


1971 S. Africa
1976 Japan
1977 USA
1977 Spain
1977 France
1977 Italy
1978 Argentina
1978 Belgium
1978 Spain
1978 France
1978 Germany
1978 Holland
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 Mario Andretti was born in Montona, Italy, on February 28,
1940, just three months before Mussolini worked up the courage to throw in his lot with
Hitler, and thrust Italy into World War II. At the cessation of hostilities the Andrettis
found that their homeland was destined to become part of post-war Yugoslavia. They became
refugees from Communism, spending several years in a camp at Tuscani. In 1954 Mario's
interest in motor racing was quickened by a visit to Monza to see the great Ascari compete
in the Italian Grand Prix. The following year his family emigrated to the United States,
making their new home in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
When Mario started racing on dirt ovals around Nazareth in 1959 in an old Hudson,
he was not the only racing Andretti. His twin brother, Aldo, competed on the same tracks
indeed in the same car. Unfortunately, an accident put a premature end to Aldo's career.
Mario, however, kept on. On a single autumn day in 1963 he won three midget races on 2
separate tracks. In 1964 he began competing in USAC sprint car and Indy car races. He had
the maturity to turn down and Indianapolis 500 ride that year, feeling that he needed more
racing experience. When he did enter the Big Race for the first time the next year, he
took third and Rookie of the Year honors.
Mark Twain is said to have
agreed with the aphorism that if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, with the
qualification that after that you should quit - there's no sense making a damn fool of
yourself. Andretti achieved success at Andretti was already a Daytona 500 winner, Sebring
winner, 2-time USAC champion and 4-time Indianapolis 500 competitor when he entered his
first F1 race. It was in 1968 at Watkins Glen in a Lotus 49B, and it promised great
things, to say the least. Much to the chagrin of his competitors he took pole position.
Oh, sure, they said. Its his home track. Actually he had never driven at the Glen before.
Unfortunately, in the race he DNFed as his Lotus more or less fell apart under him. He
DNFed away his whole 1969 season, a grand total of 3 races. Of course, that year he was
busy elsewhere, winning the 500, the USAC championship for a third time and the Pikes Peak
Hill Climb.
During many of his F1 years, Andretti was a
Concorde commuter, shuttling back and forth across the Atlantic at a dizzying pace in
order to compete both in Grands Prix and in USAC events. This necessarily caused him to
miss some F1 races each season through 1972, eliminating any chance at the championship.
In 1970 he started 5 F1 races in a March, in the process logging his first finish in a
championship race: a third at Spain. At South Africa in 1971, in his first time out in a
Ferrari, he won his first race. He immediately followed this up by winning both heats of
the non-championship Questor Grand Prix at Ontario, a Frankenstein race that pitted F1
cars against U.S. Formula 5000 machines. The remainder of '71 and the '72 season saw him
compete in 9 more races for Ferrari with only mediocre results.
Prior to 1976 one might have wagered money that,
should Andretti be destined to achieve great things in F1, considering his background the
fates would decree that it be with the Prancing Horse of Maranello. Curiously, though,
this was not to be. He left Ferrari at the end of 1972, and when a 2 year ride (he skipped
the '73 season to concentrate on USAC events) in the eminently forgettable Parnelli
evaporated with that team early in '76, it was back to Lotus that he turned for his next
F1 opportunity. Andretti's hook-up with Colin Chapman at Long
Beach was a godsend to both. The then out-of-luck Andretti eventually got a fabulous car -
the ground effects Lotus 79 - with which to win the '78 championship. The then out-of-luck
Chapman got a no-nonsense driver with the critical eye and gritty determination required
to shake out both Team Lotus and its suspect cars.
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A Driving Passion is the first complete history of Mario’s thirty-six-year career. Some highlights include:
- Mario’s remarkable 1968 Formula One debut, when he stunned the racing establishment by winning the pole and setting a track record in his first event at Watkins Glen.
- The triumph and tragedy of his 1978 season with Lotus, when he won the Formula One World Championship, but lost his friend and teammate Ronnie Peterson to an accident at Monza.
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Lavishly illustrated with the work of top racing photographers and memorabilia from Mario’s own scrapbooks, the book includes pictures of nearly all of the 167 cars that helped build the Andretti legend. These include everything from his first homemade Hudson stock car to such milestone machines as Clint Brawner’s Indy-winning Hawk and Colin Chapman’s revolutionary ground-effect, Lotus 79. |
Andretti declared the 1976
Lotus 77 to be a dog, but won a pole and race with it anyway, both at Japan. In 1977
Chapman pulled out of his magic hat the Lotus 78, the first real "wing car."
Andretti piloted it to victory at Long Beach, and it looked so promising early in the year
that people started talking championship for him and Lotus. Its season sank, however,
following teething problems with a new version of the Cosworth engine.
The 78 carried Andretti and Lotus through the first
5 races of 1978 gaining him 1 victory. Zolder was the debut of the Lotus 79, the ultimate
in ground effects. In an accomplishment reminiscent of the Lotus 49 at Zandvoort 11 years
earlier, the 79 took pole and the win its first time out. Andretti kept it up with wins at
Spain, France, Germany and Holland. So dominant was Lotus in 1978 that Andretti's major
competition for the title was his teammate, SuperSwede Ronnie
Peterson. Andretti came to Monza leading Peterson by 12 points. At the start, James
Hunt was punted into Peterson by another car. Peterson's car in turn hit the Armco heavily
and burst into flames. The race was red-flagged as Hunt, Patrick Depailler, Clay Regazzoni
and race marshals worked bravely to free Peterson.
The accident had been
frightening to witness, but Peterson was taken away to the hospital with only severely
broken legs and minor burns. Andretti made the second start thinking that his teammate was
going to be OK. After chasing down Gilles Villeneuve and
finishing first on the track, Andretti was relegated to sixth for jumping the restart.
This was sufficient, though, under the circumstances, to clinch the championship.
At first Peterson's injuries appeared to be
survivable, but the severe trauma to his legs caused blood clots to form in his
circulatory system. He died the next morning. Needless to say, this tragedy doused much of
Andretti's immediate enjoyment of his triumph. With the passage of time, however, Monza
1978, though it is certainly remembered as a dark day in Grand Prix history, is now
equally well remembered as the day that Mario Andretti became only the second American to
capture the World Driving Championship.
Some may argue that Andretti rode the phenomenal 79
to his championship. But it should be remembered that the 79, like most of Chapman's cars,
existed just this side of the line dividing the unconquerable from the undrivable. Merely
setting up a Lotus was often enough to drive strong men to distraction. Andretti joined Moss, Clark, Graham
Hill, Rindt, Fittipaldi and Peterson in the select group
possessing sufficient skill to bring schizophrenic Lotus machinery to near its full
potential.
Andretti had won his last F1
race. He competed for 4 more seasons, 2 with Lotus, 1 with Alfa Romeo, and 3 races in 1982
with Williams and, once again, Ferrari. At Monza that year, his next to last F1 race, he
very authoritatively put his Ferrari on the pole to the delight of the tifosi, amongst
who's ranks he had once been numbered. Typical Andretti - going out with class.

At 42 Andretti was a little long in the tooth for an
F1 driver, but his racing career was far from over. For more than a decade he continued to
threaten a second victory at Indy. He had the privilege of going wheel-to-wheel with his
son, Michael, in Indy cars. In 1992 at the age of 52 he captured a 230 mph pole at
Michigan International Speedway. Driving high performance race cars is a severe physical
and psychological challenge. Just going at very high speed inflicts extreme stress on a
driver's body. Many wondered how long Andretti would continue, or, for that matter, how he
had continued for so long. Andretti's Italian-American
drawl and legendary coolness behind the wheel hid a fierce competitive spirit. It is
possible that no other driver in the history of motor racing has had as much success while
simultaneously having to put out as much effort for that success. Andretti's physical and
mental makeup were perfectly suited, as perhaps no other driver's has been, to the demands
of racing. Through all those years and all those trials Andretti was never petulant,
juvenile or devious, which is a great deal more than can be said for a lot of other top
rank drivers in the Grand Prix pressure cooker. Sure he could lose his temper on occasion.
Making your living at 170 mph will cause that. But his behavior was invariably a credit to
his profession.

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Despite a career that touched 5 decades, Andretti
did not, at the end, fade away into obscurity. He would never have tolerated that. He was
still winning in his 50's. At Phoenix in 1993, the year of his son's abortive try at F1,
he took his last Indy car victory. As this is written it is not at all certain that at
some time he won't turn up again at, say, Le Mans to give his competitive instincts a
little more exercise. But, of course, only if he has a chance to win. We might see
Mario Andretti at the wheel of a race car in his 90's.
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