homes. It was pretty futuristic; it reminded me of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. It was quite the thing. And it pulled up and I was like, ‘Wow! Who’s this?” A boy about their age jumped out and the three of them happily started racing. “I could get really close, I’d beat him once in a while, but my brother could beat him all the time,” Greg said. They raced on until Greg and his brother ran out of money and told the boy they were going home. The boy said, “Well I’ll pay for you to go, because I’m just here with my grandpa and grandma and they’re just trying to find something for me to do. My dad’s down in Portland racing.” “His dad was Al Unser. And he was Al Unser Jr.,” Greg said. The Unsers are a racing family from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they have the Unser Museum, dedicated to the family’s racing history. Unlike Al Unser Jr.,” Greg did not grow up to become a racecar driver; he became a police officer and drove a truck on the side. “I got my commercial driver’s license (CDL) in ’99 the summer I started in law enforcement here in Yankton in dispatch,” Greg said. “I kept that CDL up and I have the Double/Triple Endorsement and hazmats. I got that through Yankton Ag and I worked every year with Yankton Ag come spring and fall.” Greg drove the truck every year while he was a police officer, sometimes working upwards of 80 hours a week, which he didn’t seem to mind. “I find driving very enjoyable. It’s a challenge. A truck driver, just like a race car driver, you’re trying to maximize everything you can: fuel mileage, save your truck, save your brakes and you want to be as smooth as you can on all your shifts, and I find it a challenge every mile down the road.” In 2005 the Mosers decided to start taking their daughters, Kelsey and Rebecca, then twelve and six respectively, to the racetrack when the family started buying season tickets to Kansas Motor Speedway. Having the girls along with them changed everything. “The neat thing about IndyCar is that if you are going to race for IndyCar, they have a mandatory autograph session and you cannot miss that autograph session,” Lynn said. “The access to the drivers is unreal,” said Greg. “The drivers are so fan friendly, especially if you have kids. That quickly turned us into huge IndyCar fans, and because of that the girls loved it.” Greg and Lynn started taking their daughters to all the autograph sessions and the whole family started having a positive experience. “They are so fan friendly and they really care,” Greg said. “The competition at that level is unreal, but they really care about how the other drivers are doing. It’s just one big IndyCar family — and the girls took to it. They got a lot of autographs.” Not only did the girls get to meet their favorite drivers, but some of the drivers even remembered the girls. One that stood out in particular for the Mosers was Dan Wheldon. The girls had gone together to get his autograph in the spring at Kansas Speedway, but only Rebecca was there to get his autograph at Iowa Speedway later that summer, as Greg tells the story. “Dan says, ‘Now, what’s your name?’ She says, “Rebecca.” “Where are you from?” “South Dakota.” And Dan just stopped. He froze with the pen in his hand and said, “South Dakota? Becca, don’t you have an older sister? Kelsey?’ The look on our face, we were astounded. “He remembered those two little girls from South Dakota back in April and this was July,” Greg said. “When he won in Iowa, he referred to her as his good luck charm and said, ‘I should take you to Indy with me.’” Dan Wheldon was the driver who died in the 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011. After 15 years in Law enforcement, Greg decided to make a move to Kolberg-Pioneer Inc. (KPI). He found that he had a lot more free time in his new job, some of which he spent driving trucks, and he still went to the races, where he and his wife met Jim Mast, a transportation specialist for Indy Cars, who was instrumental in getting Greg the job driving trucks for IndyCar. vMOSER continued on page 12