It’s Easy Being Green for Unser

One of Al Unser Jr.’s ambitions is to win the Daytona 500 and Friday he showed he knows how to drive a stock car on the 31-degree banking at Daytona International Speedway.

Although he started last in the field of 12, he won the opening event of the 21st International Race of Champions in a Pontiac Trans-Am, holding off Winston Cup veterans Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin in a 100-mile adventure.

“Ever since I first came here in 1986, I’ve wanted to win an IROC at Daytona,” Unser said. “It’s a family thing. My Uncle Bobby won in 1975 and my dad won in ’86. It really means a lot to me to have won here.”

He won driving a bright green car, green being considered most unlucky by the Unser clan.

“It should have spooked me, but [the car] sure ran strong,” Unser said. “I don’t know if my Uncle Bobby would have got in it.”

The victory was Unser’s 11th in IROC, a record. Although it was his first on Daytona’s 2 1/2-mile superspeedway, he won here in 1986 and 1987 on the road course, driving one of Al Holbert’s Porsches in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Friday’s race was one of the most competitive in IROC history, with 16 lead changes among eight of the 12 drivers. It was also only the second time in IROC that a driver started last and finished first. Rusty Wallace did it here in 1989.

Unser, after moving up through the field to take the lead on the 18th lap, dropped back before making a second charge, with Earnhardt’s help, to move in front with nine laps remaining.

“I could never have done it without Dale pushing me,” Unser said. “We were running the high line and no one could catch us until that last lap. Then I saw that light blue car [Martin] down low, and I could see he was moving faster than Dale.

“All’s fair in love and war and racing, so I decided to abandon Dale and drop down low and block the guys coming up fast. You do what you got to do to survive.”

Martin, defending series champion, took second, with Earnhardt third.

“I said before the race that I wanted to team up with Little Al, and we never got close to one another until the finish, but I’ll take second and the points that go with it,” Martin said.

Alex Zanardi, CART rookie of the year last season, had the day’s most unusual ride. He started on the pole, dropped back to last, worked his way up to second and then fell back again to finish 10th.

“In these cars, you need a different type of talent,” said the former Formula One driver from Italy. “It’s still motor sports, but it’s completely different. It’s not written anywhere that an Indy car driver is automatically capable of driving this kind of monster.”

IROC races have no individual purses. Drivers accumulate points and after the four-race series, the champion collects $225,000.