Mario Andretti. The name is synonymous with motorsport excellence wherever you look: Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, and endurance racing. Beyond his success behind the wheel, he’s also forged one of the most incredible motorsport families in all of history.

This year on PlanetF1.com, in honor of Formula 1’s 75th anniversary, we’re taking a look back at some of the most influential American racers who transformed the sport as we know it — starting with 1978 Formula 1 World Champion Mario Andretti.

Mario Andretti: A racing passion from Italy to Pennsylvania

On February 28, 1940, Rina Andretti gave birth to twin baby boys that she and her husband Alvise named Mario and Aldo. Rina and Alvise didn’t know it yet, but they had brought one of motorsport’s most incredible talents into this world

Alvise was a farm administrator in the medieval town of Montona, Istria, which was then part of the Kingdom of Italy but is now Croatian.

The Istrian land was hotly contested by Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia, and at the end of World War II, Yugoslav partisans led by communist dictator Josip Broz Tito took control of the area. It became dangerous to even do something as simple as speak Italian, and as a result, over 250,000 Italians were forced to abandon their homes and move further into Italy.

It’s an event that has been repressed in collective Italian memory, and even seminal research pieces on European exiles and refugees have failed to mention it. But it’s the reason the Andrettis ended up American heroes.

The family lived in a refugee camp and took up work at a local garage; before long, the owners began to bring the teenage twins out to spectate key races like the Mille Miglia and the Italian Grand Prix, introducing them to a love of motorsport. But not long after, the Andrettis secured the necessary visas to move to America — specifically, to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Nazareth, Pennsylvania is home to Nazareth Speedway, a half-mile dirt racing track. Even though their parents forbid it, the Andretti twins purchased the shell of a red 1948 Hudson Hornet with money they’d earned working at their uncle’s garage, rebuilt it, and then took turns racing it at local dirt tracks as early as 1959. They flipped a nickel to determine which of them would take on their first race, two 19-year-old immigrants experiencing American motorsport for the first time. It must have been thrilling.

“It seems like the US side was more practical in the sense that you had to make a career,” Andretti told PlanetF1.com in a recent interview.

“You had to sustain yourself, and the prize money factor was in play right from the very beginning when Aldo and I and our buddies built our first car. We owed a bank $1,000 back in ‘59; the first race Aldo won, we made $150 bucks to pay towards our loan.

“I made a living from the sport from the very beginning.”

What started as a dalliance became a deeply embedded passion for the Andretti brothers; sadly, Aldo suffered a career-ending crash, leaving it up to his brother Mario to begin forging a career in the US racing scene. He competed in USAC’s Champ Car series, winning three titles. He competed in endurance races and NASCAR events. And in 1969, he established himself as a driver to watch by winning the Indianapolis 500.

While Andretti raced everything he could get his hands on, he also established critical deals with companies such as tire supplier Firestone, who paid him to take on hours and hours of testing in hopes of the rubber maker outshining the competition. It was a great time to be racing in America — and that’s why, despite a handful of outings with Lotus, March, and Ferrari in F1, Andretti opted to remain focused on the United States.

“I had a family here, and I had to look at some of the realistic aspects of [racing] and the risks involved,” Andretti explained to PlanetF1.com.

“In those decades, safety was not what we’re enjoying today, and to start, there was always the possibility of being hurt or worse.

“I had to think deeply: I’m satisfying my passion with the potential price of leaving my family like I’ve seen many of my friends do. I felt that responsibility.”

As such, he enjoyed his first Grand Prix pole — at the 1968 US Grand Prix — and win — the 1971 South African Grand Prix — as a part-timer. The timing wasn’t right, not quite yet.

But things soon began to fall into place.

Dig deeper into Mario Andretti’s history: 

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Mario Andretti makes it to Formula 1

In the mid-1970s, Mario Andretti felt he’d been handed the offer of a lifetime — racing in Formula 1 with a team he already knew: Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing.

Jones was a former racing driver who had gone on to create his own race team, Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing. In 1970 and 1971, the team had taken Indy 500 victories, and it had also taken the USAC National Championships in 1970, 1971, and 1972.

In 1974, Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing was fielding Mario Andretti, and it was Andretti who suggested, “We’ve got to go to Formula 1.”

The team entered a handful of races in 1974 to test the waters before joining the series full-time in 1975 with its own chassis, the VPJ4.

It was, unfortunately, not a fruitful operation. At the end of 1974, Firestone killed its partnership with the team, which left Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing operating on a shoestring. The team secured a best finish of fourth place in the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix, and without a title sponsor, it killed the F1 operation just three races into 1976.

But the disappointment there opened the door to a new possibility: Mario Andretti moved to Lotus.

Colin Chapman, the visionary team boss in charge of Team Lotus, had struck up a rapport with Andretti over the years. Chapman had first been impressed by the American’s driving style at Indianapolis, soon after inviting him to enter a third Lotus in the US Grand Prix.

“I think I was aggressive, and sometimes a little bit too aggressive,” Andretti told PlanetF1.com, reflecting on his driving style in F1. “Especially at the beginning, there are a couple of races I would have liked to have taken back.

“But that was my style, you know.

“I always say I was born too early, even for IndyCar racing, because for me, it was ten-tenths from the drop of the flag, and sometimes the smart way about it was to be a little more patient with the equipment.”

That mindset was going to be critical going forward, because Team Lotus was in a slump. The Lotus 77 was — per Andretti’s words — a “dog.” But there was a light at the end of the tunnel; Colin Chapman was working on a new concept called ground effect.

Being able to experience those rapid technological shifts was part of what Andretti enjoyed so much about his time in motorsport, particularly in F1.

“Every year was like [being] an expectant father waiting for the new car, because there was always so much that we didn’t know and to be part of that evolution,” he told PlanetF1.com.

“Chassis dynamics, engine dynamics, aerodynamics — I think I experienced it all.

“The aerodynamics moved from just a pure silhouette to, you know, having a wing and a prayer — and then all of a sudden, discovering ground effect. And that was exhilarating.”

Playing a role in the development of the Lotus 78, the first F1 car to really utilize ground effect, was one of the most gratifying parts of Andretti’s time in the sport.

He reflected to PlanetF1.com, “I was part of the earliest development of ground effect. You can see that today, ground effect is everywhere — even NASCAR uses it. It’s in every level of the sport except for off-road.

“You can see that it’s a phenomenon that redefined the performance of a racing car, or any car for that matter, because you get downforce stability for free without the frontal area price you pay with surface wings.”

The Lotus 78 made its debut in the 1977 season, and while Andretti admitted it did suffer from a few reliability issues — as well as from a chronic underfilling of the gas tank in order to secure a greater advantage — it netted five wins in its debut season.

The stage was set for 1978; alongside Andretti would be the ultra-quick Ronnie Peterson, and the two men formed a fast friendship that saw them work well together.

At the season opener in Argentina, Mario Andretti won from pole position. Two races later, Peterson took a win. The die was cast, and when the Lotus 79 — effectively, an upgraded version of the 78 — was introduced in Belgium, Andretti took it directly to two back-to-back wins from pole position. He netted six additional wins before the end of the year.

Coming into the Italian Grand Prix, Andretti had a 12-point lead over teammate Ronnie Peterson, who would be the only person capable of challenging Andretti for the title at that point in the game; that, though, would rely on a series of poor performances by the American driver, which was a lot to expect.

Sadly, that 1978 race turned into a disaster. Peterson had crashed his car in practice and reverted to a backup for the race, only to be wiped out by James Hunt, who was trying to avoid being struck by an overtaking Riccardo Patrese. The crash involved 10 total drivers, with Peterson suffering severely broken legs.

Peterson was taken to the hospital, and the race was restarted. It was a difficult one for Andretti, who finished sixth as a result of what he deemed to be an unfair penalty. It was enough to net Andretti the championship that very day.

Yet the accomplishment — the highest there is in open-wheel racing — was marred when, the following day, word arrived that Ronnie Peterson had died in the hospital. His injuries were terrible, but a fat embolism during the night brought the Swedish racer’s life to an end.

It was the pinnacle of Mario Andretti’s career, and also one of its most difficult.

“The most meaningful moment was of course clinching the World Championship, under dire circumstances because of Ronnie [Peterson],” Andretti reflected to PlanetF1.com.

“Going back, I was born and raised in Italy, and the first Formula 1 race I ever saw was at Monza at age 14.

“That’s really where my love and passion was sparked. My idol at the time was the current World Champion Alberto Ascari.

“As fate would have it, I placed the World Championship right there in Monza.”

It would have perhaps only been made sweeter by being able to celebrate with his teammate.

Mario Andretti: A legacy like none other

Andretti remained with Lotus through 1980, but the team he knew and loved had begun to change. Colin Chapman had been swept up by David Thieme, owner of Essex Overseas Petroleum Company and sponsor of Lotus. The serial fraudster brought glamour to Formula 1, but the attention had been pulled from Lotus’ cars, which suffered performance-wise as a result.

Andretti’s longtime relationship with Firestone came back into play when he began to look for a future outside of Lotus. Two seats remained for 1981: One at McLaren, and one at Alfa Romeo. The 1978 WDC opted for the latter, hoping to once again work with a friend.

“I went with my heart instead of my head,” Andretti said of the decision, “and I made a mistake.”

The Alfa Romeo was extremely problematic, earning him just one points-paying finish over the course of the season. Looking back, Andretti told PlanetF1.com, “If I would have gone with McLaren, I think I could have potentially come away with another championship, or stayed longer.”

As it stood, he entered three F1 events in 1982 before leaving F1 for good. Instead, he headed back to America, where he took 18 more IndyCar wins and one final championship. In 1994, he opted to step back from competition.

But he’s still a presence in motorsport. His son, Michael, founded a pseudonymous race team in the 2000s, branching out from IndyCar to Extreme E, Formula E, Australian Supercars, and endurance racing. Michael’s decision allowed his father to remain involved in advising young drivers, something he enjoys.

It also brought Mario into contact with Cadillac during Andretti Global’s Formula 1 petition. Though Michael Andretti is no longer involved in the project, Mario has been brought on as a non-executive board member who will advise the outfit on things like driver selection.

“That’s the beautiful thing, that I have a reason to stay involved and feel like I have a home there,” Andretti said of F1.

“A lot of it started with Michael becoming a team owner; otherwise I wouldn’t have had a home at all these different disciplines.

“This sport is still our life. Michael is stepping aside a little bit, trying to enjoy life in a different way, but I still like to have involvement, and when I was invited to still be with the Cadillac team and have some say about drivers and all that — that’s what interests me more than anything.”

That means Andretti’s involvement in Formula spans back over five decades — and it also means his legacy is still evolving. It’s an incredible accomplishment that few other Formula 1 drivers have earned.

Andretti, though, has also earned respect, and plenty of it — from his peers, from the drivers he’s mentored, and from Cadillac F1. We asked Andretti what it felt like, to be so universally well treated.

“That’s what gives me joy; to have respect in something that has been so important in your life,” he replied.

“What else are you looking for?”

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