Life, racing looking up for Al Unser Jr.

Mike Harris

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

The black cloud that has followed Al Unser Jr. around since 1995 is finally lifting.

"I'm starting my second life," a grinning Unser said hours before driving to his first race victory in 16 months on Sunday at Gateway International Raceway. "My personal life is reborn. I'm really enjoying everything about life at this point."

Things began falling apart for the second-generation Indy-car driver when as the defending champion in 1995 he failed to qualify for his beloved Indianapolis 500.

His relationship with the elite Penske Racing team in CART deteriorated quickly after that, along with the team's performance. He broke his leg in a crash at the beginning of the season opener in Homestead, Fla., and, by the end of 1999, Unser and team owner Roger Penske had decided on an amicable parting, with the driver looking for renewed success with a move to the rival Indy Racing League.

Meanwhile, Unser had become embroiled in a divorce from his wife, Shelley. The biggest blow came in February 1999 when his then 12-year-old daughter, Cody, was paralyzed from the chest down by a rare nerve disease called transverse myelitis.

"That was certainly the worst year of my life," the 39-year-old Unser said. "Cody was ill, I broke my leg again and we weren't winning."

Moving to the IRL, which has the Indy 500 as its crown jewel and was much in need of a big name driver, appeared to be an elixir for Unser. It also rejoined him with team owner Rick Galles, who brought Unser to Indy-car racing and helped him to the first of his two Indy 500 wins.

His first season in the IRL was definitely less stressful on the track, although not much more successful.

Little Al owns 33 open-wheel victories - second only to CART star and longtime friend Michael Andretti's 41 among active drivers - heading into the inaugural Delphi Indy 300 on Sunday at the new Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

Wins have come sparingly in recent years, though. He did win early in the 2000 season in Las Vegas, but a pair of thirds were his only other top-five finishes and Unser wound up ninth in the points. Until last Sunday, his only top-fives this year had been a third in Richmond and fourth two weeks ago in Sparta, Ky.

"It has been a big learning curve for me and for the whole team," he said.

Moreover, his off-track problems were continuing, with litigation with Shelley continuing and Cody learning to cope with her illness.

That made driving a race car his refuge instead of his joy, the way it always had been.

"I was begging to get into the race car to get away from the world," said Unser, who admitted the outside problems were also affecting his racing.

"Running at this level takes focus," Unser said. "It's your life and you have to give it 100 percent. If you show up with only 80 percent mental focus off the track, you're only getting 100 percent of that 80 percent on track."

Now, though, the divorce settlement is nearing completion, stem-cell research has given Cody and her family new hope that she will walk again, and Unser is ready to get back to winning races and chasing championships.

"Every day is a little bit better than the day before," he said. "It's a step up instead of a step down.

Galles has known Unser for more nearly 30 years and he sees the difference.

"I think Al's getting ready to have one of those second part of his career runs like his dad and Mario Andretti did," the owner said. "They both had super starts to their career and then a little lull before it picked up again.

"Al has put a lot of his personal things behind him now, and our team is getting it together."

Galles blames himself for Unser's slow start this season, mostly because of his decision to try to run a three-car team.

"That was a mistake," Galles said. "Now we're concentrating on a two-car team and Al is starting to really understand the IRL. Even last year, I saw spurts of brilliance, but circumstances, outside things always seemed to get in the way."

Unser smiled when told what Galles had said.

"I've been racing a long time and I still love coming to the race track and getting into that race car every day that I can," he said. "This is a good team and I think I can still get the job done."

Then he went out and won a race.