Alfred Richard Unser (born October 23, 1982) is an American former professional race car driver. Unser has competed in the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

series and Toyota Atlantics Championship. He is the fourth generation of the famous Unser family. Al Richard Unser is the son of

Al Unser Jr. Alfred Unser Jr. (born April 19, 1962), nicknamed "Little Al", "Al Junior", or simply "Junior", is a retired American race car driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. History Unser was born into a racing family in Albuquerque, New Mexic ...

, and grandson of Al Unser Sr. Due to his family connections in auto racing, he has sometimes been known as "Al Unser III" or "Just Al." He is currently a Realtor in Albuquerque at Coldwell Banker Legacy.

Family connections

Al Richard Unser is the son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner

, grandson of four-time Indy winner Al Unser Sr., and grandnephew of three-time Indy winner

Bobby Unser Robert William Unser (February 20, 1934 – May 2, 2021) was an American automobile racer. At his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, he had the fourth most IndyCar Series wins at 35 (behind his brother Al, A. J. Fo ...

. Another granduncle,

Jerry Unser Jeremy Michael Unser Jr. (November 15, 1932 – May 17, 1959) was an American racecar driver. He was the 1957 USAC Stock Car champion. Jerry was the first of the Unser family to compete at Indianapolis. In his only start, in 1958, he was ca ...

, drove in the 1958 race but died from injuries suffered in a crash in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. First-cousins-once-removed (Al Unser Jr.'s cousins) Robby and

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

also drove in the Indianapolis 500. Often considered the third generation of the famous Unser racing family, Al Richard Unser is technically the fourth generation of racers to come out of the family. His great-grandfather Jerry Sr., and Jerry's brother

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

, also were racers, but neither drove in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. During his young childhood years, he was often nicknamed "Mini Al" by the media and fans, all with the expectation that he might follow in his family's footsteps to race professionally. However, as a child, Unser had reservations about becoming a race car driver. For superstitious reasons, his father (Al Unser Jr.) insisted he not be named with the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

"III". By that time both Al Sr. and Al Jr. were stars on the Indy car circuit. Al Sr. was becoming known by the nickname "Big Al." Al Jr. for a time was known as "Little Al," thus Al Richard Unser became known for a time as "Mini Al." As he got older and reached his teenage years, he decided to eschew the somewhat unflattering "Mini" nickname, and became known as "Just Al." When starting his professional career, he abandoned any sort of nickname, and has insisted on being referred to as ''Just Al'' (i.e., Al Unser), or by his full name, Al Richard Unser. His first widely-noticed television appearance was at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 at age nine when his father won the race. Unser was seen greeting his father in victory circle. He also posed in official photos with his father and grandfather when Al Jr. won the Indy 500 for the second time in 1994. Unser guest-starred on an episode of ''

Home Improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), ...

'' alongside his father and grandfather in 1997.

Career biography

Al Richard Unser began driving

go karts Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

at age ten, but stopped racing until after earning his driver's license at age sixteen. After attending driving schools, Unser competed in the

Skip Barber John "Skip" Barber III (born November 16, 1936) is an American retired racecar driver who is most famous for previously owning and founding the Skip Barber Racing Schools. Driving career Barber started racing in 1958 while studying at Harvard ...

Western Racing Series in 2002, winning six races and earning "Rookie of the Year" honors. A year later, he posted four top-ten finishes in the 2003 Barber Dodge Pro Series.

2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Unser made his Toyota Atlantics debut, running in four events. His best finish was an 8th place at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Unser also ran in eight races in the

Infiniti Pro Series Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

. He posted five third place finishes, and won the pole position at

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Around that same time, Unser's father

temporarily retired from driving to help with his career.

2005

Unser posted three top-ten finishes in the first four races of the Infinity Pro Series season, including a 4th place at the

Freedom 100 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The event was a support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and since 2 ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. He then returned to the Toyota Atlantics, finishing the season 7th in points. He ran ten of twelve events with a best finish of 4th. At the Indy Lights races at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Unser competed against fellow third-generation driver

Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American auto racing driver who drives the No. 98 car for Bryan Herta Autosport, Andretti Herta Autosport part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the third generation of the famous Andretti racin ...

of the famous rival Andretti family. It was the only two times that Al and Marco raced together.

2006

In 2006 Unser drove in two Atlantics series events, but lost his ride to funding issues with the team.

2007

Unser was signed to drive for

Playa Del Racing American Dream Motorsports was a racing team that competed in the Indy Racing League's Indy Lights series and the IndyCar Series' Indianapolis 500 owned by Eric Zimmerman and William T. Kelsey. Until May 2008 it was known as Playa Del Racing and was ...

in the

for

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. He drove in three other oval races, posting three top-tens in the four events.

2008

For 2008, Unser was announced as the full-time driver in the #12 car for Playa Del Racing in

. After five races, controlling interest in the team was sold to former Las Vegas restaurateur Eric Zimmerman, who renamed it American Dream Motorsports. After finishing 11th position at

, Unser was reportedly released by the new owner and replaced by Tony Turco, who brought sponsorship to the program. The team posted an entry for the Milwaukee 100 on May 31, but the car never took to the track. Unser's father (Al Jr.) drove during several seasons for

Galles Racing Galles Racing is a former auto racing team owned by Rick Galles that competed in the CART series, Can-Am and the Indy Racing League. The team won the 1990 CART championship as well as the 1992 Indianapolis 500 with driver Al Unser Jr. The team ...

, and Al Richard works for Rick Galles' Chevrolet dealership.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Indy Lights

Atlantic Championship

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unser, Al Richard 1982 births American people of Swiss-German descent Living people Racing drivers from Albuquerque, New Mexico Racing drivers from New Mexico Indy Lights drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Barber Pro Series drivers Unser family Conquest Racing drivers