Unser was born into a racing family in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the son of Al Unser and the nephew of Bobby Unser, both Indianapolis 500 winners themselves. The Unser family has won the Indy 500 a record nine times.
By the age of eleven, Unser was racing sprint cars. After high school, he was already in the World of Outlaws series of sprint car racing. He won the Super Vee title in 1981 and the Can-Am title in 1982.
In 1982, Unser made his debut on the CART circuit. He suffered personal tragedy when his sister Debbie was killed in a dune buggy accident. A year later he competed in his first Indianapolis 500, finishing ninth. Hours after the race ended, Unser Jr. was issued a two-lap penalty by chief steward Thomas W. Binford for passing two cars under caution with less than forty laps to go, as well as blocking eventual winner Tom Sneva from passing his father with less than twenty laps to go. The penalty dropped him from an original finish of ninth to tenth. Despite being lauded for his performance as a rookie, Unser Jr. narrowly lost the rookie of the year award to Teo Fabi.
Unser continued racing on the CART circuit, becoming one of the series' rising stars. He finished second in the CART championship point standings in 1985, losing to his father by just one point. He began competing in the IROC championship in 1986, winning that championship with two victories in four races. At the age of 24, Unser was the youngest IROC champion ever. He won the 1986 and 1988 IROC championships, the final IndyCar driver to win an IROC championship. Unser won the 24 Hours of Daytona, also at age 24, for the first time in 1986 and again in 1987.
Unser continued to improve on the CART circuit, finishing fourth in the points standings in 1986, third in 1987, second in 1988, and finally winning the series for the first time in 1990. In 1989, Unser was on the verge of winning his first Indianapolis 500, but while battling with Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead the two touched wheels and Unser spun, hitting the wall and ending his chances. The race is remembered for a remarkable show of sportsmanship, as Little Al climbed out of his wrecked racecar and gave Fittipaldi the "thumbs up" as he drove by under caution. Unser had his day at Indianapolis in 1992, defeating Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.
During the off-season he drove in the 1993 Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports, finishing 36th in his only NASCAR start. He ran well in the race, running with the lead pack all day, until a late-race crash with Kyle Petty and Bobby Hillin Jr. Unser also tested a Williams F1 car but never competed in the series.
In 1994, Unser again won at Indianapolis, this time with Penske Racing. His teammates were Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy. Unser turned in a dominant season-long performance, winning eight of sixteen races on his way to his second CART championship, and was named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year that year.
In 1995 Unser, along with teammate Emerson Fittipaldi, failed to qualify at Indianapolis, and he would later point to this as the trigger event for his descent into alcoholism and the breakup of his marriage. He finished second to Jacques Villeneuve in CART championship points in 1995, and fourth in 1996 despite having a chance of winning the championship until the end of the season.
Unser ranked 13th in 1997, 11th in 1998, and 21st in 1999, not helped by the fact that he had to sit out two races after breaking his leg in the season-opener at Miami in a first-lap accident. His decline in performance coincided with the Penske team's struggles with their in-house chassis, Mercedes engines, and Goodyear tires, which were being abandoned by most teams in favour of Firestones. Team Penske began abandoning the maligned in-house Penske chassis for customer Lola chassis during the 1999 season. By the end of 1999, Unser and Penske parted ways, and Penske replaced Unser and Gonzalo Rodríguez with Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran.
Unser won a total of 31 races during his seventeen seasons in CART. His career win total including IRL stands at 34, the sixth-most all-time in American open-wheel racing as of 2013.
Unser joined the budding Indy Racing League for the 2000 campaign. He won a total of three races in his IRL career, but after breaking his pelvis in an all-terrain vehicle accident in October 2003, he had difficulty securing a ride for the 2004 season. He finally signed with Patrick Racing three races into the season, but after a 22nd-place finish in Richmond, Unser announced his retirement from racing on June 30, 2004. He served as an adviser for Patrick Racing and worked as a mentor for his son, Al Richard Unser, who was working his way through the lower ranks of open-wheel racing.
In 2006, Unser announced a return to racing for the 2006 Indianapolis 500, teamed with fellow former winner Buddy Lazier for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. This came just days after Michael Andretti also came out of retirement to run the 500. Unser qualified 27th in the 33-car field, and consistently ran in the upper half until a crash ended his day. In late August, Unser took part in an A1 Grand Prix test session at Silverstone.
On 25 January 2007, Unser was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, misdemeanor hit and run, failure to render aid in an accident, and failure to report an accident near Henderson, Nevada. On May 18, 2007, Unser spoke publicly for the first time about his battle with alcoholism when he joined forces with LIVE outside the Bottle, a national educational campaign to help the public understand the need to address and treat alcoholism.
On May 2, 2007, it was announced that Unser would drive a car for A.J. Foyt in the 2007 Indianapolis 500, carrying the No. 50 on his car in recognition of A.J.'s 50 years at the race. Unser qualified in the 25th starting position after being bumped from the lineup on the second day of qualifying.
During the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach race weekend, Unser confirmed that his IndyCar career was over. He returned to the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race that he won in 1985, scored his second win in the event, and extended his Long Beach victory tally to eight overall. In 2010, Unser started the Race Clinic for Paralysis charity. He is on the board of Baltimore Racing Development and helped announce plans for the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix on August 17, 2009. Unser was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.
On September 29, 2011, Unser was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on charges of reckless driving and aggravated driving while intoxicated after reportedly drag racing his Chevrolet Suburban SUV at speeds over 100 mph (160 km/h). He was placed on indefinite suspension from his role with IndyCar.
In 2013, Unser entered the 25 Hours of Thunderhill at Thunderhill Raceway Park, racing with his son Al III as teammates. Unser dominated the race, but co-driver Ivan Bellarosa crashed the car out. In 2014, at Long Beach, he participated in the Pro/Celebrity race, finishing fifth overall but winning the Pro Division (with a 30-second disadvantage assessed to professionals) for his ninth Long Beach victory overall, extending the "King of the Beach" nickname. Later that year, Unser raced again at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indy Legends Charity Pro/Am race during the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association's Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational event. Unser won the race alongside Peter Klutt, driving Klutt's 1969 Chevrolet Corvette, becoming the second driver to win on both the oval and road course at the Speedway.
In 2015, Unser participated in several Goodguys AutoCross competitions while racing Speedway Motors' 1970 Camaro. He also raced in the Sports Car Club of America Solo National Championship, placing second in his class.
On May 20, 2019, just days before the 2019 Indianapolis 500, Unser was charged with DUI for a fourth time. On October 1, 2021, Unser's memoir entitled A Checkered Past, co-authored by Jade Gurss, was published by Octane Press.
Unser married Shelley; the couple later divorced. He has four children: Al Richard Unser, Cody Unser, Shannon Unser, and Joe Unser. Cody lost the use of her legs on February 5, 1999, when she was twelve years old. She, along with her mother Shelley, founded the Cody Unser First Step Foundation at the age of thirteen. Shelley Unser died on August 15, 2018. On September 30, 2021, Unser married Norma Lawrence.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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