A man who won for Ferrari in F1 and sports cars, along with a lot of other cars! Image Unavailable, Please Login
It seems to me he was still racing yesterday . Mario had an unbelievable career and was one of the best drivers from the US, if not the best in fact. Happy Birthday Mario !!!!!!!
At the 2011 Barber Historics, Mario was the Grand Marshal. He hosted a Q&A session for the fans, and I asked the first (obvious) question: What was it like to drive for Enzo Ferrari? Mario answered the question fairly, not really saying anything new, but it was good to hear it coming directly from him. Well, the next guy, presumably a Lotus owner asked: What was it like to drive for Colin Chapman? It occurred to me then that Mario was one of the few drivers, perhaps the only driver, to drive for both teams while their iconic leaders were still alive! I still find it significant that Mario won the pole in his first GP (in a Lotus) and his last GP (in a Ferrari)! He won in Formula 1, IndyCar (on pavement and on dirt), sports cars, stock cars (the Daytona 500) and even, one year, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb!
Decades ago Mario was involved in a VHS video "Drive to Win." I watched it over and over before I started vintage racing. The big lesson was from Mario just talking. Two things stuck with me and guided me on track..."Most drivers take the fast turns too slow and the slow turns too fast." And (with a bit of paraphrasing) "When you get into a race car you have to know who you are." This last one was about having reality check with yourself. When I did, I acknowledged my limits and had a lot of fun...even winning my class in a race...which I knew was about as good as I was going to be. Here's hoping Mario (and all of us) are around for another 20 years.
Let's not forget Mario won the 12 Hours of Sebring overall three times including the legendary drive in 1970 when he was put into the Ferrari 512M and chased down the lead Porsche 908 of Steve McQueen and Peter Revson, passing for the lead with mere minutes remaining. He counts that among his best wins. Also, let's not forget, while Mario was winning the World Championship for Lotus in 1978, he was coming back to the U.S. and running Sprint Car (on dirt) and Indy Car races during his "off weekends". Perhaps the most versatile driver of all time. A guy who could take a race (regardless of the what form of racing) by the scruff of the neck. The only other driver who could come close to Mario was Tom Kristensen. BHW
Mario was as good in USAC dirt cars as he was on pavement. I wonder how today's IndyCar drivers would do on dirt? There are a few recent and current NASCAR drivers who have some experience in those cars: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson. But I'm not sure anyone on today's IndyCar roster have done so.
I first saw Mario drive the 312B at the Questor Grand Prix at OMS in 1971. That was the famous, never-to-be repeated race between all the F1 teams and the U.S. and Canadian F5000 teams. In both heats, Mario spotted JYS a few seconds and then ran him down and beat him both times. Mario's teammate, Jacky Ickx, was never a factor. Then, I saw him drive the Lotus 79 at Zolder in his World Championship year, leaving the field far behind. I think he is is one of the most versatile, naturally talented drivers of all time. Give him a car...any kind of car...and he could figure out a way to win with it. Happy birthday, Mario, and many, many more!
As a kid, you could not watch the Indy 500 on TV. So I listened to the race on the radio that Mario won. Go get them Mario! Never slow down. Image Unavailable, Please Login
One of the few, but not the only one: Jacky Ickx (Ferrari F1 in 1968, then 1970 to 1973; Lotus F1 in 1974 and 1975) Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari F1 in 1977 and 1978, Lotus F1 in 1979). You could also consider Ronnie Peterson who ran some race for Ferrari in Sport during 1972 and drove for Lotus F1 as we all now in 1973, 74, 75 early 76 and again 1978, but I wouldn't bet he actually met Enzo Ferrari for the small number of races he drove the 312PB. Nigel Mansell also drove for Colin Chapman in F1, and was recruted to the Scuderia by the old man Himself, some say, in 1988; but he never actually drove for him. Rgds
You could also add John Surtees, who drove some races for Lotus in his rookie (4-wheel) year of 1960, while he was still also racing bikes, and of course won the world title for Ferrari. I believe that Mario was the only driver to win Grand Prix races for both Enzo and Colin.
I think that Jacky Ickx won the Race of Champions for Lotus, a F1 race but not a Grand Prix. Nigel won for Ferrari(his debut) but after the old man's passing.
True for Jacky Ickx: the 1974 Race of Champions, with a master drive under the rain, during which he stole the victory from a young Niki Lauda (who has just turned 70 a few days ago, can you believe that? Carlos Reutemann will turn 77 on April 12th; my, my, my how time flies...) https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-1974/31/race-champions Rgds
According to Wikipedia, it was a 72, which they also used in the first two GPs of the year, the 76 not being ready yet. As it transpired, the 76 was a mistake that never won anything.
...and, to close our loop with the original post, the Lotus 76 (let's not forget it was the first F1 car with two pedals only, btw...) or, more exactly, the JPS-1, as its development has been entirely paid by John Player, started a period of doldrums for Lotus: they reverted to the trusted, but old 72 in 1974, with which Ronnie Peterson was able to win three Grand Prix. But in 1975, the 72 was obsolete, and they didn't score anything worthwhile. Jacky Ickx left in the middle of the 1975 season. Ronnie Peterson started the 1976 season alongside Gunnar Nilsson, but soon left for March; his seat was taken by one Mario Andretti, when Parnelli folded its Formual One effort, who patiently turned the Lotus 77 into a winner again, this for the last race of the 1976 season, the Japan Grand Prix, better remembered as the title decider between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Then, in 1977 appeared the famous ground effect Lotus 78, which marked a true aerodynamical breakthrough. Some say that during the second half of 1974 and during 1975, Chapman had somewhat lost heart at Formula One. He certainly had been disappointed by the Lotus 76; when the Parnelli Formula One appeared for the first time at the United States Grand Prix at the end of 1974, drawn by Maurice Philippe who had done the Lotus 72 four years earlier, Chapman looked closely at the Parnelli in disbelief and said: "This car is what I have been asking my engineers to do for at least two years". Rgds
