Al Unser III Blazes His Own Path On and Off the Track
Scion of Famous Racing Family Mounts Challenge for 2008 Indy Lights Title
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
 ADM's Al Unser III at IMS Open Test in April.
Photo: AllanBrewer |
American Dream Motorsports’ Al Unser III lives out west and has dreams as grand as the vast, blue Nevada sky.
“It would be big, really big,” he said of racing someday in the Indianapolis 500, the fabled race on Memorial Day his father, uncle and grandfather have won multiple times.
First things first, though, for the twenty-five year old racer as he competes in his fourth, and only full, season of Firestone Indy Lights racing.
Al put a tenth-place finish in the record books two weekends ago at Kansas Speedway, after pulling off a season's-best sixth result at a challenging St. Petersburg Grand Prix race two in April.
The chase for the 2008 Firestone Firehawk Cup finds him in ninth place overall after a quarter of the season is complete.
“Things are going great,” he said on Wednesday (May 7th) in assessment of his Indy Lights campaign to date.
“The Ethos car is running well,” he continued. “We did pretty well at the season opener, and then St. Pete was a lot of fun; definitely the second race had its fair share of chaos going on.”
“It was good to be back at Kansas. And other than that, you know, we've just been finishing races and that's what's kept me so good in points.”
Freedom 100 at the Speedway Looms Large in Unser's Plans
Little more than two weeks must pass before the cars and drivers roll into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway paddock for their annual racing V-8 powered rock’n’roll thunderstorm around the legend-making 2.5 mile oval.
The Indianapolis Carb Day (May 23rd) Freedom 100 reigns by most accounts as the biggest date on the Indy Lights calendar, the trophy the teams most covet year-in and year-out.
The track holds a special place in Unser’s heart, too.
“I was just there (at Indianapolis),” he said. “I flew back to Henderson (Nevada) last night.”
“The Speedway was honoring my family for what they have done there,” he added. “It means so much to be able to win at that track.”
“It's a really fun place to race and it's very challenging. It's unlike any other place that I've been to, and to win there with what my family has done would be huge.”
The challenge comes not only in the form of a narrow ribbon of asphalt, something Al acknowledged in evaluating the competition within the Indy Lights series in recent years.
“The competition level has gone up so much, especially this year,” he said. “We've got the highest car count that I've ever seen with 25, 26 cars at some events. Everybody has to step up.”
“At Kansas the whole field qualified within a second and a half. It just makes it all that much more challenging and the decisions you make have so much more impact.”
Al Finds His Own Way Around the RaceTrack and on the Road
Though he has expert counsel close at hand, Al likes to make his own way around the race track.
He picks up tips from dad and his grandfather, Al Unser Sr., but prefers to earn his racing chops on his own terms. He’s even particular about his endorsements, including a self-test of sponsor Ethos Fuel Reformulator’s mileage and clean emissions performance-enhancement product.
“Ethos Fuel Reformulator is a deal you put in your gas tank and in your crank case, and it gets you better fuel mileage,” he said. “It also cleans up your emissions.”
“My dad and I got some of the product and took it home and tested it in our cars at home. It works. We are getting better fuel mileage, and I've seen an improvement with how long I get to go on a tank of gas, which these days is a big help.”
The team’s recent change in ownership and name (formerly Playa del Racing) assures that Al’s support staff of chief mechanic Rick Duman and crew will continue intact.
“I’m excited about the new relationship with our owner Eric Zimmerman,” he said. “This is a great time to be in open-wheel and I’m looking forward to the championship hunt the rest of the year.”
Comments