John Unnerud

John Unnerud (born January 15, 1930 in Spydeberg ; † August 16, 2004 ibid) was a Norwegian and a rally driver known throughout Scandinavia .

Career

Between 1960 and 1980, John Unnerud won many rallies, hill climbs (in Scandinavia mostly on gravel) and ice races (in Scandinavia they are driven on frozen lakes). Formulated after his hometown, the motor sportsman from the Østfold region was nicknamed “Spydeberg-Ekspressen” for many years, with which the Norwegian media also liked a young rallycross star and promising young rally driver by the name of Petter Solberg (the rally -World Champion of 2003) from the immediate vicinity of Unnerud. In addition to his various national Norwegian championship titles, ninth place at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland in 1962 and 14th place at the famous Monte Carlo Rally in 1969 are considered Unnerud's most outstanding international results. John took part in the Monte eight times. But an appearance with his Opel Rallye Kadett at a circuit race in 1969 at the Nürburgring in Germany, which he finished in third place overall in front of tens of thousands of spectators, has always been one of the Norwegian’s best performances. At a time when Norwegian rally drivers, in contrast to their colleagues from Sweden and Finland, played an extra role , autosport experts rated Unnerud as Norway's absolute number 1 in rallying for at least a few years .