When we were saying our good-byes after the banquet I said, “Colin, someday I would like to do Formula 1.” And he said, “Mario, when you think you’re ready you call me and I will have a car for you.” Can you imagine that? How I felt? I felt like I was ten feet tall at that moment. At the banquet the following day, I befriended both of them personally because I was interested in Formula 1. Mario: In my rookie year in ’65, Jim Clark won Indy. #61 Mario Andretti wins 9 Indy-car races in 1969, including Indy 500.Whenever we negotiated contracts I never even worried about (the exclusivity they required) because I figured, “I’m gonna do it anyway.” So what was he gonna do? They gonna fire me? I’ll give you a for instance: In the championship year with Colin Chapman, he was paying me very well, and this contract, clearly, I was forbidden to drive anything else. Every contract I’ve had forbade me from doing something else. Mario: When it’s asked of various drivers whether they’d be interested in moving around, all I hear is, “Oh well, you know, my contract.” Every contract they want to own you. Q: You’ve won everything on four wheels, the Daytona 500, you’ve won your class at Le Mans, Formula 1 you have a world championship, you look at the kids racing today and they’re very focused on just one discipline. So I go back and I recount all these memories and in so many ways I know just how blessed I’ve been throughout my career. So that year I drove stock cars, Indy cars, Formula 1, Can-Am, midgets, and sprint cars in the dirt. And then the midget race after that at Houston Astrodome, and on and on. From Riverside I went to South Africa for the Formula 1 race. My first race that season was the Riverside Motor Trend 500 stock cars and then the last race was a Formula 5000 at Sebring. In ’69 I raced in seven different categories. At that point my career was on a pretty good swing. Mario: It brings back a lot of fond memories. Question: How’s it feel to be experiencing the 50 th anniversary of your Indy 500 win? Mario Andretti: Racing royalty has no intention of slowing down.For instance, when asked his favorite memory about the then-upcoming Long Beach Grand Prix he said, “Winning!” He sat with the press for a while before the gala dinner award ceremony and answered questions, told a few stories, recalled a few competitors and never seemed to run out of details about which race he won and what happened in the ones he didn’t. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Petersen Museum’s celebration of the 50 th anniversary of his Indy 500 win. He even won Pikes Peak and set a record at Bonneville.Īndretti recently came out to the West Coast to accept the Robert E. He won the Formula 1 world championship in 1978 driving a Lotus, he won four Ind圜ar titles, he won the Daytona 500, he won his class at Le Mans and in between all that he had a very successful career driving midgets and sprint cars. He’s certainly one of the most versatile. You could make a pretty good argument that he is the greatest race car driver ever, too. Ask any old lady or young kid or anyone in between to name a “race car driver” and they’ll almost undoubtedly say, “ Mario Andretti.” It is utterly impossible that you’re on this website and you don’t already know Mario Andretti.
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