Robby Unser not a rookie at Indianapolis

Posted: Thu May 21, 1998 at 10:51 PM ET

Family tradition: Robby Unser (right) stands with his cousin, Al (center) and father, Bobby    (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS (CNN/SI) -- Robby Unser can be forgiven if he gets a little nostalgic this weekend. He may live in New Mexico, but the Indianapolis Motor Speedway feels like home.

"I guess around the place feels familiar, but not going around the racetrack," said Robby Unser, an IRL rookie this year. "So that's the new part of it."

Robby is part of a lineage that is synonymous with racing. His father, Bobby is a 3-time Indy 500 winner, his Uncle Al won this event four times, and cousin Al Jr. took the checkered flag twice. The Unser family heritage has given Robby unique insight into racing's ultimate event.

"I've been fortunate enough to be taught and brought up with the sense of this place, the respect that this place demands," Robby Unser said. "I should say deserves, more than demands. So from that end of it I think I am lucky."

"You come here with certain credentials, and it helps in many ways," Al Unser Sr., said. "But it's still up to the individual. When you fasten that seat belt, if you sit there and you say 'well, I'm so and so, and I have to go fast,' you won't make it. It doesn't happen like that."

IRL driver and owner Eddie Cheever, who was looking for a teammate to drive his second car, settled on the 30-year-old rookie partly because of his last name.

"I think the fact that he's an Unser. allowed us to get more out of him in a shorter space of time," Cheever said. "If you're the son of a baker, there's a good chance you'll know how to bake bread. He is the son of a very famous racing driver. He's been around racing tracks all of his life."

The Unser name is legend here at the Brickyard. And that legacy comes with lofty expectations. But Robby says the only pressure he feels is the pressure to make a name for himself.

"I really want people to know that I'm a good driver to be around," Robby Unser said. "They can race with me ... I'm not gonna do anything stupid."

Gaining the respect of others and running a clean race are very important to Robby as he prepares for Sunday's 500. It will be a litmus test of his talent, but Unser doesn't need to be judged by where he finishes the race.

"I'm sure to a lot of people it's an expectation," Robby Unser said. "In myself it's a dream. I'm very thankful to be here, whatever happens. It'll be the best time of my life. Whether it happens again, I know I'll have that experience."

And Indy will have another Unser to add to it's rich history.