Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Young Unser unsure if he’ll stay in Infiniti Pro Series

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Coming off a third-place finish in his Indy Racing League Menards Infiniti Pro Series debut, Al Unser is busy preparing for Saturday's IPS race at Nashville Superspeedway.

But Unser, the 19-year-old son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Henderson resident Al Unser Jr., said he isn't sure whether he will remain in the IRL's developmental series or return to the Toyota Atlantic Championship, the Champ Car World Series' feeder series.

Unser made his first start in the Toyota Atlantic series in Long Beach in April but was involved in a first-lap accident and finished 21st. The team for which he was driving, P-1 Racing, has not been on the track since because of a lack of sponsorship.

Unser was signed by Keith Duesenberg Racing the week before the July 3 Infiniti Pro Series race at Kansas Speedway, where he turned in a podium finish despite a limited amount of time in the car.

"Right now, we're in negotiations with Keith Duesenberg and the Western Union Speed Team," Unser said Tuesday. "We're looking to see if we're just going to do a couple more (races) or if we're going to try to continue to do the rest of the season."

Either way, Unser said he would like to return to the Toyota Atlantic series -- at least on a part-time basis -- and gain some valuable experience on road courses.

"I still want to jump into a Toyota Atlantic car and go do some more road racing because I believe the IRL and the Infiniti Pro Series (are) going to go road racing next year and that's definitely an aspect that I kind of have to prepare for."

"To be honest, I enjoy the no-testing situation," Fernandez said. "I don't particularly like testing; I like more racing ... so I think the way they have it right now with very limited testing is great.

"It doesn't take too long to learn the ovals -- it takes a lot more time to learn a road course. I love the two-day events. I think it's more efficient for everybody."

After a slow start in his first two IRL races, Fernandez has posted four straight top-7 finishes and is 12th in points despite missing the first race of the IRL season.

Patrick Carpentier finished third in Toronto and is third in the championship, 35 points behind series leader Sebastien Bourdais; defending series champion Paul Tracy is fourth in points after a fifth-place finish Sunday; Alex Tagliani is fifth in points after a seventh-place effort; and 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser is sixth in points after a second-place showing Sunday.

The Champ Car World Series is off this week but returns to Canada July 25 for the Molson Indy Vancouver in British Columbia. Tracy won last year's race on the 1.78-mile temporary street course.

Champ Car announced last week that it would stage a 300-mile race on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval on Sept. 25.

Kinser holds a 64-point lead over Lasoski in the battle for the WoO championship. The series resumes tonight at Hartford Speedway Park in Hartford, Mich.