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Mario Andretti: The Master of All Terrains

May 23, 2023

Few names in motorsport evoke the same reverence as Mario Andretti. From humble beginnings in Italy to conquering the world’s most prestigious racing circuits, Andretti’s story is one of grit, adaptability, and relentless pursuit of excellence. In this episode of the Break/Fix podcast, co-hosts Crew Chief Eric and William Ross sit down with the racing legend to explore the winding road that led him to victory in the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Formula One World Championship – a trifecta unmatched in motorsports history.

Andretti’s passion for racing was ignited at age 14, watching Alberto Ascari tear through Monza. A year later, his family emigrated to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Despite the language barrier, Mario and his twin brother Aldo immersed themselves in American culture, attending school by day and working at a local gas station by night. One evening, the roar of engines from a nearby track changed everything. “We saw the bright lights and heard the explosion of engines,” Andretti recalls. “That’s when we discovered modified stock cars—and that’s when the idea started.”

By 19, the brothers had built their own Hudson-based race car, fudged their birthdates to compete, and began dominating local dirt tracks. Aldo won the heat and feature in their debut race. Mario estimates he won 23 races before his career officially began – unverified, but legendary nonetheless.

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One of Andretti’s most profound contributions to motorsport was his role in developing ground effects with Lotus in the late 1970s. Drawing inspiration from the wing-shaped side pods of the March 701, Andretti proposed extending the aerodynamic profile across the car’s wheelbase. “I said, as a driver, I’d love to have downforce without the penalty of drag,” he explains.

Through trial and error – including plastic sheets and broom bristles – Lotus eventually developed movable skirts and a rolling-road wind tunnel, revolutionizing Formula One aerodynamics.

Spotlight

Synopsis

In this episode of Break/Fix we feature an in-depth interview with racing legend Mario Andretti. Born in Italy and emigrating to the US at 15, Andretti began his illustrious racing career in stock cars at 19. Over five decades, he won 111 races across different disciplines, including the Daytona 500, Indy 500, and the Formula One Championship. Andretti discusses his experiences from racing underage, contributing to the development of ground effects in Formula One, and his various racing endeavors, including Pike’s Peak and Le Mans. The episode also covers his collaborations with notable figures like Colin Chapman of Lotus and Enzo Ferrari, his transition across different racing disciplines, and the evolution of safety in motorsports. The podcast also touches on Andretti’s future aspirations and his son’s involvement in Formula 1.

You raced for five decades. Like we mentioned in the intro 111 wins, does that count the 23 before you turned 21 and were legally allowed to race?
Staying on top of new technology certainly played a part in your longevity. When you started racing, they didn’t even have radios in the race cars. The technology evolution that you have lived through has been incredible…You recently drove a modern F1 car at COTA, what was that like?
We’ve heard that one of the drivers that inspired you to race was Alberto Ascari (from Ferrari), did that give you a desire to pursue F1.
You raced at Pikes Peak? (With Bobby Unser).
What possessed you to approach Colin Chapman (after Jim Clark won the 1965 Indy 500) and ask about a ride?
You recently reunited with Jacky Ickx. You and Jacky were teammates in 11 grand prix races for Ferrari, six in 1971 and five in 1972. In the same timeframe, you ran 9 long distance races, had six poles, 4 wins and one second place finish.
We talked in the beginning about the technology changes in racing, but Safety also changed during the late 60s and early 70s in both F1 and Le Mans. When you raced in prototypes at Le Mans with Jacky Ickx; a couple years after his infamous boycotting of the Le Mans start – feelings on that?
Thoughts on the 100th Anniversary of Le Mans? Are you going? Are you participating in it in some way?

Transcript

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder. How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: Our guest is a racing icon considered by many to be the greatest race driver in the history of the sport. Born in Italy, emigrated to United States at 15, he began racing stock cars in Pennsylvania at 19, which was the start of an illustrious career. He won races in sports cars, sprint cars, and stock cars, on ovals, road courses, drag strips, on dirt, and pavement.

His achievements have become legendary. The world watched as he won the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and ultimately the Formula One Championship, an unprecedented [00:01:00] trifecta. Mario Andretti took the checkered flag 111 times during his career. A career that has stretched five decades and across six continents.

I am joined by William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace in welcoming the one and only Mario Andretti to BreakFix.

Mario Andretti: Thank you. Thank you very much.

William Ross: Appreciate you taking the time to join us, Mario. Really appreciate it.

Mario Andretti: It’s my pleasure. My pleasure.

William Ross: In Eric’s intro, he mentions the 111 wins. Does that include the 23 that started when you were underage?

Mario Andretti: No, it doesn’t because it’s almost impossible to verify those because of the times. It was not a, um, a sanction series. It’s a local. You know, a race within 150 miles, you know, different tracks, Western Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But, uh, it was not sanctioned, so they cannot verify it. We started when I was 21, started with the three quarter midgets, which was, uh, [00:02:00] sanctioned by American Three Quarter Racing Association, U R C, then A R D C in, in 1959 and 1960.

I won a lot of races. You know, the way, as much as I can remember is 23 races.

William Ross: I’ll take your word for it. We’ll add it to the tally. It says you can ask some of my friends. They’re verified. I was watching the year before when Zach Brown offered you to drive his McLaren at Coda. I always remember that day cause you’re walking next to him.

You kind of said it half heartedly and he said, sure. That look on your face was shocked, like really? And then they set it up. So I was curious, how was it driving that car? Obviously, it’s been a long time since you’re in something so technologically advanced like that.

Mario Andretti: Well, actually, uh, it was pretty much everything I expected, if you will, because, uh, it’s not that I’ve been totally out of it.

An IndyCar in every aspect has a lot of the same commands and so forth. And I’ve done some testing for my son on high speed, and then I was playing around with it. I’m pretty current, [00:03:00] technically, it was really a pleasure. I just wish that I would have had more time to really get the cockpit properly, the adjustments.

It was impossible to adjust the pedal platform and the steering. There was no adjustment at all. So for me to reach the pedals because I’m not six foot two. So they had to bring me up so far forward that the steering was right in my chest. So I could not really get the feel that I wanted to be able to thrash the car like I wanted to.

I got what I expected and I’m grateful that he made that available for me of course. Zach Brown is a good man, he’s a great friend. Next time I’m going to ask for a full day of testing so we can set a record. And a seat fitting. Fitting, yeah. I must say, the padding was very soft, you know, except foam rubber.

I felt like I was in a jelly bowl. One time down the straightaway, you know, yeah, my hunch device. The back of it got [00:04:00] stuck on my headrest and I was looking up at the sky. Oh my goodness. Well, anyway, that was fun.

Crew Chief Eric: I will say from the outside, all of those things that you described, none of us could tell. And I will say this, watching you drive a modern Formula One car at Koda.

And lap after lap, despite everything you just said, it looked like you were going faster and faster and faster. Your lines were perfect. Your apexes were on point. You sat back and you go, I’m watching a master. Just learn from this, watch this in slow motion, every little inch of the track. So hearing it from the other side is hilarious.

But from those of us watching, it was. Perfection.

Mario Andretti: Well, you’re very kind. Just wait until I get the seat fitting.

William Ross: Obviously, with what’s going on in F1 now, the downforce the ground effects, what I always found was interesting, and you don’t hear much about it, you were really integral in regards to creating the ground effects, working with the engineers at Lotus.

And if memory serves me, I know you were saying how when you’re going around corners, [00:05:00] getting closer to the ground, it was creating that effect. It popped in your head about the marches you drove. In regards to the angle of the side pods in that. So you kind of were integral in creating the ground effects and helping get these perfected.

Mario Andretti: What happened is in, uh, 1970, I drove the March 701. It was a, uh, grenatility effort in Formula 1. And the car had side pods. The side pods was primarily cosmetic, but there were shape of a wing profile. We were testing in South Africa, which is altitude, and I’m looking at the silhouette of the car and I felt maybe we should take those off because I thought there was additional frontal area.

And so we did, and all of a sudden the car started flying the front end. So basically I needed to compensate for the balance of the rear wing. I needed more front wing, which that created actually more frontal area. Okay, so we bolted the side pods back on, which meant they gave us some downforce. Some [00:06:00] forward center of pressure at the end of 76 with Lotus, with Colin and the engineers at the end of the season, you know, we all caucusing about talking about, okay, what is a driver?

What would you like? You know? And I said that, well, I said, as a driver, I would love to have downforce without penalty of drag, you know, and nobody laughed. The bottom line is I gave that example. And I said that nobody discussed that ever that I know. I said, but we tried it. We did take those off. So why don’t you construct on a new car, get a longer profile?

Because if you look at that March 701, those weight profiles were very short. And I said, Why don’t you take advantage of the entire wheelbase, you know? And then of course you put the fences on, you know, so we’ll direct the air properly because there were no fences on those, you know, the fences were, I mean, end plates anyway.

So that’s how the Lotus [00:07:00] 78 was born in 1977. Immediately we got definite ground effect out of it, but we were still searching. We were not really on it, if you will. The other part is that we found out, which is very important. All of the wind tunnel testing was done was static wind tunnel. They were getting some numbers that didn’t really coincide very much with what we were feeling, you know, on a track.

We’re testing in Hockenheim, Germany. Porsche curb that connects the two main straightaways is kind of a long right hander. And I remember just in the middle of the right hander when you get the, you know, the most roll in the car. That means we were closing the side plate to the ground. All of a sudden I was getting an enormous amount of downforce and the car felt good.

And I was really flying through that corner. And I came in and I said, you know, I said, there’s something about closing the gap here. Okay. How do we do that? So Colin sent one of the mechanics into town to get some [00:08:00] plastic sheets, pop rivet those on to drag on the ground. And I went out. All of a sudden it was a whole new deal.

The car really felt good. It was fine, but two laps later, you wear them out and then you’re back where you started the next race. He had like bristles, like a broom bristles, you know, they were not that effective, but they were at least. consistent. After that, the so called movable skirts were born. He designed that, which obviously that’s when the situation was much more consistent and then also most effective.

So you could see there was a, we were searching throughout the season, started out on the one idea and it turned out to be something else. And then. And then what was important was that Colin Chapman, they were the first ones to develop a wind tunnel with a belt, which would mean the moving road that of course the wheels had to be turning, you realize how much the wheels were affecting the flow into the tunnels.

And so a lot of, you know [00:09:00] what I mean? Then all of a sudden it’s a whole new deal, how you’re designed to direct the air in that direction and all that. So, but again, you were just learning and then you could start putting the pieces together. Oh yeah, okay. This is a whole new world now. Then of course, everybody else, uh, you know, obviously pursued the same thing and then great engineers, you know, the other teams, and they just started perfecting in their own way, but, uh, we definitely are the ones that, you know, the Lotus that brought this about, you know, this idea.

William Ross: It’s great how Connell was willing to push the envelope like that and have those ideas. And he was brilliant in that aspect in regards to new techniques, new things, trying stuff and building cars like that.

Mario Andretti: Yeah, it was also interesting that, you know, you talk about porpoising and all that, you know, we actually started with putting a name to that bouncing that the car gets, the more downforce that you got.

Then we started getting that because the car would be at high speed, pushed down and bounced up. As soon as you hit the travel [00:10:00] of the dampers and get on a bump rubbers, then it bounced right back up and you get all of this. Well, obviously, I saw when, you know, they went back to the tunnels in Formula One, I saw that they were dealing with a sport pursuing situation.

It was very familiar, as you can imagine for us. Did

William Ross: you guys have it as bad as they seemed to have it in the beginning last year?

Mario Andretti: Well, we did, but each design will produce more frequent. Or less, and also depends on how stiff your suspension is at the time, but porpoise is probably, it’s very annoying and disturbing.

And then obviously physically it’s a real problem for the driver. No question. Oh, yeah. We’re on you quite considerably.

William Ross: Yeah. I kind of want to jump into Italy. I believe you said you were 14 when you went to Monza for the first time to watch your first F1 race?

Mario Andretti: 14. Yes, that was a year before we came to the States.

Yes.

William Ross: Ascari was your favorite driver at that time, or always has been as one of your favorite drivers?

Mario Andretti: Yeah, of course, you know, Italy was very prominent in Formula One, as you can imagine, the 50s [00:11:00] with Ferrari, you know, Maserati especially, and then of course the beginning of Formula One. Alfa Romeo winning the first official world championship and Alberto Ascari was at the time was the first Italian world champion.

Liz Farina was, I’m not clear on that, but nevertheless, you know, I was just a teenager and Ascari was the guy. To be able to witness him first hand in Monza, you know, it was a huge, huge thing for me and my brother, Aldo, my twin brother. But honestly, that’s when my, uh, the dream of becoming a race driver was cemented in my head, you know, no question.

William Ross: When you got over here though, 15, what were you working to get to? Cause you obviously didn’t start racing until you were about 19. What were you doing in that interim here in those four years? Were you just trying to get everything together to start go racing or? Were you doing some other things?

Mario Andretti: At that age, I was going to school, you know, Aldo and I, we were going to school and then, uh, we used to alternate in the evening, uh, working at, we call him [00:12:00] uncle.

He was, he was married to my second cousin. He had a snorkel gas station at the end of town. And that was a great way to be able to, you know, to mingle with people and learn the language. Because, uh, in school in Italy, we had three years of English, but, uh, you know, it was not practical. I mean, I couldn’t even ask for a postcard in English, you know, when, when we came here.

But when you have more knowledge of the grammar, you know, it’s easier to learn the language. And in school, we… I think we did quite well, but it was, the objective was to really, we arrived in the States here in June, of course, start school in September, but I vowed, I said, by Christmas, I want to be able to communicate in English and, uh, and I think, uh, we achieved that, Aldo and I, which was very useful, but going back to your question, when we arrived here on a Thursday, we were hanging out at my uncle’s house at the end of Nazareth, the end of town.

Yeah. And Sunday night, we see the bright lights on the background, and [00:13:00] then all of a sudden, a big explosion of engines, and that’s when we discovered modified stock cars. And that’s when the idea started. I said that because, you know, you had a dream, okay? How do you put a dream into reality, you know? We didn’t know much about racing in the States, except after seeing a movie, uh, to please a lady in Italy.

That’s another one that gave us some idea that what was going on here, but, uh, it was dirt racing was something that I said, Oh, I don’t know. This was very far after seeing a formula one race. In Monza, then going to the fairground and seeing the stock, you know, the one good thing, it looked doable, didn’t look as sophisticated.

That’s what three years after we arrived here in 1957, we got to know some buddies, you know, always you talk racing and this, and I always say, you know, I tell the same story. I said that there was a geek there, a guy that knew everything, Charlie Mitch. And he’s the one that was giving some ideas as to how to go [00:14:00] about it.

And we could not afford to go modify a race, but they had a category, sportsman, and that’s what we pursued. And we did the right thing because the Hudson cars were very popular in NASCAR on the dirt tracks. They were winning, pretty much winning most of the races. At the time, so, uh, we pursued that. We bought some information from a Marshall T team.

Factory folded. They went out of racing at that time, officially. So we got suspension setups. We got, uh, all of that, which was, uh, pivotal. It was, uh, amazing how useful that was for us. And then, uh, we found out that the factory was sold all the racing engines to, uh, the Whitney company in Chicago that they were selling for, like, power plants or something.

So we bought one of the racing engines there, and you know, when we put that thing together, you know, we thought that, okay, we start racing at 21, but the car was ready. We were 19. I said, time to go. And, uh, we had a friend of ours that, uh, [00:15:00] fudge day. I’ve actually, the Editor of the local paper, fudged the birth dates on our license, driver’s license, and telling everybody that we used to race in Italy and all that.

So it was a bit of a fib there, but for sure. But anyway, so that’s when it started, 1959. And I’ll go! Aldo, by the way, won car to drivers. Aldo won the toss. He won the heat and the feature in the very first race.

William Ross: Yeah, your brother was a heck of a driver, too.

Mario Andretti: You know, we have some newspaper clippings to back that up, by the way.

Not just a dream.

Crew Chief Eric: You piqued my interest when you started talking about dirt, but not in the same way I grew up during what’s known as the killer bee or group B era, watching drivers like Michel Mouton and Walter Rural and Hannu Mikola driving rally cars. And that’s what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a WRC guy.

Mario Andretti: Yeah.

Crew Chief Eric: But as we look through your portfolio, you’ve done so many different disciplines of racing, which is amazing. And in that. Our attempts at Pikes Peak and a win at Pikes [00:16:00] Peak and you hold a similar title to Bobby Unser who won Pikes Peak in the same year as winning Indy and that was back in 1969. So what drove you to go to Colorado Springs?

What about that Pikes Peak experience?

Mario Andretti: Well, it was Bobby Unser. He’s the one, you know, you know, we were good pals. He’s the one that talked me into it. As a matter of fact, the very first one, I only drove there three times, three years. One of the third, and I figured I’d never go back because I think I was going to kill myself with that.

I took so many risks on that third year. But The first year I drove and the deal was with him that I’ll drive, if he only drives a stock car class, you know, so I don’t have to compete against them because there’s no way I could have beaten him there. You know, that place so well. And that’s what the whole thing is.

You need it to know 183 corners. There’s no way. And then point is you miss one, a couple of them. And they used to say that a bird will build a nest up your butt before you hit the bottom. That’s how far you had to [00:17:00] go. So you had to respect the place. There was not a guardrail, you know. I mean, it was just gone.

There was no guardrails at all, nowhere.

Crew Chief Eric: And obviously Bobby went on to run many times more at Pike’s Peak. He set the record in the Audi Sport Quattro S1, which was later. Taken away by Peugeot and things like that in the eighties. What do you think about now? Pike’s Peak has been paved all the way to the summit.

Is it really still the same race to the clouds?

Mario Andretti: No way, no way. I mean, you’re talking about rallying, you know, I, uh, that’s why I said that at least I have a Taste of that. I could say that I technically did rallying, you know, because that’s what it was all about. You know, the dirt racing left, right up and down, you know, and, and braking accelerating, yeah, that was unique in itself, no question now being paid.

I mean, now it’s, it’s just another hill climb.

Crew Chief Eric: As we transition the conversation here, both William and I want to dive a little bit [00:18:00] more into Formula One, but we also want to talk about your time at Le Mans, because Le Mans is coming up on its hundredth anniversary here very soon. You talked about starting in dirt and stock car, and we’ve talked about Pike’s Peak, but I’ve heard the story that you sort of walked up to Colin Chapman after Jim Clark won the 65 and you were asking him about a ride, but is that really how it played out?

And where did you find the motivation to just? You know, knock on his door and say, Hey, Mr. Chapman, I want to come drive for you.

Mario Andretti: Well, you know, in 65 at Indianapolis, it’s one race where you have the luxury of spending a lot of time, much more even was one week longer than now, even. And so you get to know people, you know, every day.

And back of my head was always somehow I want to have the opportunity to do some formula one in my career. At the time there was not much road racing on the single seaters. The way it worked out with Colin Chapman and Jim Clark, you know, I got to know him quite well for the period that we were there.

So I finished third, so I got Rookie of the Year. So I [00:19:00] got some recognition. The end of the banquet, you know, which was traditional banquet, which goes on every year now, even the day after the race, we were saying our goodbyes. I said, Colin, I said, someday I would like to do Formula One. And he said, Mario, he says, whenever you think you’re ready, you call me and I’ll have a car for you.

You know, I hit cloud nine at that point, you know, my objective then was to try to hone my skills into road racing. You know, as, as luck would have it. There was just one road race in 1965 on that season, which was Indianapolis Raceway Park, which I won. The only race that I won, even though I won the national championship that year, that’s the only race that I won.

I got a lot of seconds and thirds and so forth. And the other one is when I was driving midgets. I was driving the ARDC midgets. There was one race, a Lime Rock, on a road course. And I won that one. And there, they even had a Mark Donahue with one of John Cooper’s, you know, [00:20:00] chassis was a rear engine midget.

They was constructed just for that race was brought in for just that race. And he led until the last lap. And I got him the last lap cross the finish line. And, uh, so I thought it was sponge of that day, actually. Uh, it was, you know, uh, road racing was something in. That was part of my objective right from the very beginning.

I love my third track racing, but that was the way to get there. You know, the reason why I really tried to get the attention of Ford, to be able to join the Le Mans program. Because there was a big effort there to try to win Le Mans, of course, Henry Ford. That’s, that was his objective and, uh, there were no holes barred.

So there was a lot of testing and development that I wanted to be part of. I made myself available for every test. You know, I befriended Bruce McLaren along the way, great guy in every way. Plus he was very technical driver and I was [00:21:00] watching. His rotations, braking and accelerating through the snow corners and all that, all the technical part, it taught me a lot.

Bruce taught me a lot, actually. We won the Sebring together with the new Mark IV. So a lot of things were going in the right direction for me. And in 1968, I felt, you know what, it’s time, it’s time. It was, uh, two races left, Italy and the US. And I asked, uh, Colin, you know, if he’s, if he would apply, he would absolutely, I will have a, he entered a third car for me for Italy and at Watkins Glen.

It was a glitch there in Italy because I was going for the national championship and it was a dirt race on Saturday of that weekend. So I was in Monza a week before testing and it went well. In fact, Chris Heyman tested a Ferrari a few days before me, and at the end, I was quicker than him. And I couldn’t believe it, you know, just how well [00:22:00] that Formula 1 suited me at that time.

And so I was very encouraged, you know, after this. There was the problem, like, I could only qualify on a Friday. You know, in those days, There was no specific qualifying period during the weekend, every lap that you turn in practice counted for qualifying. So I had to get my qualifying and the first practice on Friday morning because I had a 2.

30 flight in the afternoon back to the States. I brought Bobby Anser with me. I got him a ride with the BRM, Lewis Stanley BRM. And so we could do some slip streaming because Monza was very important to do that. And he and I did that. And at that point I was Quickest, you know, but nobody was really trying very hard, but was quickest by a second and a half, actually.

And so we left and ran to Hoosier Hunter, actually ran second to Floyd. And we went back the next day. We arrived at the track about an hour and a half before the race. My car was already on the grid, was seventh on the grid, but [00:23:00] there was a protest. It was agreed that they were going to waive the 24 hour rule, which had been in place for a couple of years.

It was agreed, but you know, it still was a protest and I never really knew officially who protested. I think it was Ferrari and it was the only one that could have protested that. Nevertheless, they would not let us start either Bobby or I. So the first actual official race was. Watkins Glen, two weeks later, and I put the car in pole there, which surprised the hell out of myself, but honestly, but you know, I felt like, okay, maybe, maybe I belong.

It’s one of those moments where it’s so encouraging, you know, that, uh, it builds up your confidence that I haven’t been wasting my time type of thing, you know, like, uh, belonging in this business and, uh, great moments. These are important moments in my career. Especially the fact,

William Ross: the difference between the two cars, USAC IndyCar.

Heavy, a lot of power, don’t know, but then you got this F1 car, it’s super light, nimble. That’s [00:24:00] impressive.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, not only that, jumping to a prototype doing the Le Mans testing is completely different too. And so I think one of your key strengths, Mario, is that you had so many different racing disciplines under your belt by this point, it made you a versatile driver.

But also well rounded maybe compared to other people that were coming only from touring car or only from open wheel. You had this ability to basically morph into whatever you were driving and be successful behind the wheel of everything.

Mario Andretti: Yeah, Eric, I think it served me well in the sense that I could adapt.

From one animal to the other, I could adapt, uh, easier and also because I really wanted it so bad, you know what I mean? I think there was a burning desire to get it done along with some of this wider experience. Like, I use some of my experience on the dirt tracks, you know, dirt racing for the wet races, because you always run a very different line through the corners, always searching for grip in a wet.

And that’s what you do in the dark. Exactly [00:25:00] what you do in the dark. You could see that there’s something that seemed that, you know, apples and oranges by comparison, you know, as far as the, you know, the type of car and circumstances. But a lot of things mesh, you know what I mean? You can put to good use what you learn one for the other.

Crew Chief Eric: You were talking about the desire to win and to achieve and all that. And obviously along the way, you made tons of friends, lifelong friends and teammates and et cetera. But I wondered. Did you have any rivals or did just people consider Mario Andretti, their rival? You were the bar that they were trying to get to.

Mario Andretti: You know, they’re different personalities. It’s different teammates and different personalities. And, uh, give you a, for instance, like in, you know, even with Lotus and Formula One, uh, with the Ronnie Peterson, he and I were really good friends. Outside the track, you know, we spent time together, you know, there were time when the family spent together when he came to the States, you know, we go out and play around, you know, up at the lake and so forth.

We’d have a [00:26:00] beer together and try to kill each other on the racetrack. And then, then have a beer together, you know, that kind of a thing. And Carlos Reutemann, he wouldn’t even have dinner with me. You know, I just, he was very secluse. It was that kind of a thing. You want to have to keep it that way. And other areas, even in sports cars, you know, the teammate, Jackie Eaks and I got along peachy, just, you know, we understood each other and blah, blah, blah, and there were others where, you know, you’re fighting, Oh, I’m going to qualify, I’m going to qualify, you know, I had one or two of those.

Again, it’s all about personalities, but you know, you try to keep the peace as much as

Crew Chief Eric: possible. It’s funny you say that. We had Lynn St. James on last year, and when I asked her that question, she said, everyone was my rival. Again, different perspectives on the same thing.

Mario Andretti: We talk about rivals. Here’s the way I look at it.

There’s always somebody better than you somewhere. You’re learning, you know, the rivals. I mean, if it’s not a potent rival, you’re not going to work as [00:27:00] hard for some reason. So I always say that the rivalries are ultimately very healthy, in my opinion. That’s the way it served for me. You know, there’s a premium as to who finishes second to you or who you finish second to.

Very true.

William Ross: Yeah,

Mario Andretti: that’s the way it works.

William Ross: Speaking of Jackie Hicks, you guys actually, uh, I want to say reunited or ever got together in Long Beach.

Mario Andretti: Yes, we did. Yeah, actually, I hadn’t seen him for a while. Great way to catch up and sort of reminisce a little bit. But we, we had a great time together, obviously.

That was a good period to be in a Ferrari and we won some good races together.

Crew Chief Eric: What was it like switching from under Colin Chapman at Lotus and then working for Il Comendatore himself, Enzo Ferrari? What was the culture like switching from the Brits to the Italians? Uh, different culture for sure.

Mario Andretti: And here again, that’s where you have to adapt.

The one. Good thing about Ferrari, I could speak the language, you know, some of the foreign drivers that, you know, everybody just, even, you know, whether they’re German, whatever, [00:28:00] whatever the nationality, you still learn the language, but I could speak it fluently and I could speak it with the mechanics, which was a good feeling, you know, and it was very special.

And my relationship with Mr. Ferrari was also direct. I didn’t have to have a middleman feel like Dr. God, see, uh, For instance, uh, as of late, and you can imagine that just me having that relationship with him, you know, where I dreamt so much, you know, being a race driver because of Ferrari really as a young lad.

So you could see how precious those times were for me.

William Ross: Yeah, especially winning your first F1 race in a Ferrari, taboo.

Mario Andretti: Yeah, so many of the right things, you know, happening. My last experience in Formula One was a Ferrari, you know, and they do, you know, how do you design that?

William Ross: You

Mario Andretti: cannot, you know,

William Ross: someone upstairs.

Mario Andretti: Yeah, yeah. Somebody upstairs likes.

Crew Chief Eric: During the time period, especially when you were leaving Ferrari in 1982, this was also where the Villeneuve Pierroni [00:29:00] rivalry was sort of coming to light. We’re starting to hear about that now. What was your take on that situation as you were sort of there on the scene?

Mario Andretti: I was never in the middle of that. All I know is that Villeneuve was loved by Enzo Ferrari. And he was… Obviously, and it was a such tragic time. Not, there was nothing you could talk about, you know, going back to Monza, uh, was moment mm-hmm. , you know, it was just sad and you didn’t talk about it, obviously.

Yeah. It was trying circumstances. Uh, you put aside everything else. There was, uh, any controversy, you didn’t discuss it. That was something that whatever went on, went on with them. I had nothing to do with it.

Crew Chief Eric: But the reason I bring it up leads back into the conversation about Jackie. And in 19… 69, he stood his ground at Lamont’s and said, I’m not partaking in this craziness.

That is the Lamont start. And he walked out to his Porsche and he still ended up winning the race at the end of it all. Like [00:30:00] we talked about in the beginning where William was talking about how the technology changed and you were in the new formula one car recently, how has safety changed for the better?

Or maybe some things have stayed the same. How do you see the transition over the years as you’ve been involved in racing?

Mario Andretti: Huge transition and everything evolved. The safety aspect, as I say, certainly was not dealt with very virgously, you know, in those years that we’re talking about. And it took someone like Jackie East.

To stand firm and say, this is crazy. Why are we doing this? Like I said, then all of a sudden, I think reasoning prevailed. I said, you know, here, Baba, we don’t do it anymore. So that was a step in the right direction for sure. Because I experienced that in 66 and none of us actually really clipped the belt on, you know, until we were on the Le Mans straight.

30 miles an hour trying to click the belt on. So anyway, it was crazy. Uh, but the safety aspect is what I think saved the sport in my way of [00:31:00] thinking. Going into modern times when the sport, you know, has become more commercial, as you could see with, we’re relying on, um, outside investment companies spending millions of dollars to be.

Proud with being connected and they don’t want to go to funerals, you know? So from our standpoint, it had to be something that we had to lead. And actually all of us started with forming the GPDA in formula one and demanding certain aspects of improving circuit safety. We started from the beginning, you know, from the bottom up.

I brought into Formula One some, uh, you know, aircraft fueling aspect. After I did Sebring, you know, they were dumping fuel in the funnel. I got a bunch of fuel on me and when I went out and my whole right side of my leg blistered because, uh, you know, the heat. and rubbing and the fuel that was all blistered down to, you know, a lot of things that, and it took time.

It took time. I’m one that obviously nowadays appreciates what today’s drivers are enjoying because I’ve seen [00:32:00] and experienced back then. But in the same breath, did that make a difference when we were in the car? Hell no. Did we hold back? Because of that, hell no. You know what I mean? You still went for it.

So that’s the way it is. But some of us are not here to tell the story, you know, because of that unfortunately. It’s wonderful that today’s drivers, like I said, have the best chance ever to retire on their own terms. That’s a beautiful thing.

Crew Chief Eric: We are about to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Le Mans.

Are you going? Are you participating in some way? What are your thoughts looking back over the hundred years, especially the many, many years you spent at Le Mans?

Mario Andretti: Well, since I’m not driving, I don’t think I’m going, but I was invited there. They have a lot of events. They have dinners and all that sort of thing.

I don’t know. It’s not a hundred percent. I’m not going, but I don’t think I’m going to go, but it’s very nice that I was invited for sure. Officially great to celebrate an event like that, you know, wonderful milestone for Lamont [00:33:00] Lamont, let’s face it. That is the premier long distance race anywhere on this planet.

So I’ve had the opportunity to race there. I think it’s, uh, something that I put on my mantle very proudly.

Crew Chief Eric: So are you rooting for the new Ferrari 499P or do you have something else you’re interested in following during that race?

Mario Andretti: Well, if Ferrari would ask me to drive, I’d probably go there.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s going to be an exciting year.

16 new cars in LMP1 or GTP. So it’s looking really cool.

Mario Andretti: Sports car racing is really, really, it’s at a good place nowadays as well. WEC and IMSA just seeing great equipment and the technology and all the right things. And it’s amazing how hard you can drive these cars, you know, and it’s a 24 hour race.

He’d leave nothing on the table. You know, the reliability aspect is such that, uh, it’s amazing. So it’s gotta be so satisfying. I’ll have a lot more opportunity to be closer to that because of. [00:34:00] Michael involvement with the Wayne Taylor team, you know, he, he owns part of that team now. And, and it was really interesting.

I mean, it’s the first time I just sat there with Wayne, um, in Long Beach and great event, you know, obviously they started on Paul with Philippe Albuquerque and then, uh, he led until the, they had a pit stop issue, radio, whatever, and then it couldn’t. Connect and they did last like 14 seconds. And Ricky Taylor had to make all, just about all of it up.

And he did. And at the end, they kind of tried a little bit hard, but nevertheless, they’re always competitive and that’s, that’s going to make it fun.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s what makes for good racing. Absolutely.

Mario Andretti: Yeah.

Crew Chief Eric: William, one final question, right?

William Ross: You’re some Michael and what’s going on. Last thing you want to ask is me and her both want to see it.

Same journey name back in F1. We know the powers that be over there not wanting to cut up the slice of the pie, so to speak. Has there been any more progress in regards to getting the team together or getting it on the [00:35:00] grid?

Mario Andretti: Well, the process is continuing, you know, with the FIA. It’s in the hands of the FIA right now.

We’re responding to all the requests. It’s a specific protocol they want to follow and we’re going with it, of course. And so, yeah, the process is on for sure. Yeah. Fantastic.

Crew Chief Eric: Mario Andretti remains one of the greatest ambassadors and one of the most respected voices in motorsport. And you can follow Mario on social media by finding him on Twitter at Mario Andretti, on Instagram at Andretti Mario, and on Facebook at Mario Andretti Official.

Be sure to visit his official website at www. marioandretti. com for more updates on what’s next. For his racing career. Mario, I cannot thank you enough. Grazie Emilia for coming on Break Fix. There’s not a bigger name in racing than Mario Andretti. A name everyone knows, past, present, and future petrolheads.

Someone that all of us can relate to.

Mario Andretti: You’re very kind. Thank you so much for having me [00:36:00] on.

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Mario Andretti: I like it , man. I really do. . We’ll make a slight correction on it.

William Ross: I know I’m wrong. Like I said, I was trying to squeeze it in. So , you should trademark this Mario and start selling merch on your site net.

Mario Andretti: If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough. Remember ? Thank you, Gracia. Very kind. out.

Crew Chief Brad: If you like what you’ve heard and want to learn more about GTM, be sure to check us out on www. gtmotorsports. org. You can also find us on Instagram Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call or text us at 202 630 1770 or send us an email at crewchief at gtmotorsports.

org. We’d love to hear from you.

Crew Chief Eric: Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here. We really hope you enjoyed this episode of BreakFix, and we wanted to remind [00:37:00] you that GTM remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge. As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies, and GTM swag.

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None of this would be possible.

Highlights

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

00:00 Introduction to Break/Fix Podcast
00:27 Meet Mario Andretti: Racing Legend
01:25 Early Racing Career and Achievements
02:19 Driving the McLaren at COTA
04:43 Innovations in Ground Effects
10:39 The Birth of a Racing Dream
12:55 Racing in the United States
16:07 Pikes Peak and Rallying Adventures
17:55 Formula One Aspirations
19:45 Racing Midgets and Winning at Lime Rock
20:27 Joining the Le Mans Program with Ford
21:17 First Formula 1 Experience and Qualifying Challenges
23:51 Adapting to Different Racing Disciplines
25:16 Rivalries and Friendships in Racing
27:35 Switching Teams: From Lotus to Ferrari
29:59 Safety Evolution in Motorsport
32:28 Looking Back at Le Mans and Future Prospects
35:18 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Bonus Content

Mario drives a modern F1 car!

As discussed on Drive Thru News #27 and this episode!

Break/Fix Podcast: Mario Andretti - Racing to the clouds at Pikes Peak with Bobby Unser

COMING TO BREAK/FIX PODCAST 5/23/2023 - **MARIO ANDRETTI** - EPISODE 200.

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