Al Unser III

Alfred Unser III
Nationality	American
Born	(1982-10-23) October 23, 1982 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Related to	Al Unser, Jr. (father) Al Unser (grandfather)
Firestone Indy Lights Series career
Debut season	2004
Former teams	Vision Racing Brian Stewart Racing Playa Del Racing American Dream Motorsports
Starts	20
Wins	0
Poles	1
Best finish	8th in 2004
Previous series
2004–2006	Champ Car Atlantic Series

Alfred Richard Unser ("Just Al" or "Al Unser III") (born October 23, 1982) is a professional race car driver in the United States, who competed in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series through the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.

Family connections

Al Unser III is the son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, Jr., grandson of Al Unser, Sr., and grandnephew of Bobby Unser. Another granduncle, Jerry Unser, died in practice for the 1959 race. First-cousins-once-removed (his father's cousins) Robby and Johnny also drove in the Indianapolis 500.

Al driving an Infiniti Pro Series car at the Streets of St. Petersburg in 2005

During his young childhood years, he was often nicknamed "Mini Al" by the media and fans, all with the anticipation that he would undoubtedly follow in his family's footsteps to race. His grandfather (Al Unser, Sr.) became known as "Big Al," his father (Al Unser, Jr.) for a time became known as "Little Al," and Al III thus became known as "Mini Al." When starting his professional career, he has since 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 TV appearance was the 1992 Indy 500 when his father won. Unser III was seen greeting his father in victory circle on live TV.

Career biography

Unser began driving go karts at age 10, but stopped racing until after earning his driver's license at 16. After attending driving schools, Unser competed in the Skip Barber Western Racing Series in 2002, winning six races and earning "Rookie of the Year" honors. A year later, he posted four top-10 finishes in the Barber Dodge Series.

In 2004, Unser made his Toyota Atlantic Championship debut, running in four of the 12 series events. His best finish came in his final start of the season when he was eighth at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. He also ran in eight of twelve races in the Infiniti Pro Series, a feeder series to the Indy Racing League, and finished third five times.

Unser started the 2005 season in the Infiniti Pro Series, posting three top-10 finishes in the first four races. He then returned to the Toyota Atlantic series and finished the season 7th in championship, after running ten of twelve events and posting a best finish of 4th.

In 2006 he drove in 2 Champ Car Atlantic series events with a best finish of 19th, prior to funding issues seeing him losing his drive.

Unser III racing in the 2008 Firestone Freedom 100, his last Indy Lights race to date

Unser was signed to drive the Playa Del Racing #12 car in the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 2007 Indy Pro Series. He continued in the series also appearing in several other oval races. He was announced as Playa Del Racing's full-time driver in the #12 car for the 2008 season.

Controlling interest in Playa Del Racing was sold in May, 2008 to former Las Vegas restaurateur Eric Zimmerman, who renamed it American Dream Motorsports. After finishing in 11th position at Indianapolis, Unser was reportedly released by the new owner and replaced by Tony Turco, who brought sponsorship to the program. American Dream Motorsports posted an entry for the Milwaukee 100 on May 31, but the car never took to the track.

Unser's father drove for Galles Racing during his first Indianapolis 500 (1992) and CART PPG Cup championship (1990) years, and Al III works for Rick Galles' Chevrolet dealership.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2003	STP 11	MTY 18	MIL 14	LAG 6	POR 8	CLE 17	TOR 14	VAN 10	MDO 12	MTL 15	13th	38

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2004	Keith Duesenberg Racing	HMS	PHX	INDY	KAN 3	NSH 5	MIL 3	MIS 3	KTY 11	PPIR 6	CHI 3	FON	TXS 3					8th	252
2005	Brian Stewart Racing	HMS 12	PHX 8	STP 4	INDY 4	TXS	IMS	NSH	MIL	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON			12th	106
2007	Playa Del Racing	HMS	STP1	STP2	INDY 8	MIL 7	IMS1	IMS2	IOW 7	WGL1	WGL2	NSH 13	MDO	KTY	SNM1	SNM2	CHI	26th	93
2008	Playa Del Racing	HMS 13	STP1 12	STP2 6	KAN 10	INDY 11	MIL	IOW	WGL1	WGL2	NSH	MDO1	MDO2	KTY	SNM1	SNM2	CHI	25th	102

Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2004	P-1 Racing	LBH Ret	MTY	MIL	POR1	POR2	CLE	TOR	VAN					16th	42
	Brooks Associates Racing									ROA 9	DEN 10	MTL 8	LS
2005	Brooks Associates Racing	LBH	MTY	POR1 7	POR2 6	CLE1 4	CLE2 Ret	TOR 4	EDM 6	SJO 6	DEN 7	ROA 4	MTL 5	7th	198
2006	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	LBH 19	HOU Ret	MTY Wth	POR	CLE1	CLE2	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	42nd	2

References