Photo provided The cover of Al Unser Jr.’s book that was released in October.
A decade after Al Unser Jr. said he contemplated suicide, the family racing legend says he feels better than he has in a long time — and hopes that others can learn from his personal life struggles, pain and mishaps that were perhaps greater than any he ever had on a race track.
“Mentally, I have not felt this good since I was a very young man,” said the 59-year-old two-time Indianapolis 500 champion, speaking by phone from his home in Avon, where he lives with wife Norma Lawrence Unser, whom he married last year.
After years of drug and alcohol addiction that resulted in DUI and domestic violence arrests and problems that spiraled him into despair, Unser mentioned that he now is clean and sober — and a committed Christian with a changed perspective. He comes to Columbus from 4 to 6 p.m. March 10 at Viewpoint Books, 548 Washington St. He and co-author Jade Gurss will sign copies of their book “Al Unser Jr: A Checkered Past,” released in October.
The first printing sold out within a month, describing the veteran driver’s “long, slow fall from grace” as the book text states. The Amazon digital version has posted speedy sales.
The local visit is one of only a handful of such signings Unser still expects to do. In previous such gatherings last year, the fan feedback was more than positive.
“Actually, I think a lot of that is because of the way Jade wrote,” Unser said, praising Gurss for bringing detail to life. “People have said they can picture me saying exactly what’s in the book.”
To Unser’s credit, he debunks the idea that his eventual trouble was because of the great expectations and pressure because of the famous surname shared by father Al, who won the Indy 500 a record four times and uncle Bobby Unser, who won it three times.
“I think what put an extra microscope of sorts on me was simply my success in IndyCar racing,” he said. “That’s what did it.”
He owns his mistakes with no finger pointing and no blame, acknowledging he never really faced real rejection until he hit age 50. His co-author notes that the famous, retired driver was full speed ahead on exposing his failings in order to show others who may be struggling that redemption and recovery are possible.
“Part of his motivation in doing the book was to share his story and hopefully inspire others to learn from decisions he chose to make that did not work out well for him,” Gurss said. “One person came up to us at a signing in December and told us that his son is struggling with some of these same (addiction) issues and told us that it’s good to hear of someone getting through all that.”
Gurss was impressed with Unser’s transparency from the start of the process of the book.
“From our very first meeting, he was very open,” the writer said.
The driver mentioned that he still aims to be so open.
“I finally had to come to grips with who I really was,” Unser said, adding that it was his psychiatrist that he was seeing at the time who eventually steered him away from suicide. “There was Al Unser Jr. the public figure in racing and Al Unser Jr. the private figure, and I wanted to be sure to tell the whole truth.”
These days, he says daily prayer time and Scripture reading with his wife are a key to his stability. He also credits regular worship at Connection Pointe church in Brownsburg with keeping him focused beyond himself.
“In the past, anytime I felt any pain, the easy escape was medication in the form of drugs and alcohol,” Unser said. “It was my psychiatrist who told me, ‘You’ve got to learn to really live this. That’s the only way you’re going to be able to defeat this thing.’ ”
Beyond his personal victories already achieved, he prays the book can offer hope to others on the brink.
“The ultimate goal is that it will reach as many people as God wants it to reach,” he said. “And hopefully, that’s far more than just the racing fraternity. And I hope it is something that can definitely be used for good.”
