Racecar legend Al Unser Jr., who is the youngest member of the iconic Unser racing family, was convicted for his second DUI in less than five years, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
Unser, who has won the Indianapolis 500 twice, pled guilty this week to Albuquerque prosecutors’ charges that he was drag racing while intoxicated during an incident last September.
During that incident, New Mexico state police saw Unser, who was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Suburban, racing another car on a state highway at roughly 3 a.m. The two cars were traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph in a 60 mph zone, according to the police report.
While the other car evaded police, officers eventually caught Unser, who had a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit. Sources say that, when police arrested him, Unser lamented that they had “caught the slower driver.”
Sources suggest that Unser pled guilty to a few lesser counts in order to avoid being tried for charges of aggravated DUI and reckless driving.
As part of his plea agreement, Unser was sentenced to three months in jail, but a friendly judge reduced this sentence to a year of supervised probation. As a result, Unser will remain a free man, but he will have to report frequently to his probation officer.
The 49-year-old racecar driver was lucky to avoid jail time after being convicted for his second DUI, especially given the extreme nature of his arrest. Speeding down a road at 100 mph while drunk is often a ticket to extended jail time.
In 2007, Unser was involved in a crash on another New Mexico freeway after which police discovered that his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.
After this accident, Unser lost his driver’s license for 90 days, paid a $1,000 fine, and attended a few classes that discussed the perils of drunk driving.
Not surprisingly, some observers are upset with what they perceive as preferential treatment for Unser, whose family is from Albuquerque and considered local racecar royalty.
According to Anna Duerr, a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, “[c]elebrities and sports figures need to be treated just like any other driver” because drunk drivers “kill 10,000 people each year and injure 350,000.”
In response, the DUI attorney for Unser says that his client has apologized for his poor judgment and is “taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Of course, an attorney for Unser made a similar statement after the incident in 2007.
