Every once and a while, I'll find an article that shines a completely different line of a topical subject and really makes you think a lot.This week's example? A blog post by ESPN's Ryan McGee titled "The Fall of Al Unser Jr."
Unser Jr. -- in case you missed it -- made more headlines the way he hates to last week when an indictment involving a prostitution ring listed him as an extortion victim thanks a tape that supposedly showed the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion in a compromising situation.
The owner of the tape allegedly wanted $750,000 to keep the video from going public and Unser Jr., was close to paying it to avoid breaking a "morals clause" in a racing contract.
McGee's post, however, focused on nothing of like and instead talked about how far Unser Jr. has fallen from his incredible win over Scott Goodyear in 1992 Indianapolis 500 and his second in 1994.
In the post, McGee talks about how Unser Jr. could have had a legitimate NASCAR career and how the driver found himself living out of a motor home at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a just a few years ago.
Unser Jr. and then-sponsor Valvoline participated with Rick Hendrick in the 1993 Daytona 500. He finished deep in the field after wrecking but that race and his IROC championship in the 1980s made a mark on some of NASCAR's best.
He was the first true open wheel crossover star since A.J. Foyt, the one guy in Indy Car that NASCAR fans loved without question. He walked, talked and drove like a stock car racer and went nose-to-nose with The Intimidator and Co. at places like Talladega and Michigan and never flinched.Unser's acceptance into the stock-car ranks is night and day to what some of the more recent drivers to have faced in their transition to the sport.
"Little Al's really a NASCAR driver," Petty once said. "We're just letting them borrow him over there (in Indy Car). When he wants to go racing with us he knows he can."
He started 40th out of 41 cars in the '93 Daytona 500 and looked racy before wrecking and finishing 36th.
"I thought maybe once Al got a little taste he'd want to do this full-time," Hendrick said recently. "But his heart was in Indianapolis."
Later in the article, McGee infers that a lot of the problems "Little Al" faced had a stirring connection to what one can best describe as depression for the the meltdown of open-wheel racing in 1996. Unser ended up in CART, away from Indianapolis, and racing in a series he didn't seem to care about -- leading to his drug and alcohol probems says McGee.
It's without a doubt an interesting, yet quick, read and is one of those that leave you thinking "what if?" about the driver who had so much promise in the early 90s.
