Lil’ Al back where he belongs

Mike Harris

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 9:10 a.m.

Nothing seems more natural than Al Unser Jr. driving again in the Indianapolis 500.

Unser is part of a family whose name is practically synonymous with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now, he's back, hoping his return to the Memorial Day weekend classic is nothing like his departure.

Talk about going out quietly!

In 1995, driving for the elite Team Penske, Unser became the first reigning Indy champion to fail to qualify.

"It's the lowest I ever got in my whole life," he said. "My depression got the strongest ever. I walked around the ranch (in New Mexico) like my head had been cut off."

Then Penske and the rest of CART's teams began a boycott of the 500 after it became the centerpiece of the rival Indy Racing League.

But that's no longer a problem for Unser, who has moved from CART to the IRL. He's again driving for his old friend, Rick Galles.

"We probably wouldn't be here with a chance to win Indy again if it wasn't for Rick," Unser said. "It really feels like old times."

Unser ran full time for Galles twice in CART, from 1983-84 and 1999-93. Their association produced 16 victories, including Lil' Al's his first Indy win in 1992.

Strangely, the catalyst for renewal of their professional relationship was a spate of rumors.

Galles was tired of the struggles of keeping a race team going.

"I was ready to go to the ranch, raise some cattle and do some cutting horse stuff," he said. "And lo and behold, here I am together with Al, which I never thought would happen again."

The owner said he was watching a CART race on TV last summer when the announcer mentioned the rumor that Unser and Galles were talking about getting back together.

"I hadn't heard the rumor, so I called Al and asked him if we had met," Galles said, laughing. "Next thing I know, we're talking about how we could get back together. We plotted out a way."

The team got off to a decent start in the season-opener in January in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where Unser was charging toward the front, showing some of his old fire, when his engine blew after 64 of 200 laps at Walt Disney World Speedway.

But the 37-year-old driver isn't worried about it.

"We're definitely confident with what we've got," Unser said. "Franz Weiss is the best engine builder in the business. We just had a hiccup in Orlando. That's all it was."

The IRL has two more races - March 19 in Avondale, Ariz., and April 22 in Las Vegas - before Indy. But Unser's focus really is on the big show in May.

"Every day we're thinking about getting back to the speedway," Unser said. "That's the way it's been for years. As we get closer, things are getting more exciting."

It hasn't been that way for a while.

Things just kept getting worse for Unser, who reached the zenith of his career in 1994, when he won Indy and easily took the CART title.

Coming up short in Indy qualifying the next year was only the start of a steep slide in his professional and personal life.

He hasn't won a pole since 1994, and the last of Unser's 31 career victories came in 1995. He and Roger Penske, his team owner and friend, decided to split at the end of 1999.

But that returned Unser to Indy, where Lil Al's father is one of a trio of four-time winners of the 500. Al Sr.'s brother, Bobby, won the race three times. Two victories by Lil' Al gives the Unsers nine at the Brickyard.

But the historic speedway also has been a source of grief to the family.

Jerry, a brother to Al Sr. and Bobby, was killed in a crash on the 2 1/2 -mile oval while practicing for the 1959 race.

Al Jr. also has had problems off the track in recent years, especially in 1999. He was divorced from his longtime wife, Shelley, and had to deal with daughter Cody's partial paralysis from a rare virus.

"When I found out about Cody's illness, it was the only time I've ever been more depressed than I was when I was when we missed Indy in 1995," Unser said. "But she's doing great and she's going to walk again. She's my inspiration."