Longtime driver Al Unser Jr. enjoying his 'outlaw' status

He wants to drive as many race cars as possible this season.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- When Al Unser Jr. decided to run the Indianapolis 500 again last month after nearly two years of watching the sport he loves, he really didn't know what to expect.
"I was wondering if I was going to be excited, if I was going to enjoy it, or if I was going to go, 'Nah, this is too fast,' " he said. "But it was too slow. I wanted to go faster."
And so he will -- whenever and wherever he can hitch a ride. And it won't matter what the vehicle looks like or how much horsepower the engine puts out.
"My goal is to drive as many different race cars as I possibly can," Unser said. "I'm not under contract with anybody. I'm a true outlaw. I have a lot of opportunities. I'm not a car owner, I'm not an engineer, and I don't want to be. I'm a driver. That's what I spent my whole life doing, and I want to keep doing it. You walk away, enjoy watching it, but I learned different."
Unser already has raced again since Indy. Last Saturday, he drove a Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype for more than two hours through the rain-swept Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, helping Synergy Racing to a ninth-place finish in the Rolex Sports Car Series race, its best showing in nine races this season.
No problem
And it didn't seem to matter that Little Al never had been behind the wheel of that class of race car. He passed a lot of rivals in a car that was set up to run in dry conditions.
"Sorry I wasn't quicker, but we're in the top 10. That's a good start," Unser said after driving the final stint.
"He did a heckuva job for us, and he's smooth as silk in traffic," said Brad Frisselle, whose sons, Brian and Burt, were Unser's co-drivers.
So what prompted the 44-year-old Unser to end what he assured everybody was his permanent retirement when he announced it at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 2004 after battling alcoholism and several years of family problems?
"He was watching every single race, not just the IRL. Whatever was on TV -- 'I can do that, I can do that. What a mistake! I can't believe he just did that.' He was driving me out of my mind," said Unser's wife, Gina. "These races last a long time on TV, and he was screaming at the TV."
"Near the end of last summer, I was yelling at the TV one day and she came walking in and said, 'You need to quit this and go get in the car.' So that's what we did," said Unser, who broke his pelvis in an all-terrain vehicle accident in 2003.
His dad celebrated the return with a practical joke in a commercial for the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque, N.M.
"All's we did is take and rerun the tape. He said he would never be back racing again, and there he is racing," said Al Unser Sr., a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. "He's the one who made the statement. You've got to eat your words sometimes."
Good idea
Big Al, who beat his son by one point for the 1985 IndyCar title, likes the idea, though.
"I think it's good. He's not old enough to quit yet," Al Sr. said. "He still has the ability. I hope he does good. You never know. If he gets with a good team, he'll be good. You have to get everything going the right way."
Before retiring, Little Al had things going his way for a long time. He earned 34 career victories in 327 combined starts in the Indy Racing League and CART from 1982-2004, winning the Indy 500 twice and the 24 Hours of Daytona in consecutive years. He also won the CART championship in 1990 with Galles Racing and in 1994 with Penske Racing, capturing an amazing eight wins in 16 starts.
And since 1980, he's the only driver from outside NASCAR to win the International Race of Champions series, capturing titles in 1986 and 1988 and tying late NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt with what was a record 11 race wins until current Nextel Cup star Mark Martin eclipsed it last year.
Moving up
At last month's Indy 500, Unser started 27th driving for Dreyer & amp; Reinbold Racing, steadily moved up, then was taken out in a crash on lap 145 after running over a piece of debris, and finished 24th.
"He put his team together at the last minute, and he was doing really good," Gina Unser said. "It was heartbreaking because you wanted him to finish. No matter where, you wanted him to finish."
Unser may have been disheartened, but he's far from discouraged. Even if he doesn't get a full-time ride down the road, he has his dad's legacy for inspiration.
"His last full season in Indy cars was 1985, and he won the championship," Little Al said. "In 1986, he didn't have a ride, but at the Indy 500 he did. In 1987, he didn't have a ride, got one, and won the race. He retired in 1994, and the only race he ran from 1986-94 was the Indy 500."
And no matter what happens, there's at least one positive at home.
"He's a kid again," Gina Unser said. "It's so cool."
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