Mario Andretti .. IndyCar and Formula One

IndyCar career


From 1956 to 1979, the top open wheel racing in North America was the USAC National Championship. It was often referred to as Champ car racing or IndyCar racing. The races were run on a mixture of paved and dirt ovals, and in later t\years also included some road and street courses.

Anndretti made his Champ Car debut on April 19, 1964.He won his first championship car race at the Hoosier Grand Prix on a road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1965.

His third place finish at the 1965 Indy 500 in the Brawner Hawk earned him the race's Rookie of the Year award, and contributed towards Andretti winning the series championship.

He was series champion in 1966, winning eight of fifteen events.Andretti finished second in the IndyCars in 1967 and 1968.

He also won a single  non-championship drag race in 1967 in a Ford Mustang

Andetti won nine races in 1969, the 1969 Indy 500
and the season championship






Formula One career


Formula One is the highest form of Open Wheel Racing sanctioned by FIA.


At Andretti's first Indy 500, in 1965, he met Colin Chapman, owner of the Lotus Formula One team, who was running eventual winner Jimmy Clark's car. Andretti told Chapman of his ambition to compete in F1 and was told "When you're ready, call me."

 above Jimmy Clark's car

By 1968 Andretti felt he was ready. Chapman gave him a car, and the young American took the pole position on his debut at the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in the Lotus 49.

Andretti drove sporadically in Formula One over the next four years for Lotus, March, and Ferrari, while continuing to focus on his racing career in America.

At the 1971 South African Grand Prix, on his debut for Ferrari, he won his first Grand Prix.

It wasn't until 1975  that Andretti drove a full Formula One season, for the American Parnelli team. When Parnelli pulled out of F1 in 1976, he returned to the Chapman Lotus team.

Andretti's ability at developing a racing car contributed to Lotus' return to the front of the F1 grid, culminating in lapping the field in his victory at the season ending race at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan in 1976.

The Lotus 78 "wing car" proved to be the most competitive car of 1977 but despite winning four races, more than any other driver, reliability problems and collisions meant Andretti finished only third in the championship.

The following year, 1978, the Lotus 79 exploited ground effect even further and Andretti took the title with six wins. There was no celebration because his teammate and close friend Ronnie Peterson crashed at the start of the race and died that night





Andretti would find little success after 1978 in Formula One.He had a difficult year in 1979 ,as the Lotus 80 was not competitive. In 1980, he was paired with Nigel Mansell but the team was again unsuccessful.
Andretti had an unsuccessful 1981 with the Alfa Romeo team. The next year Andretti raced once for the Williams team before replacing the seriously injured Didier Pironi at Ferrari for the last two races of the year.