so bad.
You thought, thinking that you're gonna die before you get there.
You say, you can't see you cannot see an airport
five miles down the road. I don't see it till
I get to You can't see out there. It is

(32:10):
that way all the time. So here I am becoming
an i FR pilot because they still can't see where
I'm going, you know, And so i'd fly that thing.
Of course, they just never get shut off to fly,
flve flight race track and race track, race track back home.
A common thread there that you will hear throughout this,
either from him or from any one of his colleagues

(32:32):
along the white is I have no money. I'm broke.
I have no money. And Robin Miller would just weary
malle has Is there anybody in the room that has
ever received a meal as much as a cheeseburger or
a doughnut from Uncle Bobby? And uh? And it was
because he was so tight with his money. You know,
you look at the money back then. He talks about

(32:53):
j C. Egga Jane and paying him a hundred and
fifty dollars deal money together from Albuquerque all the way
to l a eighteen hour drive. That's what I was
amazed about. The other really crazy thing is he was
driving sprint cards in the days before roll cages, and
that was going to be absolutely the safest thing he
did the whole time. Yeah, that was a lot better

(33:14):
than flying than an airplane. And I love at the
open range. I forgot about that if you hit one
of their animals, you had to stop and pay for
it on the spot. Never heard that one. Yeah, I
could obviously could get very expensive. And I remember, I
believe it was you telling the story. It might have
been Robin Miller telling the story. But with that first
that first airplane, they would pour the oil and you

(33:35):
know when the plane sits, it sits on the level,
of course, he said, and we'd have to start the
engine up and take off as quickly as possible so
we could get it up to level so that it
would the oil wouldn't run out of the rear seal.
Its pouring out of the seal of it. So he
pours it in there and he's like off. He had
a whole succession. He kept kind of working in a
better and better planes as he went u. He always
had a lifelong level of aviation. But I mean he

(33:57):
probably flew more miles by looking at the highways that
almost anybody you could name. I mean, he knew that
that's route sixty six. The will take me all the
way there. If he was going north out of Texas,
he gets by thirty five or something. To me, he
flew a lot of places by highway alone in the
days before he was a qualified pilot. So with all
this talk about Tim flying next up, it's a story

(34:21):
about the airplane being stolen. Very cool. I got one
stolen down Mexico. I have a house down there and
still do now, and and I chest it's been out
in California, and I had a stole plane, you know,
short takeoff and landing plane, because that kind of burned
out on the better planes, flying too much. And so

(34:47):
I go out to California, get a new engine, put
in it, new tires on new breaks, new annual done
to it, all fixed up nice, flew it from there
to Albuquerque, just loaded it up with all my stuff,
headed to Mexico. And when I got down to Mexican,
and I remember, I've got a sixty five dollar bill

(35:09):
that I haven't paid yet. Okay, In other words, I
just left California. I have an open account with a
guy anyway, is that real clothes friend? And I and
I go to Mexico and my plane's gone. The drunker
stole it. And I hadn't even checked the oil the
first time on that brand new age I mean down there,

(35:31):
and I says, they stole my plane. Wow. And I
got I got one of the head guys from Volkswagen
out of America and his wife down there with me
is my guests, right, and they got no plane. I
got two cats. I don't have a wife. Then I
got two cats and those two people with me and

(35:53):
no airplane to take them home. I can't make it up.
I can't make it up you. I think they finally
figured out it was the drug carteller. Somebody had stolen it. Yeah,
I'm sure, especially I got to keep it. Yeah, so
it was their plane. Then that's what I ended up happening.
Lame Bobby answer, incredible stuff, and uh, of course, all

(36:18):
along the way this was certainly common thread as well
with a number of racers, and certainly back in the
day you could get away with this, but it was
it was not uncommon to to fib about your age
from time to time. And Bobby be the first one
to tell you, I lied about it my entire life.
JAD lied about my age all my life. Every day

(36:40):
at Albuquerque. I'm gonna show you I did the motor
about what I did the Mexican road Race when I
was seventeen years old the first year and on the
on the illegal driver's license that I had to get
triple a license, says I'm well, that was a big lie,
you know. I never year they didn't lie that you
know you're really stretched out? That how old do you

(37:03):
tell people you are? Right now? Are This segment of
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(37:45):
it out at dream giveaway dot com. And once again,
welcome back to the Skinny here with a Bobby Unter
special as we just lost Uncle Bobby here a day ago,
spending some time listening to some of his great stories.
Bones has joined us here on the set as well,

(38:07):
and Bones, let's go back and talk about when Parnelli
I believe, talked to Grant Telly and actually got him
his first ride out here at the Parnelli had actually
lined up a ride for Bobby to take his driver's
test in. Uh. They got to the speedway. Harlan Fengler,
who was the chief steward, I didn't think Bobby had
accomplished enough outside of USAK to warrant a driver's test.

(38:32):
And so Bobby had a ride lined up via Parnelli.
And he'll tell the story at at ten o'clock at
night the day before he's supposed to take his test
there in gasoline Alley, and Uh, Fengler loved Parnelli. You
gotta think of this. This nine. Parnelli hasn't won the
race yet, but he still had a lot of clout.
And Bobby said that. Uh Parnelli was jabbing his finger

(38:56):
into Harlan Fengler's chest, telling him, you will give Bobby
this test tomorrow. So Bobby took the test in John Chalis.
I think it was the American Plastics Special. Uh. But
according to Bobby, Chalick wouldn't spend any money. He was
he was a cheap sew and so they were out
of tires. The tires you have now for practice, he's
past his test. The tires you have for practice are

(39:17):
all you're gonna get The problem is they're not running
fast enough to make the show. They know that. So
Parnelli walks down to Andy, Grant Telly and says he's
got Bobby with him. He says, you've got to put
this guy in your car. This is Bobby. Answer, granted,
Telly doesn't even know who he is at that point,
and of course, granted Telly, being slightly more cocky than Bobby,

(39:38):
Answer said, what makes you think you're good enough to
drive this car? And Bobby, you know, despite the fact
that we know him as a guy who always had
supreme confidence, really wasn't sure at that point. He said,
I don't know, you know, but if you put me in,
I'll try to do it. And sure enough, granted, Telly
put him in the car. Instantly he started clicking off

(40:00):
fast laps and no vays weren't very reliable, but they
were fast, and Bobby said that within that hour that
had changed his life. You know, now everybody at the
speedway knew how good he was because he was as
fast as anybody, and he was a rookie. The race
didn't go so well, but like he said, within that hour,
everybody at the track knew he was good. By the
end of the week, everybody in the country knew he

(40:20):
was good because he was in all the headlines, somewhere
near the top of the speech yarts every day. Um,
but you know, you look at you know, Parnelli and
Bobby were lifelong friends, and and they met at Pike
Speak the first time. And if it hadn't been for
Parnelli's confidence in him, you know, you never know. And
it's the only time I can think of where Bobby
probably had a little bit of doubt, because after that

(40:42):
day or after that week, let's say, obviously there was none.
You know, he was always a supreme believer in what
he could do and given the right equipment. And speaking
of supreme believer, Davy Ray, you know Davy. So he
tells Davy Ray the story. He says, he goes, oh, yeah,
he goes, you know, I used to go shopping. He goes,
and uh, he goes, I would walk around the grocery

(41:04):
store with the turkey in the basket. Bones his laugh
and he knows the story. He goes, hey, guys, I'd
walk around the store with it, and he goes, I'd
find the most attractive girl and say you know, I'd
speak to her and you know, you know, get a
conversation going on and saying, yeah, I won't really want
to buy this turkey, but I don't have an oven.

(41:25):
Do you have an oven? That would be it? It was.
It was boy, I I'm staying in a hotel. You're
in Andy. I really like turkey, but I have no
way to cook it. But of course I can we
go to your house and cook it. It was set
up by him saying, hi, man, I'm Bobby, Yeah, defending champion.

(41:45):
So with more from the words of uncle Bobby, here's
some uh, some great stories on his great friend Parnelli Jones.
I didn't meat Parnelli until Pike's peak. Now he had
seen me run some sprint cars, because he was already
with the golden haired boy in the Holy United States
of America in racing. He was already young, a legend,

(42:10):
and and I like it do was look google eyed
at the guy, you know, and and uh, but but
I didn't have a chance to meet him. And yet
he's Haggagenians number one hit man if you want to
call it that, or is driver. As soon as we
saw each other, we liked each other in other words.
We became friends so fast it was just unbelievable. And

(42:35):
and we were together every day because I didn't have
to worry about Parnelli. He's not running I'm running race cars.
He's running stock cars. I already know he's probably the
best driver in the whole friend world. But Pike speaks
my cup of tea, you know, And so I can
show him and teach him everything I know at Pike Speak,

(42:58):
which I've never done for any body else except my
own family. And and so we were together every day
doing our practice in a passenger car, you know, and
just and I just show him all my little secrets
and all my little shortcuts. And through all of this
we became better friends and better friends and better friends,

(43:21):
and it just unbelievable. And then one day, just casually,
he's talking to me and he says he'd already been
coming back here. You could see the bombs are about
ready to go off for PARTNELLI Jones say, agajane Ian,
I mean there's two really big deals, you know. And
and so he says you have to come back and

(43:41):
and come to Indianapolis. And he said, no, you know,
I wasn't too sure. I wanted to do that. I
I I didn't take I was good enough to come
to Indianapolis. And I totally felt that way. You know,
you don't have to beg Bobby Answer. Because it was
a freaking racetrack somewhere i'd go to. It still was
any kind of a race car. I wanted to run it,

(44:03):
but this place was too big for me. I mean,
I wasn't my head wasn't ready. I don't think I
was ready with my driving skills, but Parnelli thought I was.
Now isn't that weird? In other words, here's a guy
that just just wins everything that he ever runs, and

(44:23):
and he thinks that Bobby Answer haugh to come back here.
I just dropped the subject. I really didn't want to
talk about it anymore. It wasn't part of what I
wanted to do. And I needed to go run a
lot of sprint car races. Man, I got I can.
I can drive somewhere every every week. I can. I'm busy,
you know, Madget races a lot of stuff to do.

(44:45):
And I enjoyed that and and and I did pretty
good at it. But then I get home and then
the phone rings again. Parnell he's on the phone. He's
all right, I got your car to drive. Make your
driver's thest did I said, Holy mackerel, just getting too serious.

(45:06):
This kid is not come on, get to Indianapolis. I
can't believe it. I think this is just not my
cup of tea. I'm not I'm not ready to do this.
Parnelli has got to figure out I'm gonna come to Indianapolis,
and and I really am afraid. So now then what
what how old were you then? Probably probably around two

(45:32):
one something like that. If Parnelli Jones hadn't pushed you
to come to Indianapolis how and you were about you
never would have I would have never come. Unbelievable story, right,
how things falled into place for certain people, exactly what
Bones was talking about. That's wild man. And then after
he drives Grant to tell his car and they get
it going good, Parnelli pulls him aside and says, now

(45:55):
you got to go back and tell Grant to tell
you you want ten thousand dollars or whatever the tense.
I think it was ten thousand to drive. You know,
that's gonna be your salary over and above what you
make for a percentage and Bobby says, I've not even
ever run this race. I can't ask you. Parnelly says,
you'd get down there and you ask him for ten
thousand dollars. So he goes down here between him Chicken

(46:17):
and out a little bit and Grant Telli driving a
hard bargain. Uh. Bobby ends up with fifteen hundred, which
he said was more money than I ever was guaranteed anywhere.
I was going to be rich with that hundred. But
the worst part was now he knew he had to
go and face Parnelli. You know, did you get he's undercard?

(46:37):
And everybody? Did you get that ten? Grant? Nope? Got hundred? Why?
You dumb? You know, But that's how much Parnelli believed
in him. And you know Parnelli had some self belief too,
so and then of course the two continued their great
relationship and and the ter name, as big as we
talked about at the five hundred, was even larger at

(46:58):
Pike's Peak. Were heard him talking about helping his family
out there. He won Pike's Peak, if I'm not mistaken,
ten times, and I believe nine of those set a
record going up the mountain. I don't know if you
guys have heard this story already, But there was they
were doing a little pre run a couple of days
before the actual event. And I believe it was David
Pearson and Roger McCluskey in the car with Bobby and Parnelli.

(47:22):
Uh Pierson, I believe is sitting in the front seat.
Parnelli's driving, Bobby is sitting right behind Parnelli, and um,
if it was McCluskey, he was in the in the
right rear passenger seat. There was one place on that
winding mountain road where there was a fence post sticking
out of the ground, and they knew that if you
drove over the edge right there, there was in a

(47:43):
like an escape road sort of that that led down
the hill. But these other people didn't know that. Bobby
and Parnelli knew that. And it was above the tree line.
Oh yeah, I mean you're just looking at blue sky. Yeah,
and if you go off, you're their approaching that point.
And I'll be sure enough reaches over Parnelli and puts
his hand over his eyes, but he puts it over

(48:04):
So but if you're the other guys in the car,
you don't know that. And by the time. Yeah, and
they're screaming and Parnelli drove right over the edge, but
right onto that road. I had heard Parnelli tell the
story because it was answered that did it to him
the first time. He said, we're going up the road
and sliding around. He said, and all of a sudden,

(48:26):
off the side we're going and he so I had
no clue. Can you imagine those two other, I mean
two brave guys. They thought it was all over, came over,
We're gone. Great stuff. So with more on Pike's Peak,
let's listen once again to Bobby and I want to
talk about Pike's Peak because anybody had drive that course.
I was watching some stuff on it after we were talking.

(48:48):
Of course, you know know about the modern day Pike's
Peak and quite like what it was then. So they
can wreck anything. Just give it to some people. Give
it read. Don't worry about My uncle had one Pike speak.
Uncle Louie had won at nine times. Now Uncle Joe,

(49:09):
the three of them, that was my dad Jerry, then
Uncle Joe and Uncle Louis. They were all three at
one time for the Coleman C. O. L. E. M
A N. Truck in Denver, Colorado, and they what they
make it basically snow plows, four wheel or front wheel drives.

(49:29):
And so they were they built an IndyCar and just
to come to Indianapolis, and they were gonna have three
of them, and the three boys were gonna come back.
And Uncle Joe got killed on the highway when they
test in the car. They didn't have much pavement in
those days. It's hard to imagine today because we don't

(49:49):
have much dirt anymore. It's all paved. But in those
days the other way around. So Uncle Joe is out
on on the on a paved road just south of
Denver and the car jumped off for some reason and
got himself killed. But it's crazy looking at that picture
of you going up or watching that video of you

(50:10):
going up Pike's Peak and you are completely crossed up
coming through one of the turns and got tires on
that are that that are smaller than you'd have on
your car today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, And uh, and
I mean it was just you know you uh. Unfortunately,

(50:33):
there's a lot there's there's a few that are spoiled
in this business these days, and that they like to
bitch and complain about you know everything to do about
this and that, and you know what, you have zero
idea who paved the way for this, and you need
to you need to take a little refresher course on
folks like you, Folks like a j you know, big

(50:55):
al uh and and you know Steve Rutherford. I mean,
you know, the US goes on and on and on.
Of the folks that went through, I mean it was
you guys were like test pilots. It wasn't like, hey,
get in this, this thing is super safe. Let's get
in it, and I hope we see after the race
is over it right. You know. I had the pleasure

(51:16):
of covering that that race one year and was the
pit reporter up on top of the mountain and you know,
we watched We've watched those guys. It was on the
ESPN Speed Channel for a while. Uh and you watch
them go up the mountain and whenever I did, it
was partially paved. Of course, back then, all dirt, completely
different the magical mark there. Nobody could break the ten
minute mark at the time. Um, but it was it was.

(51:38):
It was half dirt. But I remember standing on top
of that mountain and you had to be up there
really early in the morning. I think they closed the
road around five four or five in the morning, so
we had to be up there very early on. And
I was up there all day long to and until
two or three o'clock in the afternoon. And it was
like having a vicious hangover because, as we just mentioned before,
the tree line so that there was not enough oxygen

(52:00):
for the trees to grow above ten thousand feet. So
we're up there at fourteen thousand feet. Well, there's even
less oxygen. So your brain is if you're not you know,
accustomed to it, your brain is just dying for some oxygen.
And it was just like having a wicked, wicked headache
all day longer hangover and yeah, not like that all

(52:24):
day long. Usually you know, the hair of the dog
will fix it. But but um, but whenever you think
about that for a human being. What's that car like, right,
I mean, it's all carburetted stuff back in the day.
So I remember taking the rental car up there the
first time I was there, and I had my foot
on the floorboard and it was barely going, you know,
fifty mile so and and the craft that it took

(52:47):
these guys back in the day to run all in
the dirt you talked to you were pointing to the
to the skinny tire, talking about the small tires, the
the carburetion back in the day. I mean that whitpment
that was so archaic as we look at it now
and then to see what they did with it is
nothing short of spectacular. Well, and being a self taught engineer,

(53:08):
you know, no joke. I mean, he really was the sharpert.
He was good with carburetion, he was good with all
that stuff. He actually had a deal with the recap
or where they put walnut shells in with the recapping,
so it wasn't just a rubber tire. I mean it
was rubber and walnut shells. Um Bobby just you know,
he had he had things figured out and he could
drive the damn thing. And you look at it's basically

(53:29):
a a dirt champ car or a sprint car for
that era with no roll cage. And you know, again
to think that the safest part of that whole run.
You'd go off the track and hit a tree. That's
not too good without a cage. But if you got
higher above that tree line, if you went off and
then you were done, you know, And strapped into a
sprint car, no cage, not a thought about anything except

(53:52):
getting to that mountain quicker than anybody had ever done
it before. I mean that that took a special, special character.
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(54:34):
Robin Miller talking also about our great friend Uncle Bobby.
But Uncle Bobby kind of misjudged the interstate and the
electric guy wires and and the hangar and you know,
man man mad world where the guy goes into the hangar.
I think answer did that Monson and came back out
of the Partelli said one day, Pinelli said, you know,

(54:58):
he said racing was pretty dangerous back then. He says,
but so is daily life with the answers. I mean,
just trying to like a race car. Anytime you got
in the car with him, it was wide open. You couldn't.
You couldn't. In the mid sixties, Hurts and Davis were
the only two inter car companies in the United States
and North America. Neither one of the Answers were allowed

(55:19):
to rent a car because they destroyed so many cars.
We go to Moss Sport once Mossports get this blind
right hander. So Bobby Answer talks Jerry Grant and they're
renting a car for him. And Jerry Grant's name, God
rest his soul. Jerry Grant was a wonderful guy and
they were teammates, you lesson. So they go to the
race track and Uncer takes the keys to Jerry Grant's

(55:41):
cars and throws throws some hundred yards away and jumps
into his car and takes off. So Jerry Grant wants
to you know, he jumps in the car and takes
off after Bobby and Alance or they go around the
right hander, stop the car in the middle of the
track sideways and they both row over to the side.
Jerry Grant comes over the blind right hander. Pile drive
should have killed him probably, I mean, you know, they

(56:02):
didn't think about that broke the broke the car in half,
steam point of the radiators and they're laying on the
ground laughing, and Grants like, you what I can So
not only is that bad enough, then they decide one
of the cars was still salvageable, so they'd get another
rented car. And they told Jerry, listen, we'll we'll pay
for it. Don't worry about that, but let's take this down.

(56:24):
We'll tell him the other one was stolen. Well, we
can get this one back. It's the wheels are still moving,
you know. We get the front end boat in. So
most sports up on a hill, a mountain, and so
they Grant gets in the car and the answers are
pushing him down this hill and they're going thirty forty
fifty and he finally leaves the road, goes down an
embankment and thankfully there's a bunch of trees that stopped him.

(56:47):
They almost killed him twice in an hour, and Grant said,
I had nobody to blame but myself, And I like, no,
how could you be that stupid? You can't let the
answer because he said, he looked back in the rear
view are and they're laughing as you're going faster and faster,
and he's trying to keep this thing on the road.
And they actually received a letter from Hurts at one

(57:09):
for like seventeen cars that the family had destroyed or
wrecked and a bill that was in excess of two
hundred thousand dollars. I mean, they lived every minute, you know,
from the time they woke up to the time they
went to bed. It was almost like when you hear
these stories, it's like, let's take another chance. We haven't
taken a bad chance in five minutes. I think I

(57:31):
think what Miller said about Parnelli was the best. Though
we survived the answers he said, he said, forget all
the rest of it. He guess daily life. I mean,
I think most rage drivers kind of lived close to
the edge anyway, and especially back in that era. But
I don't think anybody doesn't put Bobby at the top
of that list. You know, he was just the trend

(57:54):
setter or paid setter when it came to taking chances.
You know another guy that we lost here whose personality
was just as big. He was a little more contentkerous
if you will. He could he could get a bit
Edgy was was Bill Simpson. And we have some stories
here with Uncle Bobby talking about our late friend Bill
Simpson as well. I know sometimes we're get mad at

(58:17):
him and we want we want to kill him, no
doubt about that, I know it. But he's done more
to save lives it all of motor racing than any
single person that I can think of. I mean, before him,
there was nothing. In other words, my brother died right
here because of burns. Today, if if he'd have on

(58:39):
a stuff that Simpson pioneer, pioneer that's a better word, Jared's,
it wouldn't even be a hiccuff fish, not right now.
If that's what would happen. I mean, I mean today,
they just wouldn't even pay that much attention to it.
Okay to have a few scars from of burns and everything,

(59:01):
but I don't even know if you have that anymore,
you know, as as good as they've got it now.
One of the things that I said in that I
said Bill was one of those people that had a
beautiful mind that dude could think. I mean, he was
always innovating in racing and thinking about how he could
do it better or make it safer and uh, I

(59:25):
mean so I and I was telling you before the
show Bone and said, I know I've mentioned it before.
You know, he would come down on off days or
you know, when things weren't really you know, a lot
wasn't going on at the at the Swedes. He would
come down, come down with the dog. Just bring the
dog in the suite. It's okay, Bill. You know, of

(59:45):
course he wasn't asking. He was not asking, clearly, it
didn't care if he didn't like it, but he knew
we loved it. But anyhow, he'd come down and he
would just start telling stories. And I mean it was
you know, it was much like Bobby in a different
different angle. But you know, Bill, tell him the story

(01:00:05):
about about he goes. I said, and I always asked
this question, how the hell did you get started? I mean,
where did that start? I mean, me starting the eyewear company,
big head couldn't find glasses to fit. Okay, here we are,
you know, seventeen years later, right, and you know, so

(01:00:26):
of course I'm always interested to hear that story or
how that went right Bill. Bill starts explaining how he
created the first d acceleration parachute and his first customer
was Speedy Bill, and he said Speedy called him up
and ordered three of them, and Bill said, okay. He

(01:00:47):
said that that works for me. He goes, how am
I going to get paid? Bill is seventeen speed? He said, well,
I guess send me an invoice and I'll send you
a check. He goes, okay. And so with that being said,
this next uh, this next clip is about Speedy Bill
meeting with the answers about the museum and the legacy

(01:01:10):
and things like that. So so so I needed to
go to work and meet this man and I and
I needed to talk to him because a museum is
going to come up and now Buquerque. So when my
brother has so you gotta learn. Now here's a smart man.
Here's a really smart businessman. So I flew all the

(01:01:31):
way to Lincoln, Nebraska, met that man and asking in detail,
how are we going to do a museum? And the
biggest problem is what are you gonna do with it
when you die? I know I'm not trying to start
a morbid conversation here, but but it's real. Nobody's gonna

(01:01:53):
make it forever. So my interest is what are you
gonna do when you die? What are you gonna do?
With all of this, a lot of money, okay, but
his museum, now that's what I'm interested in. Museum. Just
like he says millions of dollars, these little cars, I
can't believe. How about the engines he's got. I mean,
I mean, he's got a fortune there. Remember the hot

(01:02:15):
Wheels car that had the German helmet on it? Yeah,
he has that car, the car. Yeah, I mean so,
I mean, so I flew all the way to Lincoln
just to meet, not to meet Speedy Bell. But he
knows who I am. He'll he'll be honest with me.
I already know that. And so I have a conversation

(01:02:36):
with him. What are you gonna do now you die?
What are you gonna do? What? What? The kids are
all going to fight over your money? I hated to
do it, but I got into into the into the
hard to talk, you know, And that man had an
answer for the whole freaking thing. I mean, I couldn't
believe it. I mean, and he's bit them answers out

(01:02:56):
faster than I could ask the questions. And what it is?
It's the Smithsonian. He teamed up with the Smithsonian in Washington.
So in other words, hey, there's nobody, no relatives, no, no,
I promised, none of that stuff will overcome the Smithsonian.

(01:03:17):
So the day he died, that's who became the technical boss.
Like it or not, they are the boss. Now the
kids are smart, oh, I mean, so now I have
the answer, you know, I mean I did. I would
have never thought of that because because you were thinking,

(01:03:37):
you guys were thinking about doing it. Yeah, we were
already already and to think it about it. But but
you're not there, and you don't know what to do,
do you. You know, Al's got what he's got. You
got two daughters he starts out with, and the sun. Well,
the two daughters die, Okay, so now he's got his
son left, and so what's he gonna do with his

(01:03:59):
I mean, not a poor man anymore, So what's he
gonna do the same thing. You gotta learn this stuff,
and you don't learn it by talking to the poorest people.
Go talk to the ones that really made a couple
still happen exactly, And that's how I that's how I
started with Speedie Bill. Of course they ended up with

(01:04:20):
Carson is one of his kids, and he and Robbie
hooked up into racing together and I'd help him do
Pike speak cars and stuff like that. But it it
was ended up being a real fun deal and Robbie
still works there today. You said he shows up, right,
or does it shows up? Well, no, I didn't see it.

(01:04:41):
I just s the one word. Well. That brings us
to the final story that we're gonna hear here with
our special tribute to Uncle Bobby on the Skinny, sit
back and enjoy. Thank you for being a friend and
uh and uh your support with our products and anything
we can ever do for you or if we're here,

(01:05:02):
you got the good stuff because you got your head.
That's where the good stuff comes from, you know, that's
where it is. It's like we talked about Simpson. It's
all the same way. If there isn't a leader, it
doesn't happen. So I got the leader. I found him.
And that's the commercial again. I forgot he said that,

(01:05:23):
and that's pretty wild. One in a million guy. There
was nobody like Bobby answer. Yeah, really great sitting here,
you know, reflecting back on on just some of the
stuff that we were able to recall here and try
to capture in a few moments, but the the overall
message to the fans that never had the opportunity to

(01:05:46):
meet him or spend some time with him. It's just
how personable he was and how likable he was. He
was one of those guys that just had something special.
You don't know what it is, you don't know why,
you don't have it, you can't put your finger on it,
but some people just have it. And he was one
of those guys. Well. As a writer, I mean, if
you tried to write somebody like Bobby Answer in a

(01:06:07):
fiction story, you wouldn't believe it, you know, to be
that driven, that smart, that funny, that talented, Um, he
was just one in a million. And like you said,
that ability to connect with people. Um, we've only had
one come along like him, you know, and two Bobby
Answers would probably be one too many. But I'm awful
glad that the one did come along. And he's been

(01:06:29):
a blessing for the sport, uh and just good for
the whole industry. I think any minute he meant everybod
on it. He loved it. And like I said earlier
in the show, where he talked about, we gotta get
these guys back to the speedway, you know, and we
got to get him back there to support Roger and
the program and build this thing back better. And I

(01:06:51):
mean hearing something like that, I mean he didn't know
it anything, you know what I mean, but he still
wanted to pay it something and I thought that was
pretty amazing. He gave it all, he really did. Thank
you very much for putting all of this together and
giving us an opportunity to share some stories like this
with our with our fans. Of special thanks, of course

(01:07:13):
to all of our partners for keeping this show going
as well. The stories here for today are over, but
the rest assured the Uncle Bobby stories will never ever end.
We thank Uncle Bobby for all the exciting moments he
gave us on the racetrack. We also thank Uncle Bobby
for all the lasts along the way, and finally, we

(01:07:33):
thank Uncle Bobby for the memories. The Skinny with Rico
and Kenna is a production of I Heart Radio. For

(01:07:54):
more podcasts from my Heart Radio, is it the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your
podcasts