The Andretti family eventually immigrated to the United States in 1955 and settled in the community of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. As a child, Mario Andretti idolized Italian race car driver Mr. Alberto Ascari, who later died in automobile accident on May, 26 1955. Mario and his twin brother loved auto-racing and even as children would play together making automotive racing engine sounds in their home.
During the early years, the two Andretti brothers entered into the Formula Junior Racing Program that was developed for young adults. They both grew to be very successful with racing. However, at an early age, Mario's brother Aldo crashed his vehicle, was hospitalized, and later was in a coma due to the unfortunate incident. Mario's journey started in the 1950's when he and his brother rebuilt and modified a 1948 Hudson model.
In 1959, Mario won nine consecutive featured races at the Nazareth Pennsylvania Speedway. Interestingly enough, his own father was not informed about his special racing events that took place. He didn’t want his parents to worry about his safety. His first open-cockpit win came in 1962, in Hatfield, Pennsylvania driving an Offenhauser Midget racing car that was owned by Bill and Ed Mataka of Maplewood New Jersey. In 1963, he won three feature races at two different tracks on Labor Day.
Mario became an American citizen in April of 1964. Mario said, "This is the proudest day of my life!" In 1965, after a third-place finish, Andretti was named rookie of the year in Indianapolis. He later went on his first full season of major league racing and became the U.S. Auto Club titleholder. In 1966, Mario Andretti and his Ford powered Hawk race car were honored by the Ford Division as the man who did the most for the sport.
Andretti won eight championship car races that season and set a host of track records. He was also active in stock car and sports car racing and received a prestigious award that was given at the annual Ford Motorsports banquet. Mario's great success continued and in 1967, he won a USAC Stock car race and finished seventh in the season points. He won three 1974 USAC stock car races on road courses and won four road course races in 1975.
In 1978, Andretti received an award titled "Formula One World Championship". Andretti felt this was a great honor that was attested to his passion for driving and the sport of racing. Andretti continued to race into the history books, but in 1981 however, there was little reason to celebrate. Mario once said this was due to the fact that there were problems with the ground effect racing cars at the time and the cars were becoming very crude, with no suspension movement.
In 1989, Mario's son Michael participated with the Newman/Hass racing team and together they made history as the first father/son racing team to compete in both IMSA GT and Champ Car racing events. This was truly an honor and a privilege for the Andretti family. Not only were they a part of racing history but they also were able to continue their families legacy. Both of Mario Andretti's sons, Michael and Jeff, were auto racers.
In 1993, Mario won his last Indy-car race at Phoenix which was a great moment in history and in his career. Mario Andretti retired from active racing at the end of 1994. In all, Andretti has won over a hundred major races including the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 Formula One Championship and the 12 hours of Sebring. He also was the winner of "Pikes Peake Hill Climb" and named driver of the year and driver of the century.
In conclusion, Mario Andretti was a true champion and won many great races throughout the country. Some have considered him as one of the best race car drivers in the world. His name will always be a legend among racing fans. From dirt cars to Formula 1 racing cars Mario was a great celebrity and leader among race car enthusiasts and will always have a special place in automotive racing history as one of the best. Mario was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001 and was inducted into the Automotive Hall Of Fame in 2005.
A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating the story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs are courtesy of the National Automotive History Collection. (Bibliography: Markiewicz David. "Mario's Going Like 60 At 55”. Detroit News 6-9-95. Snodgrass Donna. "Faithful Fan". The Indianapolis Star. Sunday May 11, 1980. Libby Bill. "Mario Andretti First Place Is All That Is Worth Anything. I Won't Settle For Anything But No 1" Car Life magazine, June 1966)
For further information on photos please visit http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/ or email nahc@detroitpubliclibrary.org. Please do not republish the story and/or photographs without permission of MotorCities National Heritage Area. For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org.
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