April 20. For those of you who have attended any of the first
three Pro Series races, or saw ESPN2 delayed- broadcasts, you probably
noticed that there are two identical red and black cars – 3 and
33. The Canadian-based Brian Stewart Racing team claims both,
along with the drivers. If you watched the St. Petersburg race
you know that 33 is the car of Wade Cunningham. The other has
been driven by Wade’s teammate, Alfred Richard Unser. He goes by
the name of Al, or to others by his nickname, “Just Al”.
As teammates, there is good chemistry between the two. But more about
that later. You know quite a lot about Wade already, so a bit
about Al.
The last name is a clue. Yes, Al is a member of the famous Unser
racing family. His father is Al Unser, Jr., who won the Indy 500
twice. Al Unser is his grandfather, and he won Indy four
times. And then there is Uncle Bobby, a three-time winner.
With nine family wins at the Brickyard you can say that the Unser
family has owned the place.
The Al we’re talking about is 22. Like many of the Unser family, he also lives in Albuquerque, NM.
Al started racing in 2002. He was the Rookie of the Year in the
Skip Barber Western Racing Series, with six wins. In 2003 he had
four top-ten finishes in the Barber Dodge Pro Series.
Last year, Al drove in the Pro Series for Keith Duesenberg
Racing. In eight races he had five 3rd place finishes. He
finished seven races. He sat on the pole at the Michigan
International Speedway race. Al also ran four Toyota
Atlantic races last year.
2005 has seen Al driving for Brian Stewart in the first three
races. In the first race, at Homestead, Wade and Al qualified and
started next to each other on row 4. In the second, they were
next to each other on row 5. Hey guys, don’t push it too far
unless you’re going to be together on the front row.
In his first race, at Homestead, Al ran as high as third, but went out
on lap 21 with a failed wheel bearing. At Phoenix, he was running
fifth, when on lap 40 Travis Gregg spun out on a restart, hit Al’s car
and took him out. Finally Al’s fortunes changed at St.
Petersburg. He started seventh, drove in the top five most of the
race and finished fourth. Things are starting to look up for him.
If you ask team owner Brian Stewart, and other members of the team,
they will tell you that Wade and Al have a good relationship.
Wade describes the working relationship as, “Al and I sort of do our
own thing during practice sessions. When that finishes we do our
debriefing together with Doug Hoy (Team Manager). We each go over
what we did, look at the changes and the data. That is when we
cooperate. Back on the track, I’m not too worried what Al is
doing and he’s not too worried about what I’m doing. It works
pretty well from a team standpoint.”
At other times, in the “garage area,” which is on the right side of the
Brian Stewart Racing 18-wheeler, you’ll often see Wade and Al alone,
talking seriously with each other or just sharing a laugh.
Looks like good chemisty!
(For more about Al Unser see his web site at: www.justalracing.com )
(For more about Wade visit his official web site at : www.cunninghammotorsport.com )
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