Unser excited about switch

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1999 | 10:25 a.m.

Although many staunch CART observers might disagree, Al Unser Jr. said he does not see his move to the rival Indy Racing League as a step down in class.

In fact, Unser countered, the potential of the 4-year-old IRL may be brighter than CART's.

"I'm very excited about it," Unser said Monday during a break in filming for a commercial for Firestone Tires at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I see the IRL gaining popularity and really I see CART as kind of leveling off in America, if not dropping a little bit. Now I find myself in a very unique opportunity to be on the ground floor of something that's very exciting and a series that's on the upswing.

"With this series, I feel that the IRL really has gained momentum and ... hopefully will become the number one racing series in the country and bring Indy car racing back to where it was in the '60s and '70s and '80s."

But the facts suggest that the IRL and open wheel racing in general are struggling.

In recent days, the IRL lost series sponsor Pep Boys while PPG Industries, CART's primary associate sponsor, has left that series. The IRL is down to just 10 races and because attendance is falling, the league essentially is paying to race at Atlanta and here in Las Vegas next year, instead of the other way around.

But Unser said the IRL may be a better fit at this stage in his career.

While CART runs 20 races, including five outside the United States, Unser said the IRL, which runs exclusively on ovals and entirely in the United States, more adequately suits his lifestyle now that he is approaching his 38th birthday.

"I feel CART has peaked in its popularity in America and it's going more and more worldwide," he said. "(CART has) drivers from Brazil and all over Europe and that's where I think CART's venues are going to be added in the future -- out of the country.

"I'll be 38 in April, I have four kids and I've been doing this since 1978. Although I love the racing, the traveling starts wearing on you. I've been to these places now, Brazil and Europe and Japan, and I've seen it and I've done it and now I'm kind of wanting to spend more time with my family. The 10-race schedule, and staying in America, fits in perfectly."

Although Unser maintained he could have remained in CART after team owner Roger Penske decided not to renew his contract for next season, he said the opportunity to return to the Indianapolis 500 next year was the main reason he chose to sign a five-year contract with IRL team owner Rick Galles.

While it now appears as if several CART teams will compete at Indy next year for the first time since 1995, Unser said he does not regret electing to join the rival IRL.

"I talked to some (CART) teams, just like I talked to some IRL teams and some NASCAR teams, but really my big focus was getting back to Indianapolis," Unser, a two-time winner of the Indy 500, said. "I didn't want to wait or even take a chance that the car owners in CART, maybe they will go, maybe they won't go to Indy.

"I made it plain and simple: I wanted to go to Indianapolis and that's a big thorn in (CART's) claw right now. There was no guarantee of them going to Indy and the split is going to continue, so I just don't want to miss Indy any more."

Unser, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 and 1994, also has a little unfinished business at the Brickyard. After winning the race in 1994, he failed to make the 33-car field in 1995, his last trip to the famed Speedway.

"The big main push is going to be to make the show this year," he said. "We used to just think about winning the race, but this year it's going to be make the show and then we'll think about the race."

Unser, who won 31 races during his 17-year CART career, is coming off what he called the worst season he ever had in his professional career -- a season in which he failed to win a race for the fourth consecutive year, broke his leg in the season-opening race and dealt with the illness of his daughter, Cody, and an ongoing divorce.

But Unser said all that is in the past -- his daughter continues to improve and he said he expects her to make a full recovery from tranverse myelitis -- and he claims he is every bit as a good a driver today as he was a decade ago.

"When you get in that car and you push that throttle down, it puts you back in your seat, it grabs your attention right away," Unser said. "With my personal life and all that sort of thing, it has made it tough. I feel that racing is a 24-hour business and if you're not thinking about it 24 hours a day, then you're losing out somewhere.

"With my little girl's illness and my broken leg at the first race of the season, it definitely put a hamper on things and made it really my worst season I've ever had. But I really feel that we're on to new and better things and the water that's gone under the bridge, I just need to learn from it and get down the road."