What makes one race car driver better at one circuit than any other? Race wins often dictate a driver’s superiority at one track over others, but there are a few exceptions. Michael Andretti and Ted Horn at Indianapolis both come to mind.
With the Indycars racing at Long Beach this weekend, no one has been better than Al Unser Jr. Throughout the 50 year event, Unser Jr. won the event six times from 1984 to 1998 (an injury kept him from the 1999 event).
Al Jr. failed to finish the maiden Indycar version of the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1984 while driving for Rick Galles Racing. He would grab a top ten finish in 1985 before finishing second in 1986 and 1987 to Michael and Mario Andretti, respectively. Many thought the streets belonged to the Andretti family as Mario took wins in three of the first four events. Son Michael grabbed his first career win in 1986.
Things changed come 1988. Unser Jr. was no longer driving the Domino’s Pizza “Hot One” that he had driven since the 1985 season.
Junior would partner back up with the friend and owner who brought him into Indycars in 1983, Rick Galles. From 1988 to 1991, Al Jr. dominated the street circuit next to the waterfront and Queen Mary. Unser Jr.’s most controversial win came during that stretch in 1989. He was following leader Mario Andretti with only 12 laps left in the event. Unser Jr. was clearly faster than Mario, but on a street circuit that doesn’t always matter. Andretti was incredibly difficult to pass anywhere, but the concrete canyons of a street circuit can make the feat almost impossible.
Andretti slowed for lap traffic, causing Al Jr. to plow right into the back of Andretti. It would send Mario into the wall and out of the race. In his book, A Checkered Past, Unser Jr. goes into detail about how he ran out of patience and should have waited. Unser was not a dirty driver, and did feel bad, not wanting to win a race in that way. Andretti would confront Little Al in victory lane and is quoted as sarcastically saying, “That was fun, let’s do it again sometime.” 1989 was different. There was no over policing by race control. Disputes were settled on the racetrack. There was no such rule as “avoidable contact” in that era.
Honestly, Unser could have won seven times had his teammate, Danny Sullivan, not shown him the chrome horn in 1992 in a replay of the events from 1989 between Andretti and Little Al. Sullivan would take the win after late race contact with Unser. A crash took him out of the 1993 event won by Paul Tracy. Unser would return to victory lane in 1994 and 1995 while driving for Roger Penske. Unser would finish third and fourth the next two years. His last race at Long Beach occurred in 1998 where he failed to run one lap after a crash at the start.
Hampered by injuries, and a drug and alcohol addiction, Al Unser Jr. never returned to Long Beach as a driver. Unser jumped to the rival Indy Racing League for the 2000 season. He won a few more races in that series before quietly walking away from racing as a driver after the 2007 Indianapolis 500. He stays busy in racing these days, and you can often find him at the racetrack. But there was no doubt that Al Unser Jr. had a decade long rule as the King of Long Beach.
Leave a Reply