Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Al Unser Is Content to Run Second Behind Son

Three-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser is only five points out of the lead in his quest for a third national driving championship. Normally, when a driver is in such a contending position this late in the season, he is tense, taut and nervously plotting some way to overtake the leader.

Not Unser. The 44-year-old driver from Albuquerque, N.M., is perfectly happy just the way things are.

For one, he considers himself merely a fill-in for Rick Mears. He had expected to drive in only three Indy car races this season.

And, more importantly, the driver he is chasing is his 23-year-old son, Al Jr. Big Al, as the father is known, would love to get championship No. 3, but if he lost to Little Al he might pop more buttons on his driver’s suit than if he won it himself.

“I think it’s neat,” commented Unser after testing his Roger Penske-prepared March-Cosworth for Sunday’s Stroh’s 300-kilometer race at Laguna Seca, a twisting 1.9-mile road course on the Monterey Peninsula. “I would rather have it like this. If it could be done, I’d like it to come down to him and me alone in the final race. Wouldn’t that be terrific?”

After Laguna Seca, the only CART/PPG Indy Car World Series races remaining are the Dana 150 Oct. 13 at Phoenix and the Beatrice Indy Challenge Nov. 9 at Miami, Fla.

Six drivers remain in contention in what has become the tightest Indy car race in years. Unser Jr. has 106 points, followed by Unser with 101, Emerson Fittipaldi 99, defending champion Mario Andretti 98, Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan 89 and Bobby Rahal, winner of the last two races, 86. The 20 point spread between Unser Sr. and Rahal is exactly the number of points a race winner receives.

“I only scored one point in each of the last two races, but I’m not complaining,” Unser said. “I never expected to be here in the first place.”

Unser, who won the 1983 championship for Penske, was dropped from the team in favor of Sullivan after Unser failed to win a race in 1984. He was later signed to drive a third Penske car, as a teammate to Mears and Sullivan, in three 500-mile races--Indianapolis, Pocono and Michigan.

“If Rick hadn’t been hurt, it would still have been a good deal for me. I could have gone with several other teams on a full-time basis but I didn’t feel they were competitive. If you can’t be up front, capable of winning, there’s no use going out there. That’s why I elected to go with Penske on a three-race deal.”

Mears, who had his feet mangled in an accident last summer at Sanair, near Montreal, had expected to be ready for the 1985 season, but when the season opener neared at Long Beach, he couldn’t handle the difficult shifting chores which are demanded on a tight road course.

“When Rick’s feet didn’t heal fast enough for him to drive in Long Beach, Penske asked me to fill in. That’s all I was, a fill-in driver, except for the 500s. I thought Rick would be back after Indy and I was ready to turn the car over to him.

“Rick is capable right now of running Laguna Seca, but he’s backed off because I’m close to the championship. He’s a hell of a man. He could say today he wants the car for Sunday’s race and I couldn’t say anything. That was my agreement, that he could take the ride anytime he felt he was ready. He’ll run Phoenix. All three of us will run there but that puts the team in an awkward position. It’s too many cars for one team to maintain. The crews are getting tired, testing three cars and preparing three cars. They’re not geared for it.”

Mears, who posted the fastest lap of the Indy 500 at 204.937 m.p.h., was impressive before the car quit on Lap 122. Unser, in the third Penske, finished fourth. The following week, at Milwaukee--an oval track--Mears drove and finished third. Unser sat out the race, as prescribed. But when a road course, Portland, was next, Mears turned the keys back over to Unser and he has run every race since then.

Unser, who first won the national championship back in 1970 for Parnelli Jones and Vel Miletich, took over the points lead this season when he finished third to Mears and Al Jr. at Pocono. His best finish is a second in the Michigan 500 and he also has been third three times and fourth twice.

“It’s gonna be hard (to win the championship), but it’s gonna be hard for all six of us. It’ll come down to whichever way the breaks go. I had good luck at the start and then had some terrible breaks.”

For instance, at Sanair, Unser was leading when Dennis Firestone--running several laps behind--blew an engine and laid oil on the track. Unser was the first driver to hit the oil, which sent him skidding into the wall and out of the race. In the last race, at Michigan, Unser was running with the leaders when it came time to pit. An air jack broke and before the crew could borrow one from Mears’ pit, 42 seconds had elapsed and Unser was two laps down.

“Those are the kinds of things you can’t do a damn thing about. They just happen. I’ve just got to get turned around and have a little good luck for a change.”

SPRINT CARS--With eight races remaining, Mike Sweeney’s win last week cut Eddie Wirth’s lead in the Kraco-California Racing Assn. standings to 37 points. The two will meet again Saturday night at Ascot Park in a 30-lap feature. Dean Thompson will make another bid for his 100th CRA win on his favorite track, where 88 of his 99 wins have been recorded. Thompson has also won six at Chula Vista, three at Santa Maria, one at Phoenix and one at El Centro.

STOCK CARS--Hershel McGriff is 57 but he drove like a youngster to win last Sunday’s Suncrest Motorhomes 200 at Willow Springs and is now only five points behind defending Winston West champion Jim Robinson with two races remaining--Saturday night in the Timec 200 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield and the Nov. 17 Winston Western 500 at Riverside. Robinson has 497 points while McGriff, who is the leading money winner with $35,465, has 492. Ruben Garcia, who won the pole at Willow Springs, is next with 453. . . . Saugus Speedway closes its season Saturday night with a 150-lap factory stock enduro and a destruction derby. . . . Most of the Saugus modified car drivers, including track champion Ken Sapper, will be at San Bernardino’s Orange Show Speedway for a 100 lap open comp race Saturday night. . . . NASCAR pro stocks of the Curb Motorsports Winston Racing Series close their season Sunday night at Ascot Park with former Figure 8 driver Don Wright Jr. trying to maintain his points lead over Jerry Johnson. . . . The latest in big bucks payoffs, a $250,000 retirement bonus payable in 18 years, will go to the winner of Sunday’s Miller 500 Winston Cup Grand National at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This is in addition to the race purse of $500,000.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--At 21, Steve Lucero of Riverside was the youngest rider of the 16 finalists in the 18th annual California state championships, but it didn’t keep him from edging Sam Ermolenko of Cypress and Mike Faria of Colton for the title last Saturday night at San Bernardino’s Inland Speedway. Ermolenko defeated Faria in a runoff for second place. National champion Kelly Moran missed the show with a bruised elbow while defending state champion Bobby Schwartz had a bad night, falling three times--once after a race ended when he and Ermolenko tangled while slowing down. . . . Lucero has also clinched the season-long $25,000 points series which concludes tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Stadium. . . . In a nostalgic preview before the U.S. Nationals on Oct. 12, the stars of yesteryear will perform Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Riding in a series of match races will be two-time world champion Bruce Penhall, seven-time national champion Mike Bast, two-time national champion Rick Woods and such other favorites as Wild Bill Cody, Dubb Ferrell, Sonny and Steve Nutter, Jim Fishback and Billy Gray.

DRAG RACING--All Don Garlits needs to do to win the world top fuel championship Sunday in the National Hot Rod Assn. Fallnationals at Charlie Allen’s Firebird Raceway in Phoenix is to qualify for the 16-car field. Garlits, 53, winner of six of 11 starts this year, last won the title in 1975. The Fallnationals will be the first NHRA national event in Phoenix in 30 years. . . . The Motorcycle Drag Racing Assn. holds a double points meet Sunday at the L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale featuring Clyde Rawlings of Fresno and Marion Owens of Oklahoma City on injected nitro Harleys.

MISCELLANEOUS--Jaguars will be featured in the Vintage Racing Club outing Saturday and Sunday at Riverside International Raceway. . . . Wally Pankratz of Yorba Linda will be after his third straight U.S. Auto Club midget win in the Western States Series Sunday at Madera Speedway. The season ends Oct. 13 at Ascot Park.