Another Unser Behind the Wheel

When Al Unser, grandson of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al and son of two-time 500 winner Al Jr., was 9 or 10 and hanging around his dad’s garage, someone asked him, as a third-generation Al Unser, what he wanted to be called, “Al the third,” or “Littlest Al,” or what.

“Just Al,” he replied, and Just Al it has been.

Just Al is 21 now and about to become a fourth-generation professional racer, driving in the Toyota Atlantic series. He will make his debut with P-1 Racing in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.

“I’m really excited about jumping up into Toyota Atlantics,” said the youngest Unser, who had planned to drive in the Barber Dodge series only to have it canceled. “I’ll be l struggling a little bit in the first couple of races, but I hope to become a contender toward the end of the year.”

He will be making his debut on the Long Beach street circuit where his father won a record six times in CART Indy cars.

“I think Toyota Atlantic is the next step in the process of what Al is trying to do,” his father said in a statement. “He ran in Barber Dodge last year, and I along with my father feel that the Toyota Atlantic series is the proper [place] to get more laps and some seat time.”

The P-1 team is owned by Bill Fickling, a former racing rival of Just Al’s father, and Robin Yount, a baseball Hall of Famer and now bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Toyota Atlantic race is scheduled for April 18 as a companion feature to the Champ Car main event.