Al Unser Jr. snaps winless streak in Vegas

Saturday, April 22, 2000 | 5:29 a.m.

Al Unser Jr. won a battle of attrition and snapped a nearly five-year-long winless streak with a victory Saturday in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series Vegas Indy 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unser, who had to battle back from a lap down midway through the race, passed Scott Goodyear for the lead on lap 188 of the 208-lap race when Goodyear's Dallara/Oldsmobile began belching smoke.

Unser beat pole-sitter Mark Dismore, the only other car to finish on the lead lap, to the checkered flag by 12.531 seconds. Rookie Sam Hornish Jr. was third.

The win was Unser's first in three starts in the Indy Racing League and the 32nd in his career, but his first since 1995 when he was driving for Marlboro Team Penske in the rival CART series.

Unser, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, called the victory one of the most satisfying of his 18-year career.

"You're only as good as your last race, so it ranks right up there with the best of them," an emotional Unser said. "It has been a long, long dry spell for whatever reason, but that's the way it has been. I just have to thank the good Lord above for kind of smiling our way today because luck hasn't really been my best thing in the last few years and today we got some with Scott Goodyear's engine going away and so on."

Although he wouldn't say it, Unser had to be pleased that he finally was able to prove to his detractors that he did, in fact, still have what it takes to win races.

"The only satisfaction is I've been stuck on this number 31 (wins) for quite a long time and now it's 32, so I've finally got that monkey off my back," he said. "I didn't listen to anybody -- everybody had their own comments about me from one end of the spectrum to the other and the people that really know are my bosses.

"There are people out there that have never given up on me and (team owner) Rick Galles is one of them. Life has its funny twists and turns and every now and then you get a curve thrown at you -- it just has been a really long curve that I've been on and now I'm glad it's over."

For Galles, it was his first win in open-wheel racing since 1993 -- when Unser drove for him in the CART series.

"I can't tell you how we feel," Galles said. "I think I've gone through a gauntlet of emotions from yesterday when we ran 191 mph in qualifying to winning the race today."

After taking the lead with 20 laps remaining, Unser said he never eased up in the closing laps.

"I had my head down all the way to the checkered flag because so many things happen and I've been so close so many times," he said. "The last time I was in the lead on the last lap, the car didn't make it around. That was at Elkhart Lake in '96, and the thing broke on me before I got back around. White flags don't mean nothing -- it's the checkered that counts -- that's when the fat lady starts singing."

Dismore had arguably the fastest car on the track Saturday, but fell to the back of the lead lap on lap 155 when he pitted under green.

"It's just a shame that on the one pit stop that we made, we were rolling the dice," Dismore said. "If it would have worked, we would have been heroes ... as it worked out, we're second place and that's not all bad."

Like many in the crowd estimated at 18,000, Dismore said he was happy to see Unser back in victory lane after nearly five years.

"I'm happy for Little Al," Dismore said. "Little Al is a hell of a driver and he has been going to a gunfight with a knife (the past few years) and now he has a gun again and it's really good to see. He deserved this."

Hornish earned his best career finish in only his third Indy Racing start.

"It was a great day," Hornish said. "I actually came out here just trying to finish in the top ten and stay on the lead lap ... so this was a great day -- we never expected this."

Another Indy Racing rookie, Jeret Schroeder, finished fourth and Robbie Buhl was fifth. Robby McGehee, Billy Boat, Tyce Carlson, Greg Ray and Jaques Lazier rounded out the top 10.

There were 11 lead changes among seven drivers in the race. Dismore led the most laps -- 92 -- in a race that was slowed by seven caution periods for 47 laps. The average speed of the race was 136.691 mph.