Al Unser Jr.

Team Owner · 30 Jun 2004, 04:58 (Ref:1020964)

http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/158647-7122-092.html

Let's see. 2 Indy 500 wins. 3 IRL wins and 31 Cart wins. Very impressive career. Good luck to him !

marcus · 30 Jun 2004, 06:53 (Ref:1021015)

Oh wow , this is news.

Im kinda sad in a way Little Al no matter what anyone says about him has been a fantastic driver over the years and I for one will miss him.

his 2004 season hasnt been that great as we all know and I hope whatever he decides to do he does it well and enjoys is.

I guess he has his sons career to concentrate on now and what better coach could you want than Al.

All the best Al and thanks for all the memories

Now I wonder who will replace him at Patrick ????

rustyfan · 30 Jun 2004, 07:37 (Ref:1021048)

I'm not surprised he decided to retire, although I would have thought it would have come at the end of the year.

He most certainly hasn't got anything left to prove, so I think he should be happy with what he has accomplished. Not to mention he won a race last year, so he's going out while still being good (unlike some other drivers that cling on way, WAY too long - like Darrell Waltrip), even though the results this year don't reflect that.

climb · 30 Jun 2004, 07:43 (Ref:1021054)

Maybe he should have chosen Indy500 as a place to retire, like Michael Andretti did last year, anyways his time to call it a day has clear arrived.

I'm happy about his only unfulfilled dream, the one he privately confessed to Alex Zanardi, that of dieing in a crash at Indy.

Down F0rce · 30 Jun 2004, 08:10 (Ref:1021077)

He's had one awesome carrer, so much to be proud of. Thanks for all the memories, Little Al

macdaddy · 30 Jun 2004, 08:12 (Ref:1021080)

Al Unser Jr. has always been, and always will be, one of my all-time favourite drivers. I'll miss the King of Long Beach, and wish him well. Having had the opportunity to meet him several times, he was always extremely pleasant and obliging to me, the average fan.

Editted in a vain attempt to hide my own stupidity.

dironstarr · 30 Jun 2004, 08:48 (Ref:1021112)

Apparently it is going to be Jeff Simmons....

Kicking-back · 30 Jun 2004, 09:36 (Ref:1021156)

I remember Al's great days in 1994.

Sadly, since then he's been in decline and his reputation, for various reasons, has taken a hammering.

He'll always be a legend though - I just wish he'd made this decision a few years ago.

Kicking-back · 30 Jun 2004, 09:48 (Ref:1021168)

Jeff Simmons is the confirmed replacement.

BootsOntheSide · 30 Jun 2004, 10:10 (Ref:1021202)

Great to see Jeff get a ride which should prove reasonably competitive. He showed extrememly well at Indy.

As for Al, is it posisble that he hasn't 100% recovered from his off-season injuries, ro that he was low on motivation afte rthe 500, given that he hasn't got a chance of challenging for the title? He did very well at Kelley last year, even beating the identically-engined Scheckter, so maybe the speed is still there.

In any case, I hope retirement treats him well, he deserves better personal circumstances.

rustyfan · 30 Jun 2004, 10:38 (Ref:1021231)

On a personal level I think helping 'just Al' with his career will do Al Jr. good. That way he will still be around the world of racing that he no doubt still loves but without the strain that comes with being a driver in a high-profile championship.

Then again, watching your son race would, I reckon, be a different sort of strain altogether

Tim Northcutt · 30 Jun 2004, 14:16 (Ref:1021493)

I wish him well....he was always a great racer, and really fun to watch....

I plan to watch the local newscasts here at 11 a.m. and noon...and where will the 11 a.m. news conference to announce his retirement be held...where else??

Indianapolis Motor Speedway....a place that means more to him than any other racing venue on Earth....

There is not doubt that the emotions of the moment will overcome him, and my heart will go out to him...

Thanks, "Little Al," for many great years of watching you race...

We will miss you....

rush1 · 30 Jun 2004, 20:55 (Ref:1021844)

A great career for little Al. It would of also been nice to see him in F1 in the late 80's or early 90's. Hopefully we shall see his son in indy cars someday.

Jordi · 30 Jun 2004, 21:54 (Ref:1021911)

A great career for Al, but I'm sure he'd like to have had better years ever since 1999. It seemed that ever since his Elkhart Lake 1996 blowup all his luck went!

To be honest, I've only seen CART since 1997 and I know that the Al I saw is not the same that dominated racing in 1994. 2 titles, 2 Indy 500, 31 wins and loads of them in IROC as well, good history.

macdaddy · 30 Jun 2004, 23:38 (Ref:1021992)

Not to knock Al - I'd NEVER do that - but Nigel Bennett handed the 94 championship to Penske on a silver platter. In fact, that can't be seen as a knock at all - as he beat both Emmo and PT to that title. Not bad company.

JohnSSC · 30 Jun 2004, 23:51 (Ref:1021998)

On his day (and he a good number of them!) Little Al was second to none. A great talent, and much as I did not like him, I believe he would have done better in F1 than Michael. He was just plain old fast and adapted to any car very quickly.

It has been sad to see his life fall apart like it has, and I hope he is on his way to recovering personally and can enjoy watching his son.

brihev · 1 Jul 2004, 00:04 (Ref:1022004)

Al Jr was one of my favorite drivers. Anyone remember his start in the 1995 Daytona 500? He was running good but got knocked in a wreck.
He always had great battles with Dale in IROC.

thanks 'Opie'!

Brian
new to the board

GP Racer · 1 Jul 2004, 00:58 (Ref:1022024)

Welcome aboard brihev! Enjoy the forum!

rustyfan · 1 Jul 2004, 07:41 (Ref:1022139)

Welcome to the forum brihev

As for the topic at hand, the IndyStar now has an article about the announcement;

http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/159089-3350-188.html

Also contains some interesting information about the young Unser - making his IPS debut this weekend - as well as the young (Graham) Rahal and (Marco) Andretti, both working on their respective career.

gttouring · 1 Jul 2004, 11:43 (Ref:1022378)

good career al
too bad he fizzled a t the end and not cut it off like Gil Deferran has done.
i will reserve my bashing for how the mighty have fallen in respect to his skill that he possessed.
good luck al and take care

gti5notrkt · 1 Jul 2004, 12:20 (Ref:1022427)

Don't forget his illustrious off-track career in alcohol abuse, domestic violence and multiple wives taking him to the cleaners financially. Sure, the guy won a bunch of races including the so called 'big one', but how he handled himself off the track spoke volumes about what a jerk he actually was.

Indy champion, yes... someone you would want your daughter to bring home to meet...

He waited too long to quit. He should have hung it up on the side of the road in Indy after he smacked his girlfriend around....

my 0.02c

Jon.

Down F0rce · 1 Jul 2004, 13:06 (Ref:1022495)

And looks how be bounced back from his problems.

He dosen't get have the respect he deserves.

One of America's legends has just ended his carrer. Could be be a little more respectful from now on?

BootsOntheSide · 1 Jul 2004, 14:26 (Ref:1022575)

Quote:

Originally posted by gti5notrkt
Don't forget his illustrious off-track career in alcohol abuse, domestic violence and multiple wives taking him to the cleaners financially. Sure, the guy won a bunch of races including the so called 'big one', but how he handled himself off the track spoke volumes about what a jerk he actually was.

Indy champion, yes... someone you would want your daughter to bring home to meet...

He waited too long to quit. He should have hung it up on the side of the road in Indy after he smacked his girlfriend around....

my 0.02c

Jon.

I'm not sure it's even worth taht much. Lots of people can fall into circumstances like these - few can recover from the. Alcohol can be a problem for a lot of people, but he has it under control, and ex-wives looking for every penny they can get out of a rich man is nothing new.

2003 was his best season in years, he took consitant success for Kelley and was unlucky to lose the drive.

mountainstar · 2 Jul 2004, 03:41 (Ref:1023247)

Don't be surprised if he returns for future 500's.

Also Tony George stopped paying his $4 million dollar a year salary last year, so that probably took a lot of the shine off of hanging around.

His divorce seemed to do him in, whatever the reasons are they are not our business. So hopefully he can find happiness in whatever he does in the future and doesn't allow his problems to overwhelm him. There is so much good he can do in the racing world, so I just hope he doesn't go the other way and end up on a future episode of "COPS"- "Uh domestic disturbance at the Big Indy Trailer Park, it's that Unser guy again".

Maybe it's time to send Scott Goodyear packing and replace him with Unser. Unser would probably be a better balance for all of Paul Page's "WHOAS!".

marcus · 2 Jul 2004, 06:54 (Ref:1023326)

A question has just popped into my head (yes things like that happen every now and then )

Al Jnr has officially retired from the Indycar series , thats what the press release has stated.

Has he retired from driving full time or do you think he will take up a challenge elsewhere?

I know he has his son to look after and hopefully guide into a good racing career but will Jnr look at something like ALMS or something like that?

Just curious to know if you think his professional racing days are actually over or will he have a crack at something else ?

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