Al Unser, Jr.

Alfred Unser Jr. ( born April 19, 1962 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) "junior Al ", nicknamed "Little Al " or is an American race car driver and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 He is the son of racing legend Al Unser and the nephew of Bobby Unser.

Career

Al Unser Jr. was born into a racing family. His father Al and his uncle Bobby won both also the traditional Indianapolis 500 At age eleven, drove Unser Jr. sprint races. After high school he was already active in the World of Outlaws series. He soon switched to road racing, where in 1981 the Super Vee title in 1982 and the title in the Can Am series won.

First years in the IndyCar series

In 1982, Unser Jr. gave his debut in the IndyCar Series. A year later, he took part for the first time at the Indianapolis 500, which he finished in tenth place. Our developed into a rising star in the series. He finished the championship in 1985 as a runner-up and she lost by just one point against his father. He began to participate in 1986 at the IROC Championship, which he won in four races with two wins. With 24 years Unser Jr. was the youngest champion ever in this series. He also won the IROC championships in 1986 and 1988. Likewise with 24, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Our finished the IndyCar Championship in 1986 as the fourth overall, in 1987 as a third party in 1988 as the second and closed it in 1990 for the first time as the winner from. Our 1989 was almost ready, for the first time to win the Indianapolis 500, but the fight for the lead position, touched the car from him and Emerson Fittipaldi, with Unser Jr. lost control of his car and drove into the gang. In 1992, he was finally able to retract his first victory at the Indiana Polos 500 by Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds struck what at the same time represented the closest victory to date in the history of the race. After the season he drove the 1993 Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports, which he finished 36th and what should be his only start in the Winston Cup at the same time.

Years at Penske

1994 Unser Jr. won again in Indianapolis, this time for Penske Racing. His teammate was Emerson Fittipaldi, the man with whom he had five years earlier delivered the duel for the victory. Our Jr. dominated the season and won eight of 16 races, which he won the IndyCar championship for the second time in his career. This year he was appointed by ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. From then on, however, he could not build on its previous results. Although he was able to close second behind Jacques Villeneuve the championship in 1995, it went on from there with his results downhill. So in 1996 he became fourth, 1997 13, 1998 11 and 1999 21, so he moved to the Indy Racing League series competition in 2000. In his 17 years in the IndyCar Series, he won a total of 31 races.

Indy Racing League

In his first season in the IRL, he won the race in Las Vegas. Overall, he won three races to 2003 in this series, but after an injury in an accident in an offroad vehicle, he said after a 22 place finish at Richmond on 30 June 2004 his retirement from active racing. He then worked as a consultant for Patrick Racing and as a mentor to his son Alfred Unser, who also seeks a racing career.

After the End of career

Our 2006 announced a comeback to the Indianapolis 500 for the 2006 season on the team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Only a few days before Michael Andretti had also announced its start of the race. Our qualified as the 27th of 33 drivers and drove consistently in the top half of the field with until an accident ended the race for him.

In August Our participated in a test of the A1GP series at Silverstone.

IndyCar-/Champ Car Results

2 Championships, 31 Wins

Indy Racing League Results

3 wins, best ranking: 6

Indianapolis 500 Results

Pictures of Al Unser, Jr.

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