Countdown: New Mexico

Ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848, the Land of Enchantment still prides itself on its Hispanic and Native American culture.

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New Mexico's landscape ranges from wide deserts to snow-capped mountains. But that beauty is more than skin-deep, as a trip to the Carlsbad Caverns proves.

Home of pueblos, pecans, peppers and pines, New Mexico is also the location of the White Sands missile range, three Air Force bases, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Roswell's famous secret UFO base.

New Mexico's famous racing family is well-known for its success at Indianapolis -- but the Unser family performed well in NASCAR, too.

Best behind the wheel

• Al Unser, Albuquerque

The late '60s were a time of great experimentation in racing, as stock car drivers such as Bobby and Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough qualified for the Indianapolis 500 -- and open-wheel stars such as A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti won the Daytona 500.

	Credit: Gary Newkirk/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers Al Unser's NASCAR career Year Races W T5 T10 1968 2 0 1 2 1969 1 0 1 1 1986 2 0 0 0 Totals 5 0 2 3

One open-wheel star who also dabbled in stock-car racing was Al Unser. The youngest son of Jerry and Mary Unser, Al played football as a teen but found himself drawn to the family's favorite sport -- automobile racing. In 1957, Al won his first race -- in a Modified built by father Jerry and brother Bobby.

In 1964, Al followed in the family's footsteps by winning the Pikes Peak hillclimb, then followed Bobby as Indy 500 winner in 1970. By the time his career came to a close in 1994, Unser tallied four Indy 500 victories, 39 career wins and three national championships.

Unser made his NASCAR debut in 1968, finishing sixth in a Dodge at Riverside. He then went east and piloted Cotton Owens' Dodge to a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500, finishing on the lead lap with Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Bobby Allison.

He picked up another fourth-place finish at Riverside the following season, then didn't return to NASCAR until 1986, when he subbed for Buddy Baker at Watkins Glen and drove for the Dingman Brothers at Riverside.

Unser was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998. Since retirement he has served as a driver coach and consultant for the Indy Racing League.

Other noteworthy drivers from New Mexico

• Al Unser Jr., Albuquerque: Two-time Indy 500 champ drove a Rick Hendrick Chevrolet in the 1993 Daytona 500, finishing 36th

• Bobby Unser, Albuquerque: Three-time Indy 500 winner was fourth at Riverside in 1973, crashed in his only Daytona 500 appearance

We wish ...

Rodeo star Everett Bowman had become a NASCAR driver.

Bowman, a Wickenburg resident and "George Washington of Rodeo" won national all-around titles in 1935 and 1936 and held six world championship in steer wrestling, calf roping and all-around. He was certainly tough enough to wrestle an ill-handling car around any NASCAR track.

Keeping it on track

NASCAR's premier series has never visited New Mexico. However, there is a half-mile paved oval in Albuquerque and several dirt ovals.

A word from our sponsor

• Intel, Rio Rancho

Intel came to New Mexico in 1980 and began operations with fewer than 25 employees. Today, Intel New Mexico is the largest private-sector industrial employer in Albuquerque, developing flash memory chips, as well as Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium processors for mobile, desktop, server and workstation computing.