Biography
Mario Andretti is an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars and sprint cars.
Early life
Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo were born to Alvise Andretti, a farm administrator, and his wife, Rina, in Montona, Istria (now Motovun, Croatia). Istria was then part of the Kingdom of Italy, but it was annexed by Yugoslavia at the end of World War II, as confirmed by the Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Osimo. The Andretti family left in 1948, during the Istrian exodus, ending up in a refugee camp in Lucca, Italy.
NASCAR
Andretti competed in fourteen NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup (now NASCAR Cup Series) events in his career. He competed in Holman Moody cars for his final ten events. Holman Moody was one of NASCAR’s most successful teams at that time. Further, as the team won NASCAR championships in 1968 and 1969 with driver David Pearson. Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 for Holman Moody.
Media appearances
Andretti played himself on three episodes of the United States television show Home Improvement. And also appears in films such as the IMAX movie Super Speedway about the making of Newman/Haas Racing cars. As well as being about Mario Andretti and Michael Andretti. He is a major character and sometime narrator of the 1972 film The Speed Merchants. Mario is also in the Pixar Animation Studios film Cars, where his voice is used for a cameo. There he plays the 1967 Ford Fairlane in which he won the Daytona 500. Similarly, a parody of his own success in that race.
Overview
- Full Name: Mario Gabriele Andretti
- Date of Birth: February 28, 1940
- Age: 79 years
- Birth Place: Motovun, Croatia
- Height: 1.71 m
- Spouse: Dee Ann Andretti (m since 1961–2018)
- Children: Michael Andretti, Barbie Andretti, Jeff Andretti
- Years: since 1966–1967, 1982–1983, 1988, 1995–1997, 2000
- Teams: Holman Moody, Grand Touring Cars Inc., Porsche Kremer Racing, Porsche AG, Courage Compétition, Panoz Motorsports
- Best finish: 2nd (since 1995)
- Class wins: 1 (since 1995)
- Net Worth: $120 Million
CV Read More James Maddison
Reference Net Worth of Mario Andretti