If you want to talk about Mario Andretti, start with the number 111. It’s a powerful number on the face of it, combining the number 1 and lucky 11. It’s also the number of checkered flags Mario took in his legendary five-decade career. He could make a bad car competitive and a competitive car victorious - on any track, on any surface - including ovals, road courses, drag strips, dirt, and pavement. He won some of the greatest races in the world, including the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. He was the Ind圜ar National Champion four times. He was a three-time winner at Sebring and won the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. He won races in sports cars, sprint cars, and stock cars.Īs far as honors go, let’s just say the trophy case is full to bursting. Andretti was named Driver of the Year in three different decades (the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s), Driver of the Quarter Century (in the ’90s), and Driver of the Century in 2000. A fearsome competitor, he’s surprisingly modest about the accolades. “Well, you know,” he says, a trace of an accent betraying his immigration from Italy in 1955, “it’s the ultimate compliment to receive these honors. So to be the one selected, I can only say, ‘Oh my God!’” I competed against racers I admired and drew inspiration from. That phrase, “Oh my God!” is a frequent one. It comes up when talking about how overwhelmed he was to win a race or even to realize his youthful dream of competing in auto racing at all. It also comes up when he talks about the miracle of coming to this country at 15 and adopting it for his own, becoming an exemplar of the American Dream. But the expression never seems overused, because so many of Andretti’s experiences have an actual oh-my-God quality to them. The future superstar of racing and his twin brother were born in Montona, Italy, in 1940. Montona, which is now part of Croatia, is about 35 miles from the city of Trieste, inland from the Adriatic Sea. Their father was self-employed and had made a decent life for the family owning and managing seven farms - mostly wheat fields and grapes.
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