'Michael Mario Andretti' (born
October 5,
1962 in
Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania) is an
American retired
CART and
Formula One driver with
Italian heritage. He now co-owns the
Andretti Green Racing team in the
Indy Racing League. He qualified eleventh for the
2007 Indianapolis 500 after finishing third in the
2006 Indianapolis 500. He is the son of
Mario Andretti who is one of the most successful auto racing drivers of all time.
Racing career
Early career
Michael Andretti started his racing career at the wheel of a 1980
Formula Ford. In
1982, he won six of the 11 Super Vee races and went on to win the championship.
[1] After that, he went into
Formula Atlantic, where he won the Formula Atlantic Championship.
CART
During that same year, he made his
CART debut and also finished third in the
Le Mans 24 Hours. In
1984, he won the
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award. He went on to win his first IndyCar race in 1986, finishing that year as championship runner-up.
Andretti achieved major title success by winning the 1991 CART/PPG Indycar World Series for the Newman-Haas team.
Futility at Indianapolis
The Andretti family's bad luck at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known as the
Andretti Curse. As a driver, he is largely remembered for being unlucky at the
Indianapolis 500. In
1991, he led with twelve laps remaining, but finished second to
Rick Mears after battling the multiple Indy 500 winner. In
1992, he dominated the race but, with eleven laps to go, his fuel pump failed, and his car coasted to a stop. He finished in 13th place. He also dropped out while leading the Indy 500 in
1989,
1995 and
2003. Michael holds the record for most laps led in the Indy 500, but has yet to achieve victory.
Formula One
Andretti joined the
McLaren Formula One team for
1993, alongside the triple World Champion
Ayrton Senna. Unfortunately, the season was not a success. A string of collisions meant that he only completed three laps in his first three races, and he never fully got to grips with Formula 1 cars. Highly technical aspects which he was not used to in the more simple Indycar series such as
active suspension and
traction control hampered Andretti's chances for the 1993 F1 season. This combined with the fact that he commuted to races and test sessions from the USA, rather than re-locating full-time to Europe were also contributing factors to his lack of success in Formula One. Three points-scoring finishes, including a third place at
Monza, were perceived as too little, too late, and he left the team and the championship by mutual agreement after that race.
Return to CART
After
McLaren replaced Andretti with Finnish driver
Mika Häkkinen, Michael returned to the CART series for 1994, where he once again proved very successful. He went on to win in his very first race back in the series at the 1994 Surfers Paradise event in
Australia. He finished as runner-up in 1996 and more race wins followed in the years to come, but his 1991 championship success remained his only title in CART/Indycar racing.
His career in CART ended in 2002, in which he took his 42nd and final career victory at the Grand Prix of Long Beach - placing him in third place for all-time victories in championship car racing behind his father,
Mario Andretti (52 wins) and
A.J. Foyt (67 wins).
Michael Andretti is also tied with
Al Unser Jr for the most wins in a CART/Indycar season with eight victories. He achieved this during his championship-winning season of 1991.
Semi-retirement and team owner
After competing in the
2003 Indianapolis 500, Andretti retired from full-time Indycar racing. He led the race for 28 of the opening 94 laps before a throttle linkage failure put him out of contention once again. That year he bought into the "Team Green" squad run by brothers Kim and Barry Green in the
Champ Car World Series. It became
Andretti Green Racing and for 2004 the team 'defected' to the rival
Indy Racing League.
That year,
Tony Kanaan won the 2004 IndyCar Series Championship for Andretti Green Racing. In 2005, Britain's
Dan Wheldon won the
Indianapolis 500, and the IndyCar Series Championship for the team.
Return to racing at Indy
Andretti returned to the driver's seat for the
2006 Indianapolis 500 in an one-time effort to assist the development of his son,
Marco, an Indycar rookie for the '06 season. Michael led the race with four laps to go, before falling to second behind his son a lap later. He went on to finish third, while Marco only just missed out on the 500 victory after he was passed in the last corner by two-time Indycar champion
Sam Hornish Jr.
After qualifying his car in 11th place for the
2007 Indianapolis 500, Andretti went on to finish 13th. He then announced that this would be his last Indy 500 as a driver.
Andretti leaves Indy with a frustrating distinction - the driver who's led the most laps (431) without winning the race. He competed in 16 Indy 500s, with a top finish of second in 1991, but led the race nine times.
However, Indy 2007 was another success for Michael's team, Andretti-Green racing. His Scottish driver
Dario Franchitti took the victory after the race was halted while he was in the lead due to heavy rain after 166 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Personal life
Andretti was married to Sandra Spinozzi from November
1985 to
1996 and they had two children, son
Marco (born
March 13,
1987) and daughter Marissa (born
October 31,
1990). He remarried on
December 24,
1997, to Leslie Wood. They had a child, Lucca, born
September 16,
1999. On
September 7 2004, Andretti filed for divorce. On
July 15 2006, Andretti announced his engagement to model, actress, and 2000 ''
Playboy''
Playmate of the Year
Jodi Ann Paterson. The couple were married on
October 7 2006.
Andretti family
Michael is from the famous Andretti racing family. His brother
Jeff Andretti competed in IndyCar. Michael's uncle
Aldo Andretti was an open wheel racer until an accident ended his racing career. Aldo's son
John Andretti (Michael's cousin) raced in IndyCar before he became a
NASCAR regular. Aldo's other son,
Adam also was a racecar driver. 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 ]
Michael Andretti lives on an adjacent tract of land to his father's mansion of "Montona" in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he grew up.
Complete Formula One results
()
Indy 500 results
See also
★
Michael Andretti's World GP
References
1. Texaco/Havoline CART History Michael Andretti
External link
★
Article on Andretti's F1 career
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