Favorite Drive by Mario Andretti

[JohnSSC]

It is cold, it is snowing and I am still bored! As promised I will continue posting threads where we can reminisce about days gone by. I want to stick with the '70's for a bit, so what would about your favorite memories of Mario Andretti - particularly his time with Lotus?

[Armco Bender]

Japan '76 the forgotten win in the rain at Fuji,overshadowed by Hunts WDC win.Didn't Chapman say if he didnt win in 76 he was quitting F1,Marios win saved the day.

[racer69]

How about Monza 1982. Pretty much retired from F1 at the end of '81, only ran at Long Beach in the Williams in 1982.

Gets called up by Enzo to do the least 2 rounds in the Ferrari as Tambay's back injury is getting worse and a second car would help out in case Tambay couldn't race. Mario does one day of testing, his first in a Turbocharged F1 car. Puts the car on pole, unfortunatly makes a poor start but winds up a great 3rd.

[JohnSSC]

Mario was one of those drivers who jus seemed to never age. I saw him at the CART race in Cleveland that same year. He was just awesome. I watched from one corner and he just nailed the apex lap after lap - no deviation whatsoever.

[paul-collins]

Not F1, but...

Sebring 1970. His own 512S led healthily until the gearbox went. Meanwhile the 908 of Revson and McQueen was working its way to the front. Mario hopped in the I.Giunti / N.Vaccarella Ferrari, drove from midfield and won by only 15 seconds.

Mario later said he was ****ed off that everyone was buzzing about "McQueen winning Sebring" when in fact Revson was doing most of the driving, which added a bit of an impetus to his surge to the front.

[Lee Janotta]

Scrapping with Emmerson Fittipaldi all race long at Mid-Ohio in, I believe, 1989, on a soaking wet and very narrow race track.

[strad]

The race...Canadian I think,,where with a half a mile to see it and after three laps by it ran into a parked car on the straight.
The clip they used in the opening for ABCs Wide World of Sports for years.
The twit.....yeah I know he has this long list of accomplishments and all that, but I just can't stand him.
If any of you think Dave or any of the F1 drivers are whiners,,,they don't hold a candle to Mario.

[JohnSSC]

I have to be honest, much as I liked him as a driver, he was a whiner. His son Mikey is actually worse...

Thanks Strad!

[Liz]

Oh, I think it's kind of a Phil Esposito Whine -- Phil always whined about every penalty and every no-goal call, but after the game he'd say "That was for next time."

I have always liked him, but I have to say that in 2000 at Le Mans when he saved the Panoz after blowing a tire at 190 mph was amazing, considering his age at the time! Unfortunately I won't be around when TGF turns 62 to see if he can do as well.

[JR27]

I can only comment on those races that I've seen Mario in the flesh.....he was simply awesome at Mosport Park during the 1977 Canadian GP. Mario had his JPS-Lotus 78 flying...thanks to a "misunderstanding" between McLaren team mates James Hunt and Jochen Mass, Mario had lapped the field.....he slowed down on the 70th lap to let Jody unlap himself and was just cruisin it home when his engine went bang (it was a Cosworth development engine, I believe) on lap 77 of a 80 lap race.....Jody ended up winning in his Wolf. Looking back it was a neat race to attend....The Wolf was victorious in its "home GP, Gilles made his Ferrari debut, I got to see Jabouille try to qualify the Renault RS01 turbo (torrential rain on Saturday sure didn't help the cause...), and the Tyrrell P34's were fantastic....Patrick came in 2nd and even though Ronnie failed to finish he amazed us fans in Moss Corner by throwing that 6-wheeler into a couple of 360 spins.....and the Monza Gorilla brought his Surtees into 6th place and earned a point. Yep.....quite a weekend

Murph

[Neil C]

I wish I'd been there Murph. I don't know if any team ever started F1 so well as the Wolf. In fact, I dont think there was another team that ever won its very first F1 race.

My enduring memory of Mario was at the '74 Indy in the LaMachine car. Because of F1, he was not able to practice or qualify very well, but nobody else drove his car out of turn four as he did; drifting so close to the wall on every lap there wasn't room for a fat shadow between his wheels and the wall.

[djb]

not a best drive story, but at last years montreal CART race, he was there. It was interesting to see him in real life, and at some point on Saturday or Sunday, there were GT type cars driven by racers (not CART guys) taking contest winners out for a lap of the track, a Viper etc. The organizers must have asked him to do a few laps, because as I was hanging around (secretly hoping that a vacant seat would appear and I could convince them that they needed some promo in-car pictures) Mr. Andretti hopped in and took a few lucky Joe Schmoes out for some laps--and I am certain that they had no idea who he was!

and no, no one, including Mario, offered me a ride. Damn.

[Jay]

I really wish I could have seen this guy race. he is IMO, and without a doubt the most accomplished driver of all in history. No driver has won so many championships in so many different series, and I don't see any in the future doing so either. And on top of all that, he's the most fan-friendly driver I've ever had the honour to meet.

[cmgoodman]

None can be better than Indianapolis in 1969, when came back from a crash of the original STP prototype car and took a quickly assembled kit car to victory at the Brickyard.