Unser On Fast Track Even at Del Mar

DEL MAR â€”  Al Unser Jr. already has cast a long shadow over Del Mar.

If practice means anything, he will be a factor in Sunday’s International Motor Sports Assn. Camel Grand Prix of Greater San Diego.

Fresh from winning the Indy-car championship with six victories--the most since his father, Al Unser Sr., had 10 in 1970--he stepped inside a new Chevrolet V-8-powered Spice SE90P for Julian Randles and averaged 89.404 m.p.h. in Friday’s first practice run for Grand Touring Prototype cars. His was the fastest clocking of the first session, and he did it on a course he had never seen.

Martin Brundle, driving a Jaguar XJR-10, had a faster time in the first practice session for GTP cars, but it was generally disregarded around the track as a computer error.

Brundle averaged 91.375 m.p.h. around the 10-turn, 1.62-mile course; he covered it in 1 minute 3.037 seconds, nearly 1 1/2 seconds faster than Unser Jr.

Unser, however, was not concerned about Brundle’s time.

“Actually, I ended up the quickest,� Unser said. “That Jaguar time was bogus; they made a mistake in the calculation.�

When Brundle’s speed showed up on the computer, Jaguar press manager John Szymanski immediately said it was an innacurate time. “We had him sixth, in 1:05.69,� he said.

Fastest or not, there’s no doubt about the speed of Unser’s car. In the second session, Unser had the fastest time of the session, 1:03.285 (91.017 m.p.h.). Spice USA teammate John Cochran, who will be co-driving with Unser, finished second last year in the Camel Lights at Del Mar.

Unser surprised even himself with his performance; this is the first time he has raced at Del Mar and just the second time he’s been in the Spice.

“I knew the car was working well, but not as well as it was,� he said. “The Spice car is a very good race car. It impressed me.�

The speed is essential for today’s qualifying session on the unforgiving temporary layout on the Del Mar Fairgrounds. It is imperative to get on the two-car front row in Sunday’s season-ending finale.

“It’s critical,� Unser said. ‘It’s very, very hard to pass. It’s pretty tight, but I like (the course) because we’ve got a good car. It’s going to be pretty competitive.�

Unser could stand in the way of GT Series regulars Geoff Brabham, the GT championship points leader; Chip Robinson, the only one who can catch Brabham but needs a victory to do it; Juan Manuel Fangio, who has three victories this season; and Davy Jones, who has won twice this season for Jaguar.

Jaguar has won at Del Mar the past two seasons. Jan Lammers won in 1989 and he co-drove with Brundle in 1988.

With one day under his belt at Del Mar, Unser was pleased with the car and his performance. “I feel I’ve got a real good shot of winning the race if the car can stay together,� he said.

And he likes racing the GTP cars.

“IMSA’s a good racing series,� Unser said. “The prototype cars are really kind of exotic and nice. They’re real similar to the Indy cars. This is the next level down from an Indy car as far as performance, accelerating, cornering and braking, than any other car I’ve ever driven. The Indy cars are No. 1, the GTP cars are No. 2, and then it falls down considerably.�

The last time Unser drove a GTP car was in February at the 24 Hours at Daytona, where he teamed with cousin Robby Unser and Raul Boesel in a Porsche 962C. They placed seventh after retiring with transmission problems.

Unser Jr. is competing at Del Mar as a favor to Chris Pook, president of Del Mar Race Management.

“My Indy season was over and I didn’t want to quit racing this year, and Chris Pook asked me if I wanted to ride at Del Mar and I said I’d love to,� Unser said. “We got to talking about some cars, and the Spice cars are the best cars to be in, so Chris Pook asked them if they would consider letting me drive one and they said sure, so here I am.�

Grand Prix Notes

Two Nissans are in the front row for today’s one hour GTO/GTU race at 3:30 p.m. Steve Millen (82.922 m.p.h.) is on the pole and Jeremy Dale (82.849) is outside of him. . . . A first-time GTU pole-sitter is privateer Bill Auberlen of Rolling Hills (78.725), driving a four-year-old Mazda RX-7. It is Mazda’s first pole this season. . . . The second practice session for GTO/GTU cars claimed four cars. Three of the cars were in an accident involving drivers Chuck Kendall (Ford Mustang), of La Canada who has a summer home in Del Mar, Don Swanson (Mazda MX-6) and Pete Halsmer (Mazda RX-7). A witness reported that Swanson of Carlsbad ran his GTU into the wall and the two faster GTO cars came upon it. All were taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla; Swanson and Halsmer were released, and Kendall was being kept overnight for observation because of a bruised heart. . . . Kendall’s and Swanson’s cars were beyond repair and each are out of the race. Halsmer, who had the second-fastest practice run at 81.978 m.p.h. before the crash, will try to repair his car. He will start at the back of the GTO field. . . . Before the crash, Lance Stewart’s Mazda MX-6 burned. “It’s a total write-off,� Stewart said. “Something in the gasline broke; flames were coming out of the transmission while I was driving. It was touch and go for a few seconds; it took them a long time to put the fire out.� . . . Dorsey Schroeder, driving a Whistler Mercury Cougar GTO, said, “(Qualifying) in fourth place, it’s not going to be bad; it’s going to be a race of huge attrition. There’s going to be some crashes like we saw today.�