2-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. arrested for OWI
Former IndyCar driver Al Unser Jr. was arrested for OWI early Monday morning.
Unser Jr., 57, was arrested by Avon, Indiana, police and booked into the Hendricks County Jail just before 3:30 a.m. per the Indianapolis Star.
This is not Unser Jr.’s first alcohol-related arrest. He was arrested on drunken and reckless driving charges in New Mexico in 2011 after police allegedly saw him driving his Chevy Suburban at over 100 MPH. He was also arrested for a DUI in Las Vegas that same year.
He’s been open about his struggles with alcoholism and told the Indy Star in 2016 that the woman he was dating at the time left him following the Las Vegas arrest.
“I was left all by myself, and I had never been all by myself,” he said. “From my parents’ home growing up to the apartment with (first wife) Shelley, never alone.
“(Most kids) go to college, learn to live on their own, fall in love, have their heart broken. I never had any of that until I was 50 years old. That’s when all the s—- happened.”
Unser Jr. won the 1992 Indianapolis 500 in one of the most iconic finishes of all-time when he beat Scott Goodyear to the checkered flag. He won the race two years later while driving for Team Penske as the team dominated the race. Emerson Fittipaldi ran ahead of Unser Jr. for most of the day but hit the wall with less than 20 laps to go.
Unser Jr. won his second IndyCar title in 1994. His first came in 1990.
He currently serves as a consultant for Harding Steinbrenner Racing. The team’s driver, Colton Herta, qualified fifth for Sunday’s race.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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