Mario Andretti

IBTBTAWP!

 

and very nice guy. met him the for first time in monaco in 1978. kinda short too

 

Now you just look stupid, Darth550........
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He's a very good Driving Instructor.

He once observed to me, watching my Team practice:
"To make them go faster, you have to pay them MORE money...."

..and his delivery was SO deadpan and perfect!
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He raced for Ferrari in the early seventies and then again in 1982 after the loss of Gilles.

Here a few shots I took of him at the German GP in Hockenheim 1981.
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I like this one, at home in Napa Valley, CA....
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As seen at Barber Motorsports Park this past May, with promoter Bobby Rahal:
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Darn, if they'd cropped the water bottle, we could have seen her (well tanned) head!!!

 

Just saw this....

DAYUM Tex, I didn't know you had more than one picture of a-n-y-b-o-d-y......

 

I've met Mario on 3 seperated occasions. The 1st and 3rd were very brief. The second I was able to chat with him for about 10 minutes. Very cool!

Here are some shots from 2008 when after he completed a Presentation run in a Non-Ferrari F1 Car at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Pic 1 - Speaking to Mechanic and current owner of the F1 car - Owner is Duncan Dayton. Another cool gentleman.

Pic 2 - All smiles after the run.
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my path crossed Mario's in around circa 1991. i wish i could say it was a pleasant experience, but alas it was not.

he had just won an indy race at michigan international speedway. after the winners podium, there is a 10 minute photo session where someone had a stack of about 30 different baseball hats from the team sponsors. put on a hat, take a pic, take off hat, put on another hat, take a pic, etc. at the end of the session, a little boy about 7 years old walked up to Mario, asked him if he could please get one of the hats with an autograph. Mario said something to the effect of "not in this lifetime kid". he walked about 20 feet and threw all of the hats on the ground on his way back to his bus. it looked like a shark feeding frenzy where everyone standing around lunged on the pile. the poor kid didn't get a hat out of the deal. i saw him walk off crying. it kind of pi$$ed me off.

 

Mario was just starting out when my family met him. My cousins built engines and cars. Sprint and migits out of maple wood nj. We gave him a break. He drove for us. His engine that he won Indy with is in my cousins shop sort of a momento. I have some fond memories of Mario and Michael. Michael and I were about the same age. When my cousins parent died back in the 80s Mario was very thoughtful and sent flowers to the funeral. He never forgot his 1st ride.

 

Mario was signing autographs and posters at a Nazareth Indycar race; I introduced him to my son, Peterson-and mentioned I named him after Ronnie. Mario said 'the day I won the F1 championship was one of the best and worst days of my life', since Ronnie was injured that day and died shortly after. He seemed to tear up a bit.