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IndyCar legends Al Unser Jr and Mario Andretti are the co-grand marshals for the 50th edition of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Ahead of the race on Sunday, Unser Jr opened up on the annoyance he felt during the mid-'80s when Mario and his son Michael took consecutive wins at Long Beach.
Till 1983, Long Beach held the US Grand Prix for F1. In 1984, due to cost reasons, the race promoters switched from hosting F1 to IndyCar. Mario Andretti, who had won the F1 race there in 1977, won the first two IndyCar races at the circuit in 1984 and 1985. Al Unser Jr finished P17 and P9 in those two races.
In 1986, Mario's son, Michael Andretti, won the Long Beach Grand Prix as his first IndyCar win before his dad took the crown back in 1987. Unser Jr witnessed the two Andrettis win up close as he finished runner-up both times.
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In a recent interview with IndyCar, the two-time Indy 500 winner shared his feelings during that Andretti domination era at Long Beach, saying:
"I followed these guys, Mario, for those first few years of IndyCar racing (at Long Beach), and they couldn't be beaten. And then I finished second to Michael between his (Mario's) wins, and I go, 'Man, these Andrettis, they have this place locked up.'"
Al Unser Jr finally won his first Long Beach Grand Prix in 1988 and made it four in a row by winning the race through to 1991. He then broke his joint record of four wins with Mario Andretti by winning at the Southern California circuit in '94 and '95.
When the interviewer followed up on his comments by asking if he thanked the Andrettis for his success at Long Beach, Unser Jr said:
"Well, actually I am thanking Mario because from that day forward, I believe after he won in '87, I started following him out of the pits. I'm like 'I need to find out what's going on here."
Michael Andretti won another race at Long Beach in 2002, his final IndyCar win at the same circuit where he recorded his first.
IndyCar's Long Beach GP honor for Al Unser Jr made his mother's day
Al Unser Jr is known as 'The King of the Beach' for being the winningest driver at the iconic circuit with six race wins. It seemed fitting that he and four-time winner Mario Andretti were chosen as co-grand marshals for the 50th running of the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13.
At the beginning of this race week, Unser Jr revealed to Press-Telegram how joyous his mother, Wanda Jesperson, felt when he told her about the co-grand marshal honor over a phone call.
"Getting this grand marshal award, it’s awesome. It’s going to be awesome to have my mom there. As soon as I told her, she told me it just totally made her day," the two-time IndyCar champion said.
As co-grand marshals, Al Unser Jr and Mario Andretti will give the "Start your engines" command to the IndyCar drivers before the start of the Long Beach Grand Prix.
