Little Al Cautiously but Giddily Returns to Indianapolis 500

He’s not the fastest driver this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Al Unser Jr. is certainly the happiest.

You can tell from the spring in his step, a bounce that all but disappeared during his last four frustrating years with Roger Penske in CART, when he failed to win a race. Wherever he goes here, his smile is with him.

Little Al is home again.

This has long been Unser territory. The New Mexico family has won the 500 nine times. Junior’s dad won it four times, Uncle Bobby three and Little Al twice.

“I don’t know if you’d call it a reason or not, but I think one of the things that bothered me the last few years has been knowing I wasn’t going to be at Indy for the 500,” Unser said. “Even when I came here for an IROC, it wasn’t the same.”

And he’s back with Rick Galles, his old friend and car owner from Albuquerque for whom he won the first of his two Indianapolis 500s, in 1992.

He left Penske and CART last November, to rejoin Galles in the Indy Racing League--and a guaranteed shot at running in his 13th Indy 500.

Not guaranteed, however, was that he would make it. Al Jr. still suffers from the memory of 1995, when he, as defending champion, and teammate Emerson Fittipaldi, both failed to qualify for the 33-car field in Penske’s cars.

It was to be their last chance. Since Tony George formed the IRL in late 1995, CART teams have skipped the race here, until this year when Chip Ganassi brought Jimmy Vasser and Juan Montoya across the divide to race against George’s IRL regulars.

Ask him how he hopes to fare this year, if he thinks he has a shot at victory No. 3, and Unser quickly notes that his mission is to qualify. Right now, that’s a higher priority than winning.

“Sure, I’m on a mission here,” he said, grinning broadly. “The mission is to make the race. I didn’t think it possible that I could miss the show here [in ‘95], with all the years we tried and winning the race twice and all that stuff. I remember, telling my dad about how we were running on race tires in practice in ’95 and he says, ‘Al, you better get the thing in the show before you worry about race tires,’ and I said, ‘Oh, yeah, no problem.’

“You know what happened. Emerson and I didn’t make it. I think that was the lowest point of my career, being the defending champion and having to pack up and watch the race from the infield. That’s what I did in ’95 and it’s not going to happen again. I couldn’t take it again.”

Unser has had Galles’ Aurora-powered G Force up to 221.861 mph, more than fast enough to get him in the show Saturday--maybe. Qualifying for the 500 is always a crapshoot, often depending as much on temperature, cloud cover and gusty winds as on horsepower and chassis trim.

“I don’t mind telling you, I was as excited as a little kid seeing his first Christmas tree when I walked into the speedway last Saturday, knowing I was going to get in my open-wheel car and go for a few laps,” he said. “I had all the same feelings I had years ago, the tradition, the heritage of this place. It all came screaming back.”

Unser arrived here fresh from his first IRL win two weeks ago in Las Vegas, but he’s not pleased with some stories that hinted that he won only because other cars slowed down, that he never passed anyone.

“What do those [writers] think racing is?” he snapped. “That’s how you win races. You build a reliable piece, and when other guys have their tires going off and slowing down, that’s how you pass cars and win races. I don’t care how they slow down, I just care about leading the last lap and winning the race.

“Personally, I feel that Vegas started a new chapter in my life. The old chapter is definitely closed, and that book is done and on the bookshelf. Everything’s different. We look at things different than we did in 1983, when both the team and us were rookies.”

Unser’s first 500 with Galles was memorable for two things. He and Al Sr. made up the first father-son combination in the same race in Indy 500 history, a happy memory. Then he ran out of fuel after 192 of the 200 laps and finished 10th, a not-so-happy one.

There are two other Unsers here, cousins Robby and Johnny. Surprisingly, despite all the years and all the Unsers who have raced in the 500--Al 27 times, Bobby 19, Al Jr. 12, Johnny 4, Robby 2 and Jerry 1--there have never been three in the same race.

“Getting three Unsers running has been talked about by my dad a lot,” Al Jr. said. “To have that kind of family involvement is very special, so hopefully if Robby can find a little more speed, we’ll all make it this time.”

Robby, in one of Jonathan Byrd’s Riley & Scott cars, has a top speed of 214.684 mph. Johnny, driving a G Force for Indy Regency League, has reached 217.764 mph.

A little more speed would have helped Little Al five years ago.

SAME OLD MARIO

Among the most poignant moments in Indy 500 history has been track announcer Tom Carnegie intoning, “Andretti is slowing on the backstretch.”

It happened so often, usually with Mario Andretti leading, that it became a 500 cliche.

Andretti is one of a group of old-timers being honored at the speedway this week. Thursday was his day and part of the celebration was to take a ceremonial lap in a car he drove in a 500, so he climbed into the 1967 Dean Van Lines car that he qualified on the pole with a record 168.982-mph average.

Through the first turn he went, into the second turn and out of the third corner when Carnegie revived the famous call: “Andretti is slowing on the race course.”

His car stopped at the top of the fourth turn with what mechanics said was a faulty fuel system. If it had been planned that way for nostalgia purposes, it couldn’t have been more appropriate.

UNLIMITED HYDROPLANES

With Chip Hanauer retired again, the annual Bernie Little benefit sweepstakes will get underway this weekend at Lake Havasu with the Mohave Unlimited Hydrofest, opening event of the 2000 Ralphs Unlimited Hydroplane Thunder Tour. Little’s Miss Budweiser boats have won 19 championships and there is no reason to believe he won’t get No. 20 this year.

Dave Villwock won eight of 11 races in the Bud boats last year, when his only serious competition was Hanauer in Miss PICO, and now Hanauer and the boat are both gone. Also gone are three race sites, one in Norfolk, Va., and two in Canada. After cancellation of last year’s final event, at Pearl Harbor, the unlimited schedule is down to seven races.

“We hope to have more races next year, but it has been frustrating,” said Ken Muscatel, the latest commissioner of the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Assn. “Take Honolulu, for instance. We lost it when recreational facilities at Pearl Harbor were closed. With military cutbacks, there was no way I could call the Pentagon and say, ‘What is the deal?’ I just can’t control things like that, but we are working diligently to get back to 10 or 11 races in 2001.

Mark Weber, driving the U-10 York Heating Special, is expected to be Villwock’s main rival, along with unlimited rookies George Stratton and Charley Wiggins, who are moving up from unlimited lights.

The unlimited season will end Sept. 17 at San Diego’s Mission Bay.

LAST LAPS

A reenactment of the 1913 Panama-Pacific race will be held Wednesday by the Auto Club when 51 classic race cars participate in a three-day fund-raising drive from Los Angeles to Visalia. The oldest entry is a 1904 Pope-Toledo. Frank Verbeck of Pasadena won the 1913 race and his son and daughter, Norbert Verbeck and Colleen Regan will help start the exhibition run.

Irwindale Speedway will introduce a Fast Four Shootout this week, with the fastest four super-late model qualifiers racing four laps for $1,000, winner take all. Greg Voigt of Goleta won the opening race and holds the points lead in the track’s most popular class. . . . Karting practice will be held the second and fourth Thursday evenings at Irwindale with plans for a season in the future.

U.S. Auto Club midget cars will race on the dirt half-mile oval at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday night, but the TQ midgets will be idle until June 17, when they race at Perris.

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This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP, The Winston

* When: Today, qualifying, 4 p.m.; The Winston Open No Bull 25s, twin 25-lap races, 5:45 p.m.; Saturday, The Winston Open (TNN, 4:30 p.m.).

* Where: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (tri-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Concord, N.C.

* Race distance: The Winston Open, 46 green-flag laps in segments of 30 and 16; The Winston, 105 miles, 70 green-flag laps in segments of 30, 30 and 10.

* Defending champion: Terry Labonte.

* Next race: Coca-Cola 600, May 28, Concord, N.C.

*

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS, Grainger.com 200

* When: Sunday, race (ESPN, 11:30 a.m.)

* Where: Pikes Peak International Raceway (oval, 1 mile 10 degrees banking in turns), Fountain, Colo.

* Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.

* Defending champion: Mike Wallace.

* Next race: Sears 200, June 3, Monroe, Wash.

*

FORMULA ONE, European Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 4:30 a.m.)

* Where: Nuerburgring (road course, 2.831 miles), Germany.

* Race distance: 189.677 miles, 67 laps.

* Defending champion: Johnny Herbert.

* Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, June 4, Monte Carlo.

*

NHRA, Matco Tools Supernationals

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 12:15 p.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 8:30 a.m.; Sunday, final eliminations, 8 a.m. (6:30 p.m., ESPN2).

* Where: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J.

* Defending champion: John Force.

* Next race: Castrol Nationals, May 28, Ennis, Texas.