Safety first for Unser Jr.

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

"The IRL has offered me some rides. And I have turned them down because the best teams, the safest cars, the best-performing cars are in CART. And you know, the Indy 500 means a lot to me, but my life means more to me than Indy does," said Unser, a two-time Indy 500 winner.

Unser said that is why he drives CART cars for Roger Penske.

"They're the most technically advanced cars in both performance and safety. When you start talking speeds of over 200, over 170 mph, you start looking at things that are safe," Unser said.

Unser is among the big names of Championship Auto Racing Teams who skipped the Indy 500 for the second straight year because of a feud with the IRL, the 2-year-old invention of Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George.

In response to a question from the audience about whether he'd ever run the Indy 500 again, Unser said CART racers would return to Indy only in the cars they run on the CART circuit.

"The IRL has to change their rules. They have to allow our cars to run their race," Unser said.

Unser said it's just too expensive for racing teams to build cars for both series.

Despite his criticism of the IRL, Unser said he enjoyed watching the Indy 500 even though it was marred by rain and a confusing final lap when warning lights on the track flashed yellow while the flagman at the start-finish line waved green.

"I thought the race was a good race, but the officiating needed a little help," Unser said.

* HYDRO WRECK: Scott Pierce's boat flipped Thursday during qualifying for the Gold Cup Hydroplane races in Detroit. He was hospitalized in good condition but subsequently released with bumps and bruises. Pierce was going 185-190 mph when his boat, The Wellness Plan, flipped on a turn, race spokesman Paul Scurlock said. Pierce was freed and the boat sank, although it was towed to land later, Scurlock said.