Summer car and travel: Indy 500 family’s safety tips
Johnny and Loni Unser of the iconic Indy 500 Unser racing family reveal their top tips for staying safe on the road
Johnny and Loni Unser from the iconic Indy 500 Unser racing family gave Fox News some of their top tips on how to stay safe when you hit the road this summer.
Fox News: If you're getting ready to take a road trip, what should you do to make sure you're safe?
Loni: Tires, they’re the most important thing on my race car and on my street car. First check your inflation pressures, the most important part of that is not to check the side of your tire but to check inside the door of what your inflation pressure or tire pressure should be.
Johnny: The rule of thumb is to do this once a month. By keeping proper inflation pressures you’re going to get better fuel mileage. Poorly inflated tires reduce the rolling resistance and you get less fuel economy.
Fox News: What is tread depth and why is it important?
Johnny: So you got the top part of your tire that hits the road that has grooves in it. So, the depth of those grooves are your tread depth. When those grooves get worn down to a certain point, you want to relpace the tires. When you get to the point where they have less traction, less adhesion to the road especially in wet conditions. If you take a penny and stick it in the grooves upside down and you can see the top of Lincoln's head, that means there's not enough depth in it.
Fox News: What’s a huge driving no-no?
Johnny: What’s really bad is when somebody’s texting. It’s so unsafe; when we’re racing we would never consider doing anything but being 100 percent focused on what we’re doing. Focus on what you’re doing, it can always wait till later.