Saturday, June 15, 2002
Unser sheds weight, image
By JOHN MOSSMAN
AP Sports Writer
FOUNTAIN, Colo. — Once soft and overweight, Al Unser Jr. credits his newly sculpted physique to Formula 1 star Michael Schumacher.
For most of his career, Unser believed you had to “be in good shape to race, not great shape.” Schumacher changed all that.
“Michael Schumacher is setting the standard for what owners want in a driver,” Unser said Friday as he prepared for Sunday's Radisson 225 IRL race. “We're pushing the envelope in terms of the technology of race cars. Now, owners want a machine to get into the machine. They don't want some fat guy getting into the car.
“Schumacher is the one who changed it. He made himself a machine. Times have changed since my father raced.”
Over the winter, the 40-year-old Unser undertook a rigorous training program, losing 30 pounds and building muscle.
“It was tough,” he said. “Two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon. Weight training, swimming, running.”
Besides Schumacher's example, Unser was encouraged to work out by Eddie Cheever when Unser was negotiating to drive for Cheever's team this season.
“Eddie said the perception was that my desire was great on the track, but outside the track my desire was not there,” Unser recalled. “He said he'd like to see me lose a few pounds.”
Unser said that in his 20s, he would have balked at his current training regimen.
“I would have told the trainer to stick it,” he said. “I would have said there's no way I have to do this much training to drive race cars.”
Unser believes his conditioning will help his driving, and maybe even improve his record in photo finishes.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion has been involved in three such finishes, including last week's dramatic conclusion at Texas Motor Speedway.
Jeff Ward overtook Unser coming out of the final turn of the last lap and edged him by about a foot Saturday night. The margin of victory — 0.0111 seconds — made it the closest finish in Indy Racing League history.
“I had one identical to that race in 1995,” Unser said. “Scott Pruett beat me by about the same margin in the Michigan 500. I led the white-flag lap. He got a run on me down the backstretch, and he went high through turns 3 and 4. He just barely beat me at the finish line.
“I think it's still the closest finish CART has ever had.”
In the 1992 Indianapolis 500, Unser held off Scott Goodyear to win by 0.043 seconds in the closest finish in that fabled race's history.
Reminded that Saturday's result was his third close finish, Unser said, “Yeah, but I'm losing two of those. I definitely like to be on the other end of things. Any time you lose a race that close, it hurts.”
Although winless this season, Unser is convinced he's a smarter driver than in his youth.
“In my 20s, I would want to lead every lap of every race,” he said. “If I was fighting for fifth place in the middle of a race, I used to take a lot of chances to make that pass. Today, I won't risk it. I'm thinking more about getting myself in position to win at three-fourths or seven-eighths distance. You need to be there at the end. I'm a smarter driver now, and that's because of experience.”
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Unser sheds weight, image
