JOHN ANDRETTI

'John Andretti' from Indianapolis, Indiana is an American race car driver. He is one of the most versatile race car drivers in American history, winning in Indy car, NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters, endurance racing and NASCAR racing. He currently drives the #49 car for BAM Racing in the Nextel Cup Series.

Contents

Andretti family

CART

24 Hours of Daytona

Top Fuel

NASCAR

IRL

Off the Track

Indy 500 results

References

External links

Andretti family

John is the son of Aldo Andretti, nephew of IndyCar racing legend Mario Andretti (Aldo's twin), cousin of Mario's sons Michael and Jeff, and godson of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt. The Andretti family became the first family to have four relatives (Michael, Mario, Jeff, and John) compete in the same series (CART). Mario Andretti synonymous with racing Schwartz, Larry . In 1990, 1991 and 1992, they had four family members competing in the Indy 500.

CART

John Andretti has one win (Australia, ‘91) and 61 top-10s in 74 career races in CART. He joined the PPG Indy Car World Series (CART) in 1987, winning rookie of the race honors in each event he entered, as well as the series Rookie of the Year award. In 1988, Andretti made his debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, racing as high as seventh before mechanical problems forced him to finish 21st.
In 1991 he won the only race of his CART career, winning the Gold Coast Grand Prix in Australia. That same year he finished a career-best fifth in the Indianapolis 500. A week later in at the Milwaukee Mile, Michael, John and Mario became the only known family in motorsports history to finish first, second and third respectively in a major auto race.In 1994, he became the first driver to do the "double," racing in the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C., on the same day. However, the 1994 Indy 500 would be his last Indy 500 effort until 2007.

24 Hours of Daytona

In 1989, Andretti co-piloted his entry to a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. The other drivers were Bob Wollek and Derek Bell.

Top Fuel

In 1993, John Andretti drove the Taco Bell Top Fuel Dragster for owner Jack Clark, reaching the semi-finals in his first national event and clocking a career best speed of 299 mph.

NASCAR

Andretti made his Winston Cup debut in 1993 driving the #72 Tex Racing Chevy for Tex Powell at North Wilkesboro Speedway, starting 31st and finishing 24th. After running three more races in 1993, he began the 1994 season driving the #14 Financial World Chevy for Billy Hagan. On May 29, he became the first driver in history to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, finishing tenth at Indy and thirty-sixth in the Coca-Cola 600 after suffering mechanical failures. In the middle of the season he switched to the #43 STP Pontiac for Petty Enterprises finishing a best 11th at Richmond International Raceway. He ended the season 32nd in points and fifth in the Rookie of the Year.
In 1995, he began driving for Michael Kranefuss in #37 K Mart/Little Caesars Ford Thunderbird. He won his first career pole at the Southern 500 and finished in the top-ten five times, and ended the season eighteenth in points. During the 1996 season, he switched to the #98 RCA Ford owned by Cale Yarborough and responded with a fifth-place finish at the Hanes 500. He finished in the top ten twice more. In 1997, he scored his first career win at the Pepsi 400 and finished 23rd in points. He returned to the #43 Petty car in 1998 and despite not winning another race, he had ten top-tens and finished a career-best 11th in points. He won his second career race in 1999 at Martinsville Speedway, making up a lost lap and taking the lead with four laps to go, as well as winning the pole at Phoenix International Raceway.
Midway through the 2000 season, Cheerios became Andretti's primary sponsor, but he fell to 23rd in points after finishing in the top-ten twice. Over the next two seasons, Andretti posted three top-ten finishes, before he was released midway through the 2003 season. He originally ran a couple of races for Haas CNC Racing and Richard Childress Racing before running a majority of the remainder of the season in the #1 Pennzoil Chevy for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., his best finish a twelfth at New Hampshire International Speedway. He opened the 2004 season driving the #1 part-time for DEI, but departed midway through the season. He ended the year driving the #14 Victory Brand Ford Taurus for ppc, finishing 22nd at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Andretti started 2005 with pcc before the team was forced to dissolve due to a lack of funding. He drove four races in the Craftsman Truck Series for Billy Ballew Motorsports, finishing eighth at Memphis Motorsports Park. He also attempted a handful of Cup races for Morgan-McClure Motorsports' #4 Lucas Oil entry, finishing 28th at Michigan International Speedway.
In 2006, Andretti returned to ppc to drive their #10 car. Before the season, his only Busch start came in 1998 at Daytona, where he finished 13th in the #96 Chevy fielded by the Curb Agajanian Performance Group. Despite having made over three hundred Cup starts with two victories, Andretti applied for and was accepted as a contender for Rookie of the Year. He finished runner-up to Danny O'Quinn for the award. In 2007, Andretti's plans were to drive a Toyota Camry in the Busch Series for Braun Racing. Andretti drove the #10 FreedomRoads/Camping World/RVs.com Toyota Camry for Braun Racing at Daytona through their affiliation with his former team ppc Racing. However, Andretti is no longer racing in the Busch Series full time. Braun Racing has decided to go to two full time teams, and Dave Blaney was picked over Andretti.
Andretti drove four races for Petty Enterprises in 2007 with the #45 car, filling in for Kyle Petty in when Petty was working as a broadcaster for TNT's race coverage, as well as driving part-time briefly for Front Row Motorsports. He will finish 2007 in the #49 Paralyzed Veterans of America Dodge for BAM Racing.

IRL

On May 16, 2007, it was officially announced that Andretti would return to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 1994 when he pulled the double (competed in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day). He drove the third entry from Panther Racing, with Camping World as the sponsor. On May 19th, he qualified for the 91st Indianapolis 500 with an average speed for the four lap qualifying run of 221.756 mph. He started in 24th on the eighth row, but crashed on lap 95, and finished 30th.

Off the Track

Andretti is active in the Central Indiana community. Each year during the Brickyard 400 week, John teams up with 1070 WIBC, and Dave "The King" Wilson, and General Mills to hold the Race for Riley, benefiting James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children. It takes place at the Mark Dismore Karting Center in New Castle, Indiana.
As of 2007, John can be heard as the part-time co-host of The Driver's Seat with John Kernan on Sirius Satellite Radio's NASCAR channel 128.

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1988	Lola	Cosworth	27th	21st
1989	Lola	Buick	12th	25th
1990	March	Porsche	10th	21st
1991	Lola	Chevrolet	7th	5th
1992	Lola	Chevrolet	14th	8th
1993	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	24th	10th
1994	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	10th	10th
2007	Dallara	Honda	24th	30th

References

★ John Andretti at Daytona 500 Racing

★ NASCAR drivers statistics at racing-reference.info

External links

★ The Official Andretti Family Website

★ John Andretti Fanpage

★ The ppc Racing Website

★ Race 4 Riley Hospital for Children