Mario Andretti

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Mario Andretti

Nationality	Italian, naturalized American
World Championship Career
Active years	1968 - 1972, 1974 - 1982
Team(s)	Lotus, STP Corporation, Ferrari, Parnelli, Alfa Romeo, Williams
Races	131
Championships	1 (1978)
Wins	12
Podium finishes	19
Pole positions	18
Fastest laps	10
First race	1968 Italian Grand Prix
First win	1971 South African Grand Prix
Last win	1978 Dutch Grand Prix
Last race	1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940 in Montona d'Istria, Italy, now Motovun, Croatia) is an Italian American racing driver, and one of the most successful Americans in the history of auto racing.

During his career, Andretti won four IndyCar titles, the 1978 Formula One World Championship, and IROC VI (the 1978 - 1979 IROC). To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), the Daytona 500 (1967), and the Formula One World Championship.

The name Mario Andretti has become synonymous with speed in the United States, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.

1 Early life
2 Racing career
3 Racing family
4 Current Life
5 Movies and Others
6 Complete F1 Results
7 Indianapolis 500 results
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Early life

Mario Andretti was born in the town of Montona d'Istria in the then Italian province of Istria. He was born with a twin brother, Aldo Andretti. After World War II Istria (which is now part of Croatia) was occupied and annexed by Yugoslavia. His family, like many other Italian Istrians, fled in 1948. They lived in a refugee camp from 1948 to 1955. The five members of the Andretti family resettled in Nazareth in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley in June 1955. Andretti became a United States citizen in 1964. ^[1]

[edit] Racing career

Andretti's first exposure to auto racing was watching part of the Mille Miglia race in 1954, where he became captivated by Alberto Ascari. ^[2]

[edit] Racing debut

Mario and Aldo worked on a 1948 Hudson Hornet Sportsman stock car in an uncle's garage in 1959. They took turns racing the car on oval dirt tracks near Nazareth in 1959 in the old Hudson. The twins each had two wins after their first four races. ^[3] Mario had 20 modified stockcar wins in his first two seasons. ^[4]

[edit] IndyCar career

Mario made his championship car debut in the USAC series in 1964 at Trenton, New Jersey, starting sixteenth and finishing eleventh. Andretti won his first championship car race at the Hoosier Grand Prix in 1965. His third place finish at the 1965 Indianapolis 500 won him the Rookie of the Year award, and won the series championship. He repeated as series champion in 1966.

[edit] Racing in several series

**Mario Andretti**

Born:	February 28, 1940 (age 67)
Birthplace:	Montona d'Istria, Italy
Awards:	named the "Driver of the Century" by the Associated Press and RACER magazine 2000 International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 1996 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee (U.S.) named Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992 1990 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee 1979 International Race of Champions series champion 1978 Formula One World Championship 1974 USAC national dirt track champion (U.S.) 1972 24 Hours of Daytona 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner 1967 Daytona 500 winner Three time 12 Hours of Sebring winner (1967, 1970, 1972) Four time IndyCar champion (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984) 1969 ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics
14 races run over 4 years.
Best Cup Position:	unranked
First Race:	1967 Motor Trend 500 (Riverside)
Last Race:	1969 Motor Trend 500 (Riverside)
First Win:	1967 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last Win:	1967 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
1	3	0

Andretti raced in numerous different series between 1967 and 1975. ^[3] He juggled Can-Am, Formula 5000, Formula One, IndyCar, drag racing, sprint cars, and many others. Andretti finished second in the IndyCars in 1967 and 1968. 1969 was a banner year for Andretti. In IndyCar, he won nine races, the 1969 Indianapolis 500, and the season championship. He also won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. He moved to the Formula 5000 series in the 1973 and 1974, and finished second in the championship in both seasons. He also competed in USAC's dirt track division in 1974, and won the championship while competing in both series.

Other major races that he won in that period include his 1967 Daytona 500 win for Holman Moody, ^[5] and three 12 Hours of Sebring endurance races (1967, 1970, 1972). He also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1972.

Andretti competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans over four decades. In 1966 and 1967 he drove the same Ford GT40s as the eventual winners, but retired on both occasions, once through an accident and once through an engine problem. Andretti did not return to Le Mans until his full time Formula One career was over in 1982. Over the next 18 years he competed a further seven times, four times with his son Michael. His best results were a third place finish in 1983 and a second place at the 1995 race. He said in a 2006 interview that he feels that the Courage Compétition team "lost [the 1995] race five times over" through poor organization. Andretti's final appearance at Le Mans was at the 2000 race, six years after his retirement from single-seaters, where he drove the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S at the age of 60, finishing 16th. ^[6] A win at Le Mans would have allowed Andretti to match the 'Triple Crown' of victories in the Formula One world championship, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 hours won by Graham Hill.

[edit] Formula One career

Andretti drove his Lotus Type 63 at the 1969 German Grand Prix.

At Andretti's first Indianapolis 500, in 1965, he met Colin Chapman, owner of the Lotus Formula One team, who was running eventual winner Jim Clark. Andretti told Chapman of his ambition to compete in Formula One and was told "When you're ready, call me." By 1968 Andretti felt he was ready. Chapman gave him a drive, and the young American took pole position on his debut at the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.^[7]

Andretti drove sporadically in Formula One over the next four years for Lotus, March, and for Ferrari while continuing to focus on his racing career in North America. He won his first grand prix in 1971 on his debut for the Italian team at the South African Grand Prix, and won again at the non-championship Questor Grand Prix in the US three weeks later.^[8]

It wasn't until 1975 that Andretti drove a full Formula One season, for the American Parnelli team, new to Formula One, although successful in both Formula 5000 and Championship Car racing in America. The team had run Andretti in the two North American end-of-season races in 1974 with promising results. Despite potential - Andretti qualified fourth and led the tragic 1975 Spanish Grand Prix for nine laps before his suspension failed - he scored only five points. Andretti continued to compete in the States, missing two races to do so.^[9]

When the Parnelli team pulled out of Formula One after two races of the 1976 season, Andretti returned to Colin Chapman's Lotus team, for whom he had already driven at the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix. His ability at developing a racing car soon progressed the Lotus towards the front end of the Formula One grid, culminating in a victory at the season's concluding race at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan where Mario was a lap ahead of his nearest challenger. In 1977, at Long Beach, he became the only American to win the United States Grand Prix West, in the Lotus 78 "wing car". Andretti's development work at Lotus was to result in the revolutionary "ground effect" Lotus 79 of 1978, a season in which he won six races and took the title — a bitter-sweet victory in the light of the death of his teammate Ronnie Peterson, whom Andretti had grown to regard as a close friend. However, Andretti would find little success after 1978 in Formula One, failing to win another grand prix. He had a difficult year in 1979, as the new Lotus car was not competitive, and the team had to rely on the Lotus 79 which was showing its age. In 1980, he was paired with Italian ace Elio de Angelis, but the team was again unsuccessful.

A season with the unsuccessful Alfa Romeo team in 1981 did little to re-kindle Andretti's Formula One career. Like other drivers of the period he did not like the ground effect cars of the time: "the cars were getting absurd, really crude, with no suspension movement whatever. It was toggle switch driving with no need for any kind of delicacy...it made leaving Formula One a lot easier than it would have been."^[10] The next year Andretti raced once for the Williams team, after their driver Carlos Reutemann suddenly quit, before replacing the seriously injured Didier Pironi at Ferrari for the last two races of the year. Suspension failure dropped him out of the last race of the season, but at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza he took the pole position and finished third in the race.^[11]

[edit] Return to IndyCar racing

He returned to IndyCars in the 1982. He won the pole for nine of sixteen events in 1984, and claimed his fourth CART title. It was the first series title for car owner Newman/Haas Racing, owned by Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman. His last victory in IndyCar racing came in 1993 at Phoenix International Raceway, the year that his son Michael raced in Formula One. The win made Andretti the oldest recorded winner in an IndyCar event (53 years, 34 days old). ^[12]

Andretti kept racing to try to win the 24 hours of Le Mans, but failed to win yet. His best finish is second in 1995, and third in 1983 (Porsche 956), both with his son Michael.

[edit] Indianapolis 500

Andretti also made the saying "Mario is slowing down!" famous at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Andretti's futility at Indy is legendary.

Andretti was the first driver to exceed 200 miles per hour while practicing for the 1977 Indianapolis 500. ^[1]

Andretti finished second in the 1981 Indianapolis 500 by eight seconds behind Bobby Unser. The following day Unser was penalized one lap for passing cars under a caution flag, and Andretti was declared the winner. Unser and his car owner Roger Penske appealed the race stewarts' decision. USAC overturned the one lap penalty four months later, and penalized Unser with a $ 40,000 fine.

In the 1985 Indianapolis 500, he was passed by Danny Sullivan. Sullivan subsequently spun in front of Andretti, pitted on his own caution, and then passed Mario again to go on for the win. Andretti dominated the 1987 Indianapolis 500 testing, led for 170 of the first 177 laps, but was taken out by an electrical failure before the finish on lap 200.

Mario finished all 500 miles just five times, including his 1969 Indianapolis 500 victory. Andretti suffered broken ankles in the 1992 Indianapolis 500 crashing hard in turn four during the race. His last race at Indy was the 1994 Indianapolis 500.

Andretti was performing a tire test for his son Michael's IndyCar on April 24, 2003 in place of the injured Tony Kanaan at Indianapolis At 5:58 pm -- two minutes before the scheduled end of the session -- Andretti powered out of the first turn onto the "south chute" of the circuit. In his path lay a chunk of debris from Kenny Brack's car, which had crashed seconds earlier. The object forced the nose of Andretti's car to become airborne, and Andretti's car went into a rapid double reverse somersault at speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour. Television footage from a local TV station's helicopter showed that the car was nearly high enough to clear the debris fence mounted atop the circuit's outer retaining wall. Andretti's car fell back to earth, having been slowed by its mid-air tumble, and slid to a stop. Luckily, the car landed right side up and Andretti walked away from the crash with very minor injuries.

[edit] Legacy

Many Americans consider Andretti to be the finest all-around driver ever, and in 2000, the Associated Press and RACER magazine named him "Driver of the Century." The same year, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990.

Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. ^[4] He was the Driver of the Year in three years (1967, 1978, and 1984), and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades. ^[3] Andretti was named the Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992. ^[4]

On October 23, 2006, at the Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage. Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.

[edit] Racing family

Both of Mario Andretti's sons, Michael and Jeff, were involved in auto racing. Michael followed in his father's footsteps by winning the IndyCar title. In 1991, the Andrettis were joined by Mario's nephew John Andretti. The Andrettis became the first family to have four relatives compete in the same series. ^[3] Mario's grandson, Marco Andretti, won a championship in IndyCars' "Stars of Tomorrow" kart racing series, before moving into the Star Mazda single-seater series. Marco completed his first full season in the Indy Racing League (IRL) in 2006, driving for his father Michael's Andretti Green Racing team. Marco finished second in the 2006 Indianapolis 500, became the first third-generation-recipient of the race's Rookie of the Year Award. Marco is currently set to take a Formula One test drive with Honda Racing F1 at Jerez. ^[13]

[edit] Current Life

Mario and Michael live near each other in mansions overlooking the town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Mario's home city since the 1950's.

Andretti is a spokesman for long time sponsors Texaco and Firestone. He is also occasionally a spokesman for CART, although he has been spotted at IRL races throughout the 2006 season as he watches Marco compete.

[edit] Movies and Others

There is a movie about Mario and Michael Andretti and the making of the Newman/Haas Racing cars, called Super Speedway, available in DVD and Imax.
Mario Andretti does a cameo in the Pixar Animation Studios film Cars. He plays himself as the 1967 Ford Fairlane in which he won the Daytona 500.
Mario Andretti, appears as a course official for the 2004 Baja 1000 race, where the documentary Dust to Glory was filmed, he has also gave interviews for the film.
At the start of the second verse of the Amy Grant song, Good For Me, she quotes "You like to drive like Mario Andretti, I like to take my time".

[edit] Complete F1 Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1968	Lotus	SAF	ESP	MON	BEL	DUT	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	CAN	USA ret	MEX						Lotus	NA	0
1969	Lotus	SAF ret	ESP	MON	DUT	FRA	GBR	GER ret	ITA	CAN	USA ret	MEX							Lotus	NA	0
1970	March	SAF ret	ESP 3	MON	BEL	DUT	FRA	GBR ret	GER ret	AUT ret	ITA	CAN	USA	MEX					March	16th	4
1971	Ferrari	SAF 1	SPA ret	MON DNQ	DUT ret	FRA	GBR	GER 4	AUT	ITA	CAN 13	USA							Ferrari	8th	12
1972	Ferrari	ARG ret	SAF 4	ESP ret	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA 7	CAN	USA 6						Ferrari	12th	4
1974	Parnelli	ARG	BRA	SAF	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	DUT	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN 7	USA DSQ			Parnelli	NA	0
1975	Parnelli	ARG ret	BRA 7	SAF 17	ESP ret	MON ret	BEL	SWE 4	DUT	FRA 5	GBR 12	GER 10	AUT ret	ITA ret	USA ret				Parnelli	14th	5
1976	Parnelli	BRA ret	SAF 6	USW ret	ESP ret	BEL ret	MON	SWE ret	FRA 5	GBR ret	GER 12	AUT 5	DUT 3	ITA ret	CAN 3	USA ret	JPN 1		Lotus	6th	22
1977	Lotus	ARG 5	BRA ret	SAF ret	USW 1	ESP 1	MON 5	BEL ret	SWE 6	FRA 1	GBR 14	GER ret	AUT ret	DUT ret	ITA 1	USA 2	CAN 9	JPN ret	Lotus	3rd	47
1978	Lotus	ARG 1	BRA 4	SAF 7	USW 2	MON 11	BEL 1	ESP 1	SWE ret	FRA 1	GBR ret	GER 1	AUT ret	DUT 1	ITA 6	USA ret	CAN 10		Lotus	1st	64
1979	Lotus	ARG 5	BRA ret	SAF 4	USW 4	ESP 3	BEL ret	MON ret	FRA ret	GBR ret	GER ret	AUT ret	DUT ret	ITA 5	CAN 10	USA ret			Lotus	12th	14
1980	Lotus	ARG ret	BRA ret	SAF 12	USW ret	BEL ret	MON 7	FRA ret	GBR ret	GER 7	AUT ret	DUT 8	ITA ret	CAN ret	USA 6				Lotus	20th	1
1981	Alfa Romeo	USW 4	BRA ret	ARG 8	SMR ret	BEL 10	MON ret	ESP 8	FRA 8	GBR ret	GER 9	AUT ret	DUT ret	ITA ret	CAN 7	LAS ret			Alfa Romeo	17th	3
1982	Williams	RSA	BRA	USW ret	SMR	BEL	MON	USE	CAN	DUT	GBR	FRA	GER	AUT	SWI	ITA 3	LAS ret		Ferrari	19th	4

[edit] Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1965	Brawner Hawk	Ford	4th	3rd
1966	Brawner Hawk	Ford	1st	18th
1967	Brawner Hawk	Ford	1st	30th
1968	Brawner Hawk	Ford	4th	33rd
1969	Brawner Hawk	Ford	2nd	1st
1970	McNamara	Ford	8th	6th
1971	McNamara	Ford	9th	30th
1972	Parnelli	Offy	5th	8th
1973	Parnelli	Offy	6th	30th
1974	Eagle	Offy	5th	31st
1975	Eagle	Offy	27th	28th
1976	McLaren	Offy	19th	8th
1977	McLaren	Cosworth	6th	26th
1978	Penske	Cosworth	33rd	12th
1980	Penske	Cosworth	2nd	20th
1981	Wildcat	Cosworth	32nd	2nd
1982	Wildcat	Cosworth	4th	31st
1983	Lola	Cosworth	11th	23rd
1984	Lola	Cosworth	6th	17th
1985	Lola	Cosworth	4th	2nd
1986	Lola	Cosworth	30th	32nd
1987	Lola	Chevrolet	1st	9th
1988	Lola	Chevrolet	4th	20th
1989	Lola	Chevrolet	5th	4th
1990	Lola	Chevrolet	6th	27th
1991	Lola	Chevrolet	3rd	7th
1992	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	3rd	23rd
1993	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	2nd	5th
1994	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	9th	32nd

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Trivia. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
^ Biography. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Schwartz, Larry. Mario Andretti synonymous with racing. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. ESPN. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c Biography. International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
^ NASCAR and IROC driving statistics. racing-reference.info. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
^ Watkins, Gary (June 2006). "The dream isn't over". Motorsport LXXXII No. 6: 39 - 42.
^ Taylor, Simon (March 2007). "Lunch with ... Mario Andretti". Motorsport LXXXIII: 33 - 42.
^ The Questor Grand Prix www.forix.com Retrieved 14 March 2007
^ Gill, Barrie (ed.) (1976). The World Championship 1975 - John Player Motorsport yearbook 1976. Queen Anne Press Ltd., pp.37 & 120. ISBN 0-362-00254-1.
^ Roebuck, Nigel (1986). Grand Prix Greats. Patrick Stephens Ltd, p.24. ISBN 0-85059-792-7.
^ Roebuck (1986) pp.21-22}
^ The Andrettis. www.superspeedway.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
^ Andretti to test Honda F1 car. ITV (2006-12-10). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.

[edit] External links

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Mario Andretti

Preceded by Richard Petty	Daytona 500 Winner 1967	Succeeded by Cale Yarborough
Preceded by Bobby Unser	Indianapolis 500 Winner 1969	Succeeded by Al Unser
Preceded by Niki Lauda	Formula One World Champion 1978	Succeeded by Jody Scheckter
Preceded by Al Unser	IROC Champion IROC VI (1979)	Succeeded by Bobby Allison
Preceded by Al Unser	CART Series Champion 1984	Succeeded by Al Unser