Tumultuous Month For the IRL

IRL Big day for the IRL. AL " Little Al" Unser Jr. announced his retirement from racing today effective immediately. Jeff Simmons was named to replace him at least for the race at Kansas City this weekend. Also, Panther Racing announced that Mark Taylor was being let go immediately, but no replacement was announced. It was thought that Simmons might get that ride, but Buddy Lazier may be able to swoop in there now although Townsend Bell is a possibility. Little Al's career spanned more than 20 years. He was a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, a two-time CART champion and he retires with 31 CART wins and 3 IRL wins, his last being a year ago at Texas. Little Al came to Indy in 1983 and was immediately in the center of controversy. In that race, it appeared as though he was blocking for his father before eventual winner Tom Sneva got past him. In the post race interview he admitted as much, but changed his tune as the year went on. Unser and Scott Goodyear outdueled to the closest finish in the history of the 500 in 1992 after Michael Andretti went out after dominating the race. Little Al was the first major CART defection in 2001 opening the floodgates for several other teams to come to the upstart league. Recently Al has been know more for his off track antics. In 2002 a drunk Unser left his girlfriend stranded on the highway. When the police escorted her home he claimed he didn't know her and was arrested. Al went into rehab and emerged to finish the 2003 season. I never liked this guy and am not sorry to see him go, but he does have a lot of fans and I hope they stay with the league.