He suffered personal tragedy when his sister Debbie was killed in a dune buggy accident, but this did not deter Unser; and a year later, he competed in his first Indianapolis 500, finishing 9th.

Hours after the race ended, Unser Jr. was issued a 2-lap penalty by chief steward Thomas W. Binford for passing 2 cars under caution with less than 40 laps to go as well as blocking eventual winner Tom Sneva from passing his father with less than 20 laps to go.

Unser continued to improve on the CART circuit, finishing fourth in the points standings in 1986, third in 1987, second in 1988 and finally winning the series for the first time in 1990.

This race is remembered for a remarkable show of sportsmanship, as Little Al climbed out of his wrecked racecar and gave Fittipaldi the "thumbs up" as he drove by Unser under caution.

Unser would have his day at Indy in 1992, however, defeating Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.

In 1995 Unser, along with teammate Emerson Fittipaldi, failed to qualify at Indianapolis, and he would later point to this as the trigger event for his descent into alcoholism and the breakup of his marriage.

Unser ranked 13th in 1997, 11th in 1998 and 21st in 1999, not helped by the fact that he had to sit out two races after breaking his leg in the season-opener at Miami in a first-lap accident.

Unser would leave CART to join the budding Indy Racing League for the 2000 campaign.

His career win total including IRL stands at 34, which is currently the sixth-most all-time in American open-wheel racing (as of 2013).

Unser qualified 27th in the 33-car field, and consistently ran in the upper half until a crash ended his day.

On 2 May 2007, it was announced that Unser would drive a car for racing legend A. J. Foyt in the 2007 Indianapolis 500, carrying the No.

During the race weekend of the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Unser confirmed that his IndyCar career was in fact over.

[2] During the weekend, he returned to the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race that he won in 1985, and scored his second win in the event and his eighth Long Beach victory overall.

Charges stemmed from an incident where Unser reportedly drag raced his Chevrolet Suburban SUV at speeds over 100 mph (160 km/h).

In 2015, Unser participated in several Goodguys AutoCross competitions while racing Speedway Motors' 1970 Camaro.

[6] He also raced in the Sports Car Club of America Solo National Championship, placing second in his class, and is entered again at Thunderhill for the 25 Hours.

[7] On October 1, 2021, Unser's memoir entitled A Checkered Past, co-authored by Jade Gurss, was published by Octane Press.

[9] She, along with her mother Shelley, founded the Cody Unser First Step Foundation at age 13 and she wrote about the cause on U.S. News & World Report.