There are cars from the Unsers days at Pike's Peak on display along with those from the Indy 500. The yellow Novi that Bobby Unser drove is one of my favorite cars in the museum. It comes from a day when the Indianapolis 500 still had room for innovation. There had been room for innovation at Pike's Peak, too, and one of the Unsers' innovations was including crush walnut shells in tire treads. I was unaware that each year a lady gets all the Indy 500 drivers' signatures and incorporates them into a quilt that she gives to the winner. Her name is Jeanetta Holder and apparently she is still continuing the practice which she started in 1976. I feel kind of dumb not knowing about that.

The 1923 Sterling truck is at the center of a story that might reveal something about Al Unser. When Al was growing up, the truck belonged to a neighbor. As a successful adult, he tried to buy it several times. The owner refused until his death and even, in a sense, beyond. Al approached the family but was told the entire property was being sold "as is" with everything left where it sat. So Al bought the entire estate just to get the truck. Then he spent another chunk of money to restore it. Jim didn't know the exact significance of the truck to Al but he did know that Al likes to drive it. At one point the truck was used as an attention getter in front of the museum. It was driven out each morning and back inside at the end of each day. On most days, it was Al who did the driving -- both ways. I hope I'm not reading too much into it but I'm thinking that the truck has a bit of a Citizen Kane Rosebud feel. There's a sign in the cab of the truck showing that, unlike other museums, the prohibition against visitors driving the cars is not absolute. There are exceptions.