Al Unser Jr. Tries a New Challenge : Indy Veteran Makes Off-Road Debut at Anaheim Tonight
Al Unser Jr. displayed his versatility last year by winning races with a Lola in the CART Indy car series, a Porsche in the 24 Hours of Daytona and a Chevrolet Camaro in the International Race of Champions.
Tonight, driving a Jeep Comanche pickup truck, the 24-year-old redhead from Albuquerque, N.M., will try his skills for the first time in a stadium off-road race. In fact, the opening event of Mickey Thompson’s Off-Road Championship Gran Prix at Anaheim Stadium will be Little Al’s first off-road race of any kind.
“I’ve never done it before, but it really doesn’t matter what type of racing it is because I love all kinds,” Unser said. “I’ve never even seen an off-road race on television, so when I get in the Jeep on Saturday, everything will be like a brand new world--for me and the truck both.”
It will also be Jeep’s introduction to stadium off-road racing, although the vehicle has had a long involvement in desert off-road racing.
“One thing everyone tells me goes against all I’ve learned,” Unser said. “In all kinds of racing, I was always taught that when you go airborne you’re in trouble. Now they tell me being airborne is commonplace in off-road racing. It ought to be interesting.”
Unser was in Jeep owner Dick Landfield’s Enduro racing team shop in San Bernardino earlier in the week for what he hoped would be a test, but the practice track was flooded.
“I’m in shape, so it really doesn’t matter,” Unser said. He will be driving in the Grand National Sports Truck class against fellow Indy car driver Roger Mears, defending champion Steve Millen and former Baja 1,000 champion Walker Evans.
“I’ve been racing Ski-Doos (snowmobiles) all winter in northern New Mexico, up around Chama where all the Unsers hang out. Me and dad (three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser) go at it real good, and when Uncle Bobby (another three-time Indianapolis 500 winner) is there with his kids, Bobby and Rob, it’s real serious racing.
“If Dad worked as hard at Indy cars as he does with his Ski-Doo, no one could beat him. He’s the champ at Chama. Uncle Bobby has slowed down a little bit.”
Al’s father, 47, defeated his son by a single point for the 1985 CART-Indy car championship, but last year raced only a few events for Roger Penske. This season, Al will drive the full CART schedule for the newly formed Cahill Brothers team of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Al Jr., who won last season’s final CART race, the Miami Indy Challenge, in a Lola owned by Doug Shierson, will switch to a March this season. Curiously, Bobby Rahal, who won the 1986 championship in a March, will switch to a Lola.
“I don’t know why Shierson changed cars,” Unser said. “He went to England and came back with a March. He thinks it’s a better car. That’s all I know. The crew’s preparing it at the shop in Adrian, Mich., and we’ll probably start testing in a couple of weeks at Phoenix and Laguna Seca.”
Unser will drive in the Indy car opener, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 5, but he will compete in two International Motor Sports Assn. endurance races before that--the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Last year, Unser teamed with car owner Al Holbert and Derek Bell to win at Daytona and finish third at Sebring.
“Those Porsches are fun to race, but Daytona is a real grind,” he said.
Little Al was the hero of last year’s Daytona win. During the late-night hours, he had to perform a makeshift repair on a broken throttle cable to nurse the limping Porsche 962 back to the pits, where the crew changed the entire cable in time for the team to win.
In this year’s Jan. 31 race at Daytona, Unser will share the cockpit with Bell and Chip Robinson, a replacement for the semi-retired Holbert, who will direct the operation from the pits.
Unser will also defend his IROC championship in a four-race series beginning Feb. 13 at Daytona as well as run Indy cars and off-road trucks.
“If Shierson’s testing schedule doesn’t interfere, I expect to make all the Thompson off-road races,” he said. The second race is scheduled next Saturday night at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
“Whatever else happens this year, it got off to a great start when Shelley (Mrs. Unser) had a baby girl last Saturday,” Little Al said proudly. The girl, Tody, is the Unsers’ second child. A son, Alfred, whom the family calls Mini-Al, is 4.
