Sunday’s exhibition day at the 15th annual Goodguys’ Meguiar’s Del Mar Nationals proved to be fruitful for Robby Unser, Al Unser Jr. and the popular 1965 Team Speedway Chevrolet Nova at the Del Mar Fairgrounds north of San Diego.
After chassis adjustments early Sunday morning, the two Unsers wheeled their mount to impressive clockings on the specially-design autocross course on the west end of the large fairgrounds facility. With cooler temperatures and better track conditions, the two Albuquerque, N.M., stars were poised to improve their Saturday times.
Al Jr. made a big impression with the crowd as the two-time Indy 500 champion recorded his best run of the weekend with a 57.5-second reading. Robby had a 56-second run going when he clipped a track cone and lost a second.
In Saturday competition, Robby finished fifth in the autocross pro class while Al Jr., in only his third autocross event, placed eighth.
Later Sunday, Robby clocked an impressive 57.775 in the heat of the day and both Unsers were very pleased with the chassis changes on the car.
“That run felt good this morning,” said Al Unser Jr. “I wish we had that time yesterday (Saturday) in the competition. The track was really quick in the first couple of runs with the cooler temperatures. Robby made some chassis changes this morning and they were the right way to go. Too bad it’s a day late but we are learning a lot with the Nova right now. This was a good test day for us for the next event.”
Robby explained that the weekend progressed very well with the chassis changes on the Team Speedway machine and he sees the Chevy Nova getting fast with each competition.
“I’m pleased with car and we made a lot of changes throughout the weekend,” said Robby, the nine-time Pikes Peak Hill Climb champion. “We gained a bunch of time today. It would be nice to gain that time on Saturday but we are happy with the improvements. I took fifth and I would have liked to have been higher Saturday. We are happy with what we have designed with G Comp as well as working with the tires. We are very happy how Al is do in the car. He is coming along very well with the car and we are close in the same times now. Overall, it was a great weekend for Team Speedway.”
Later in the day, hot rod designer, builder and TV host Chip Foose was on hand as he took a ride with Al Jr. in the Team Speedway Nova and Robby took Foose’s son, Brock, around the course as well.