Unser Jr. to make permanent residence in Henderson

Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 | 8:54 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- In a continuing effort to separate himself from his troubled past -- which led him last year to seek treatment for alcohol dependency -- two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. has decided to live in Henderson on a full-time basis.

Unser has put up for sale his nearly 10,000-square-foot home on 27 acres in Albuquerque and moved into the 4,650-square-foot Henderson house he purchased in May 2000.

"I'm going to be living there fulltime when I'm not on the road," Unser said Sunday before the IRL Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway.

Unser, who was born and raised in Albuquerque, said he was selling his home because it contained too many bad memories. Unser went through a bitter divorce from his first wife and is estranged from three of his four children.

Unser, 41, said he has been sober since his July 9, 2002 arrest in Indianapolis following a night of drinking. Unser allegedly punched his girlfriend and left her on the side of a highway and was arrested later that morning for domestic battery.

Although charges were never filed in the case, Unser checked himself into a rehabilitation center and missed two IRL races.

Unser overcame a bad pit stop early in Sunday's race and finished ninth. It was his 10th finish in the top 10 in 15 races this season.

"The Corteco Special ran great today, we just didn't have the speed to get all the way up front," Unser said. "We had one minor hiccup on our first pit stop when the refueling safety valve closed on us and even though it was no one's fault, it set us back a bit."

Unser earned his lone victory of the season at Texas Motor Speedway in June. The IRL IndyCar Series concludes its season there on Oct. 12.

Hearn last week was named to replace former IRL champion and 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier in the No. 91 Hemelgarn entry for the final two races of the season.

Hearn started 21st in the 22-car field and had moved up to 16th place midway through the race when his car developed handling problems.

"The car actually started off OK -- we had a little bit of understeer and we kind of fixed it and after my second stop," Hearn said "I was running OK and moving forward and then all of a sudden it went loose and it never changed.

"I don't know if we broke a shock but we had something wrong because no matter what I did in the car or what (the team) did in the pit stops ... it just never went away. It was pretty disappointing."

Taylor, who led all 50 laps, posted his seventh victory in 11 races this season.