It's May! Al Unser Jr. in 1989

May is one of my favorite months. Well, at least the last couple of weeks of May. Indy doesn't really have a month of May anymore. But it's still worth celebrating!

I finished this one up a while ago, but had been saving it. It's Al Unser Jr.'s 1989 Lola Chevy. If you don't know the story, Little Al and Emerson Fittipaldi were battling for the win late in the race. Emmo went low inside of Al in turn 3 with two laps to go, they touched wheels, and Al ended up spinning and hitting the wall. When Fittipaldi came by, Al applauded.

Who says no one remembers who finishes second? I suppose I should do Fittipaldi's car at some point. I have the kit and the decals.
Later, when the Speedway did its renovations to meet NASCAR standards for the Brickyard, that included all new, higher walls around the track. Many of the old wall sections now line the pond in the infield golf course. The turn 3 stretch? Little Al somehow got a hold of that and set it up on his property in Albuquerque. :)

Anyway, standard AMT Lola T-8900 kit with Indycals and Tamiya paint.

Fast Friday: 1975 Bobby Unser Eagle

Here's another that could technically be better, but for what it is didn't turn out half bad.

I like to call these '70s Indy cars winged monsters. They were brutes, and speeds were going up like crazy. In 1975, Bobby Unser piloted this Eagle to his second Indy 500 win.

I built this replica from the old AMT kit, which for the 1970s probably wasn't bad, but is lacking in some detail now. The Bill Jorgensen resin upgrade kit would be more accurate. Still, I forged ahead, and did the best I could with it and am pleased with the outcome. I like how the engine is just out there for the world to see. The paint was simple - Testors sky blue from the little square bottle, though again a Tamiya spray would probably be better. The kit decals are trash, no surprise, so I used the always superb Indycals. The Indycals set is probably designed to fit the Jorgensen kit, so some trimming was necessary here and there, but I think the overall impression works and this one holds a proud spot in the display cabinet.