Showing posts with label Mario Andretti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mario Andretti. Show all posts

Monday, June 03, 2019

Did you know Mario Andretti got his start in a downhill cart built by a carpenter? Mario Andretti, one of the most successful drivers in racing history, the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the Formula One World Championship.

Mario and his twin brother Aldo were born in Montona, Italy in 1940. Imagine Montona: a sleepy, medieval town set atop a cone-shaped hill in the Italian countryside. To get to the highest point, you need to climb 1,052 steps, the longest stairway in the world. And from the summit, the view of the Quieto river valley with its picturesque vineyards and fertile fields is absolutely breathtaking. In the surrounding forests, residents gather world-renowned truffles using specially trained dogs. Within Montona itself, children play freely, peacefully and happily on pristine cobblestone streets, amid ancient churches and the famous bell tower constructed in the 13th century.

That was Montona as the Andretti family knew it. But World War II broke out around the time Mario and Aldo were born and when it ended in 1945 the town was forever changed. Montona, located on the Istrian peninsula, was ceded to Yugoslavia as part of the post-war political settlement and the town they loved fell under Communist rule. The family stuck it out for three years hoping that the only world they had ever known would right itself. But when things hadn't changed by 1948, the family of five decided to leave Montona knowing their lives would never amount to anything under Communist doctrine. Their first stop was a central dispersement camp in Udine. About a week later, they were transferred to a refugee camp in Lucca.

Today the town of Montona is part of Croatia and is called Motovun.

https://www.marioandretti.com/montona
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-mario-andretti-one-of-the-fastest-americans-ever-discovered-his-speed-1533047673

Friday, January 19, 2018

Indy 500 team owner wins

Andretti earned his fifth Indianapolis 500 victory as a team owner, each with a different driver. Andretti also was the winning owner in 2005 with Dan Wheldon, 2007 with Dario Franchitti, 2014 with Ryan Hunter-Reay and 2016 with Alexander Rossi.

Ironically, three of those five winners were with different teams the following year. Wheldon left for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006, Franchitti left for Ganassi’s NASCAR team in 2008 and Sato in 2018.

Andretti is tied with Chip Ganassi for second on the all-time Indianapolis 500 victory list among team owners. Four of Ganassi's wins came as owner of Chip Ganassi Racing, with the fifth as co-owner of Pat Patrick Racing in 1989. Roger Penske leads all owners with 16 victories in 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'

http://autoweek.com/article/indycar/takuma-sato-michael-andretti-receive-baby-borg-trophies-indy-500-win

Thursday, October 05, 2017

get a Kleenex before reading, you might need it. Bobby Unser interview in Auto Week magazine had a cool story to tell. A SALUTE of the day to Mario Andretti for making up with Bobby Unser while they are still alive (77 and 83 years old)

Auto Week question: You win the race in 1981 after one of the most controversial race days in Indy 500 history. You finish first, but the win is taken away and handed to Mario Andretti because you passed cars under caution.
Then the next day, the call is reversed and you regain the win. Does all that still stick out for you?

Bobby Unser reply: It stuck in me for a long time -- really hard.

Mario was one of my very closest friends. He was hard to beat. He went fast.

But he cheated by saying I passed all those cars, which I damn sure did. He passed them all, too!

It turns out I was totally right. It was legal. But Mario got excited seeing me get away like that.

 I was going to beat him. I had passed him three or four times in the race. My car was faster than any of the other cars. Jackie Stewart talked about it on TV and said what I did was illegal.

That stirred it up. If Bobby was wrong, how could Mario be right? It was all on tape.

My recent hospital stay was bad, for four or five days, it was pretty close. Guess who I got a phone call from?

 First time since 1981, from Mario. He just wanted to talk.

 It went really good. I hate to say it, but I’m a hard person. I know that. I can be pretty ornery.

But I got a tear in my eye. I really did. He knows I like him. He knows how close we used to be. We used to room together on the road.

 You can’t believe how much better it made me feel talking to him. I hadn’t talked to him in so many years, I didn’t recognize his voice.

 I asked who it was. He said, “Damn it, it’s me, Mario.”

You know, I don’t need another car or another airplane. Talking to Mario did me good. It was good for my health. Got me over some of the grudge I had.

http://autoweek.com/article/indycar/inside-unserville-visit-racing-legend-bobby-unser-his-home-albuquerque

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

name dropping Ak Miller, Art Chrisman, Danny Eames, Chickie Hirashima, and Mario Andretti. What one thing did they all work on? This indy engined Mustang on Bonneville, nitro powered


a 255-inch Ford Indy engine and a basically stock fastback.

They were shooting for a run at 200 mph during the private Bonneville timing session scheduled by Arfons and two streamliner teams.

After successfully setting both D/Production Sedan FIA records at 136.645 (standing kilometer) and 150.134 (standing five-mile), they tipped the can for back-to-back nitromethanated blasts of 171 and 175 before a burned piston ended the outing.

From start to finish, the ambitious project spanned just 34 days in late October and early November.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/funny-cars-can-trans-women-racers-emerge-1966-2/#031-struggles-1966-static-display-mustang-ohc-indy-engine-front-overhead

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Mario is back for more racing!




http://www.firestonetire.com/raceandretti
https://www.facebook.com/FirestoneTires/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE9SvlcWeZrbRTKdGC4Zn9w

The Race Andretti program will feature four challenges, including
The Keychain 500, in which fans can race Mario in adding a key to a key ring,
The Can Opener 500,
The Egg Peel 500
and The Chopsticks 500

Firestone has created another series of fun challenges to help all of us get back into race mode for the Indy 500,” said Andretti. “I love a good competition and I’m looking forward to seeing fans push themselves to perform these tasks like never before.”

https://www.bridgestoneamericas.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2017/racing-legend-mario-andretti-competes-against-fans-in-firestone-







Friday, February 10, 2017

in the latest issue of the Hagerty magazine, they did a cover feature on the Corvair, startling photo of why Nader was scared of it... but they have conclusive data that it's actually safe.


On very authentic tires even, they tested it. Yeah, looks scary, but, lots of race cars go around corners on three wheels... https://www.facebook.com/HagertyClassicCars/photos/a.117703904926013.14865.114612551901815/1561753210521068/

the recommended tire pressure for a Corvair was 15 psi fronts, and 26 psi rear


Ralp Nader with that `60 Corvair at the Cobo Center, July 2016. Photo credit Pete Koehler

Even Sir Stirling Moss and Mario Andretti took the stand to defend the car:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/10/10/page/210/article/i-love-my-corvair

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

The Holman Moody Honker, tested by Andretti, and he called it the worst race car he'd ever driven


Andretti praised Holman Moody for exceptional Nascar racers, and he should know...he won in Nascar too, but he said they didn't get it with sports cars. Again, he knows these things.

Here's something I found interesting about the Honker, it's chassis was designed by the same guy that designed the Ford GT, Len Bailey... Alan Mann Racing developed the chassis, but running the program and building the engines was up to Holman Moody

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/870/Holman-and-Moody-Honker-II-Ford.html

Monday, January 02, 2017

Mario Andretti with the M6B, the “429’er, actually 494 ci, 8.1 liters


They claimed 720 horsepower from this monster and Andretti said he could get wheelspin in any gear any time; he said the acceleration was so great he had trouble reaching the gearshift.

Unfortunately, during pre-race warm-up a constant-velocity joint failed, breaking an upright which was fixed but the unseen CV joint breakage prevented the car from starting from the pit lane at race time

http://www.diecastxchange.com/forum1/topic/185130-pro-sports-racing-cars-wanted-in-118th-updated-52116/

Friday, July 08, 2016

Paul Newman showed up a Ford factory test driver so bad, the man crashed

Leno sat down with legend Mario Andretti in an Italian restaurant to talk carbureted glory over plates of carbs. The race god shared how he once brought Paul Newman to a test session with Ford and Newman ran faster than the factory drivers. One embarassed Ford driver got in after Newman and, trying to save face, he pushed it hard. Too hard. He ended up binning it.

http://www.thedrive.com/a-list/3985/8-interesting-things-from-jay-lenos-garage-episode-6

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Mario Andretti, a quick bio

He was born in Italy and didn’t emigrate to the States — from a post-World War II refugee camp — until he was fifteen. A scrawny kid with no money, patron, or mechanical skills, he clawed his way up from small-town bullrings with dogged persistence, irrational bravery, and incomprehensible talent. How good was he? He was series champion in his second Indy-car season, qualified on the pole in his first F1 grand prix, and was still winning races when he was fifty-three.

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/generation-of-heroes/

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

In honor of the 100th running of the Indy 500, Firestone offered fans the chance to race with one of the sport’s greatest champions, Mario Andretti.


The six-week online “Race Andretti” sweepstakes invited participants to outrace Mr. Andretti while performing everyday household tasks, the vacuum cord wrap, the fitted sheet fold, the light bulb replacement, the milk chug, the orange peel,




 The first challenge was to see how quickly participants can peel an orange.









One lucky racer won the chance to go to the 100th Running of the Indy 500 and meet Andretti. One weekly winner will receive a $500 Firestone Complete Auto Care gift card and a Firestone Racing hat signed by the racing legend himself.



http://leoburnett.us/chicago/article/firestone-raceandrettisweepstakes-gives-indycar-fans-chance-to-race-mario-andretti/
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20160425/NEWS/160429963/firestone-contest-pits-contestants-vs-andretti