'Little Al' wins again

When Al Unser Jr. took his Penske Indy car into the final lap around the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit, he accomplished something only a few race car drivers have done - win a major motor sport event for the sixth time in the past eight years. Unser did so by driving a careful race, avoiding crashes and the overuse of his precious Mercedes-Benz IC 108 power plant.

His fiercest nemesis throughout the race, Michael Andretti, effectively took himself out of the competition when he, in hot pursuit of 'Little Al,' went into a runoff at turn six with only five more laps to go.

With Andretti out of the picture, the road cleared for Scott Pruett, who finished second, and Italian Teo Fabi, who took third. About 300,000 spectators attended the 21st annual, three-day motor sport extravaganza, April 7-9.

The city of Long Beach is one the biggest beneficiaries of the Grand Prix, with thousands of Indy car fans coming to "The Beach" to spend small fortunes on anything from tickets to three-day stays at local hotels.

In addition to the main event, there were four other races, including Saturday's Toyota Pro/Celebrity race. Alfonso Ribeiro of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" was victorious in that competition.

The Indy Lights and the Toyota Atlantic races on Sunday concluded the Long Beach stop of the Indy race car circus.