Four-time winner of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing Al Unser was honored on Saturday, May 23 at the 2015 Legends Day Presented by Firestone at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since 2011, the day before the Indy 500 has featured an important racing personality, with previous honorees including A.J. Foyt, Roger Penske, Parnelli Jones and Mario Andretti.

Al Unser is the second of three drivers to win the coveted Indianapolis 500 four times, with the others being A. J. Foyt and Rick Mears. He is one of only five drivers to win the race in back-to-back years, and is also the only person to have both a sibling (brother Bobby) and son (Al Unser, Jr.) as race winners. He has won three open-wheel championships, in 1970, 1983 and 1985. He is indeed a legend.

Bobby Unser was the first of the family to race at Indianapolis during his rookie year of 1963. Al first raced at Indianapolis in 1965, starting 32nd and finishing 9th. His first win at the Brickyard was in 1970, two years after Bobby's first win. During that initial win, Al led all but 10 laps of the race at an average speed of 155.749 miles per hour. He won again in 1971, after starting from the 5th position. His attempt to become the first three-time consecutive winner was thwarted by Mark Donahue in 1972.

Unser got his third victory in 1978 in dramatic fashion. Driving an FNCTC Chaparral Lola, the car was considered at best a second tier entry if not an out and out long shot to win the race. Al took the lead for the first time on lap 75 and engaged in a back and forth battle with Danny Ongais for 75 more laps. An engine failure on lap 150 caused Ongais to drop out of the race and Unser was able to take a seemingly insurmontable 35 second lead. An ill-handling car caused the lead to shrink in the final 20 laps, but Unser held on to win by 9 seconds.

The fourth win was even more unexpected. In 1987, Unser was dropped by team owner Roger Penske, whose drivers for the race were Rick Mears, Danny Ongais and Danny Sullivan. Ongais crashed into the wall during the first week of practice, and was declared unfit to drive after suffering a severe concussion, and Unser was tapped as the fill-in driver. Penske's new PC16 race car and Chevrolet-Ilmor engine had been unreliable during practice and qualifying, so a year-old 1986 March-Cosworth was pulled from a Penske Racing display at a Sheraton hotel in Reading, PA and quickly prepped to return to competition. Heavy attrition during the race was suffered by most of the field's front runners. Unser moved up steadily from his 20th starting position and took the lead on lap 183 after leader Roberto Guerrero stalled on his final pit stop. Unser held on to win his fourth Indy 500 by 4.5 seconds.

Unser raced at Indianapolis the next several years, sitting out the 1991 race rather than taking part in a sub-par car just to "make the show." In 1992 he was still without a ride for the 500. Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet had a serious crash during the first week of practice and again another driver's misfortune was Unser's gain. He was hired by Team Menard and drove to a third place finish in what was son Al Unser Jr.'s first victory. In 1993, he led 15 laps in his King Racing car and extended his career laps-led record.

Al hoped to qualify for what would be his 28th Indy 500 in 1994. He was just shy of his 55th birthday. Driving for an under-funded team, he waved off a poor qualifying lap and quit the team the next day. He announced his retirement from racing on May 17, 1994.

The accomplishments of Al Unser's racing career are astounding. He has led the most laps at the Indianapolis 500 of all drivers, leading 644 laps in his 27 years at the Speedway. He is the oldest driver to have won the race, at 47 years old. He has won four other 500-mile races (two at Pocono and two at Ontario) for a total of eight 500-mile race victories. He was also the 1978 IROC champion and competed in the 1968 Daytona 500.

The Unser family has a long tradition of competing and winning at the Indainapolis Motor Speedway. Older brother Bobby is a three time winner and son Al Jr. is a two time winner. Other family members include oldest brother Jerry, who raced in the 1958 Indy 500 before being tragically killed in a crash in practice the next year, and nephews Robby and Johnny have both raced in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Even grandson Al III has competed at IMS, racing in the Freedom 100 in 2007 and 2008 in the Indy Lights championship.

The 2015 Legends Day honoree is truly a Legend of the Brickyard.

Cathy Shumaker is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow her on Twitter at @cathyshu.