Race: Unser Jr saves fuel to win

It was Unser's second Indy Racing League win and 33rd Indy car victory of his career, which includes his tenure in CART. Unser, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, left CART at the end of the 1999 season and joined the IRL Galles Racing team for 2000.

Unser led three times for 75 laps. He took the lead for good when Sam Hornish Jr pitted for fuel with nine laps remaining during a caution period. That came after Donnie Beechler crashed in the second turn on the 188th lap.

Hornish realised there was no way he could make it to the finish without stopping for fuel and he drove into the pits for the final time on lap 191. Unser, who pitted for the final time on lap 133 of the 200-lap race, was able to keep his G-Force-Oldsmobile in front when the green flag waved with five laps to go. He was able to stay in front of the Dallara-Oldsmobile of Mark Dismore to win by 1.183 seconds.

Hornish was third in a Dallara-Olds and leads Buddy Lazier by 45 points in the IRL standings with two races remaining. Lazier had engine problems in his Dallara/Olds and finished 13th. Eddie Cheever was fourth in a Dallara-Infiniti, followed by Robbie Buhl in a G-Force-Infiniti.

While the IRL hopes to find a home in the shadows of the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Unser was hoping to prove his sceptics wrong that reports of his demise are premature.

"Rick Galles (team owner) called this race just right," Unser said of the team's fuel strategy. "He is the one who did it, his team put me right up front. I passed one or two guys and the team helped me pass five or six. They kept me out front and the car ran super.

"Everything fell our way and the team did a super job. Here we are - first place."

Unser said it didn't matter if the yellow flag flew or not because he had conserved enough fuel to make it to the finish.

"We were saving fuel and running full lean," Unser said. "We were trying our best and the Good Lord shine upon us today. I had a lot of fuel left. We were making fuel out there. I didn't run out of fuel after the race, I just wanted to come in. I'm not a donut man - if that car can get me to victory lane, it deserves a rest."

After Hornish started on the pole and led the first 58 laps, Unser made one of the moves of the race when he blew by Hornish on the restart after the second caution period for rookie Chris Menninga's crash in the second turn. Hornish said he missed a gear and Unser was able to perfectly time his move, bringing the crowd to its feet when he took the lead on the start/finish line.

"Sam was pretty excited, he started in too low of a gear and got into his rev-limiter real hard and allowed me to get by him," Unser said. "Sam is a great, great race driver, a great young man and he kept us honest. It was a great victory today for my team. We've been working so hard and haven't been able to put it together. We just never gave up and kept trying."

Unser easily had the most experience at the 1.25-mile oval than any driver in the field because he raced here as a member of CART from 1997-99. But Hornish doesn't believe experience was the key to Unser's win.

"I think fuel mileage helped Al today," Hornish said. "Al got me on the one restart, he had a good car. The guy who was going to win the race was going to have the best-handling car and the top three drivers had the best handling car out there. It was a matter of pit strategy. We didn't think anybody was going to make it to the end of the race without pitting for fuel. Then the yellow flag came out.

"If that yellow came out, I don't know if anybody could have made it without pitting again. It was better to finish third than not finish at all."

Dismore finished second to Unser for his best finish of the season, just one week after learning he may be out of a ride at Kelley Racing at the end of the year unless additional sponsorship can be arranged. Ironically, the last time Unser won a race, Dismore was also second - Las Vegas in 2000.

"It's been a tough couple of years to be honest with you," Dismore said. "To get second, I feel like I've won. I just feel so fortunate to have gotten through the race without any issues. It finally went our way today. Everything clicked.

"A second feels like a first, and it shouldn't to me. Normally, it wouldn't."

Back in 1994, when Unser was dominating CART with eight wins, including his second Indianapolis 500 victory and second CART title, he was one of racing's elite. Since that time, Unser has struggled, including a five-year winless streak following his Vancouver CART victory in 1995 that lasted until his win at Las Vegas last year.

Wins don't come as often as they used to for Unser, the son of three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser.

"It's unfair to say the wins mean more because any time you win a race, you have worked your butt off for that win," Unser said. "They are all important. Every single one is important and every single lap you turn out there is important. The fact my wins don't come as often doesn't mean anything other than the competition is very difficult out there right now.

"I don't care what people say, I know I love racing and I know the obstacles that have been put in front of me. The hurdles have been awfully tall. I love racing and pushing the envelope. I've done it my entire life and I'm not going to stop now. I have too much fun driving these race cars."

Lazier had predicted before the race that the driver who suffered the least amount of problems would win the points championship. He had cut into Hornish's lead and trailed by 25 points entering the race. But his hopes at winning his second straight IRL title took a hit when he suffered a fuel pressure problem in his car and finished 13th.

"No fuel pressure," Lazier said. "All day long the fuel alarm was going off in the car, probably a couple of hundred times the fuel alarm went off. It's miserable. When you have three races to go in a championship battle, it's really miserable."

Hornish can clinch the IRL championship by finishing fifth in the final two races - next Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois and the September 16 Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.