Andretti, Mario
Auto racing
b. Feb. 28, 1940, Montona, Italy
Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo began in Formula Junior Racing, Italy's answer to Little League Baseball, when they were 13. Two years later the Andretti family came to the United States and settled in Nazareth, PA. The twins worked in an uncle's garage and began racing a modified 1948 Hudson, taking turns behind the wheel. In their first four races, each of them won twice.
Aldo crashed, fracturing his skull, in the fifth start. That didn't stop the twins from racing, but their father refused to speak to them for a time. Aldo married and got out of racing while Mario climbed through the ranks, getting his first Indy car ride in 1964. He qualified fourth fastest in the 1965 Indianapolis 500, finished third in the race, and went on to win the Indy Car championship, finishing in the top four in 10 of his 17 starts.
Andretti was champion again in 1966, then began to try other kinds of racing. He won NASCAR's Daytona 500 in 1967, and in 1968 he got his first Formula One ride in the U. S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, where he qualified first but was forced out early by clutch trouble. After finishing second in the Indy car championship in 1967 and 1968, he won the title again in 1969, when he had nine victories, including his first in the Indy 500.
For several years, Andretti tried juggling Indy car, Formula One, and CanAm racing, but with little success. He began to concentrate on Formula One in 1977, winning four events, and in 1978 he won six races and became the second American to win the World Driving Championship (the first was Phil Hill). He is the only driver ever to win an Indy car championship and the WDC.
Andretti returned to Indy car racing full-time in 1982 and two years later he won his fourth championship. However, he never managed to win the Indy 500 for a second time, although it seemed he had for a time in 1981. Bobby Unser beat him by 8 seconds in that race, but the following day Unser was penalized a lap for passing cars under a yellow caution flag and Andretti was declared the winner. Four months later an appeal panel reversed the ruling and fined Unser $40,000, while returning the victory. Andretti also finished second in the 1985 Indy 500 and he won his fourth Indy car championship in 1987.
Only A. J. Foyt can come close to Andretti for longevity and versatility. Andretti won the USAC dirt track title in 1974, when he also fell just 8 points shy of the Formula 5000 championship. He's the only person to be named Driver of the Year in three different decades, 1967, 1978, and 1984. He's one of only three drivers to win races on paved ovals, road courses, and dirt tracks in a single season, and he accomplished that four times. He's second to Foyt in all-time Indy car victories, with 52, is the career leader in pole positions with 67, and is fifth in earnings with $10,887,392--and that doesn't include more than $1 million won in other types of racing.
In 1991, Andretti was seventh in the Indy-Car point standings. His son Michael won the championship that year and in 1992 Mario, Michael, and Mario's nephew, John, all finished in top ten. Mario retired during the 1994 season.