Worst injuries were a separated shoulder in 1985 and foot injuries at Andretti remained relatively injury-free during his long career: His.During a practice lap before the qualifying sessions for the 1977 Indyĥ00, Andretti became the first driver to top 200 miles per hour at.
He caught the eye of Clint Brawner, chief mechanic and car designer for racing enthusiast and sponsor Al Dean of Dean Van Lines, who provided Andretti's first professional support. In 1963, as a member of the American Race Drivers Club, he drove midgets up and down the East Coast. In 1961, Andretti joined the United Racing Club and raced sprint cars on the eastern circuit until mid-1962. Gigi, who disapproved of racing, found out only because Aldo was in a serious accident in 1959 afterwards, their father refused to attend either of his sons' races until 1964. It took years for Mario and Aldo's father Gigi to find out they were engaged in amateur racing because he understood little English and couldn't read the local newspapers. But that same year, the 19-year-old Andretti falsified a drivers license so he could pass for 21 and enter an amateur motor race. In 1959, four years after coming to America, Andretti completed his high school degree through a correspondence course and planned to become a welder. But his boyhood hero was Alberto Ascari, an Italian driver. Andretti remembers seeing a movie about racing, "To Please a Lady," with his twin brother Aldo and being impressed by how debonair Clark Gable was. Despite its Italian cultural heritage, Montona, where Andretti was born,Īnd the rest of the Istrian Peninsula became part of Yugoslavia after World War II. This would be Andretti's only Indy 500 victory in 29 attempts. The only reason Andretti didn't finish even farther ahead was that his car had a tendency to overheat and therefore consumed inordinate quantities of gas, so he had to slow down several times. However, he straightened out in time and, running at a record average of 156.867 miles per hour, cruised to victory by two laps over Dan Gurney. 2 turn of the 150th lap when he got caught in the draft of another car, turned sideways, and almost hit the wall. 
Victory was virtually assured when his strongest challengers - Lloyd Ruby (after 105 laps), Roger McCluskey (157) and Foyt (181) - all were forced to drop out.Īndretti's biggest concern came on the No. Foyt on the first turn to take the lead, a spot he held for 116 of the 200 laps. In today's race, Andretti, starting from the No. Andretti, chief mechanic Clint Brawner and the rest of owner Andy Granatelli's team worked around the clock to prepare the backup vehicle, a Hawk-Ford. Ten days earlier, Andretti had wrecked his Lotus-Ford in a practice run. In his fifth attempt, Mario Andretti finally won the Indy 500. Andretti's only Indy 500 win came in 1969
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