Little Al Has Hit Made It in the Big Time

Little Al Unser never had to deal with career options while he was growing up.

“Everything I’ve ever done has always led back to a car,” he said.

He started driving at age 9, taking a 1949 clunker he had worked on for a spin around the Unser family’s wrecking yard in west Albuquerque.

At 16, he was a professional sprint car driver.

Before he was 21, he captured both the Super Vee and Can Am national championships.

Now, after three years on the Indy-car circuit, 23-year-old Little Al is on the best roll of his career.

The son of Al Unser Sr. and nephew of Bobby Unser, both three-time winners of the Indianapolis 500, Al Jr. won the last two races in the PPG Indy Car World Series--the U.S. Grand Prix at the Meadowlands and the Cleveland Grand Prix.

In PPG Cup standings, he is tied with his father for second place behind veteran Mario Andretti, whose misfortune at New Jersey and Cleveland aided young Unser.

At the Meadowlands, the front-running Andretti dropped out after his car collided with Bobby Rahal’s and caught fire. At Cleveland, Unser won after Andretti’s car came to a smoking stop four laps from the finish.

While luck may have played a role in Unser’s two victories, he is quick to say a race car driver must be in a position to take advantage of the breaks that are inherent in motorsports.

“There’s a saying that opportunity and preparation sometimes equals luck,” Unser said. “If your car is ready to go the distance, sometimes you can make your own luck.”

Unser has not hesitated to borrow from his family’s longtime racing experience, and last winter “went to Uncle Bobby and asked him to teach me how to win at Indy.”

So far, he has been unsuccessful in three tries at the famous oval.

In his rookie ride, in 1983, he was criticized for failing to move out of Tom Sneva’s way when the eventual winner tried to pass Al Unser Sr.

Little Al finished 10th that year, his best finish so far, but even that effort was deceiving, he said.

“I didn’t have a clue on what I was doing. The only way I was going to win Indianapolis that year was if I had led the race from start to finish like you do in sprint cars.”

This year, mechanical problems forced him out early.

“I feel like I’m just now learning to run the 200-mile races,” he said. “The 500-mile races I just don’t have a feel for yet.”

Unser also is learning patience.

“Racing is like a chess game and it’s experience that wins at Indy. That’s why the old guys can go so fast there and win even when they don’t have the fastest cars,” he said.

To be an Indy winner, like dad and uncle Bobby, is junior’s desire.

“I’ve watched my dad race (there) since I can remember,” he said. “The first time I rolled out my car at Indy just to test it, I felt more butterflies than I have in any race since. I guess you could say your career as a driver is made or laid at Indy.”

Al Jr.’s recent victories may have added a touch of rejuvenation to his father’s career.

A non-winner on the circuit since 1983, Big Al finished third in both the Meadowlands and Cleveland races. For the Michigan 500, delayed a week by a tire dispute, father and son had third-row starting spots. Al Sr. qualified at 208.581 mph, his namesake at 208.932.

“After the win at Cleveland, I got the feeling he wasn’t looking at me as all son anymore,” Al Jr. said.