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Evening With A Legend: Mario Andretti · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  Evening with the Legend is a series of presentations exclusive to
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  Legends of the Famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, giving us an opportunity
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  to bring a piece of Le Mans to you.
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  By sharing stories and highlights of the big event, you get a chance
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  to become part of the Legend of Le Mans, with guests from different
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  eras of over 100 years of racing.
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  Tonight, we have an opportunity to bring a piece of Lamar to you,
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  sharing in the legend of Lamar with guests from different eras.
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  of over a hundred years of racing.
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  And as your host, I'm delighted to introduce a racing icon considered
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  by many to be the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport.
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  Born in Italy, emigrating to the United States and beginning his career racing
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  stock cars in Pennsylvania at the age of 19, he won races in sports car,
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  sprint car, stock car, formula cars.
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  On ovals, road courses, drag strips, on the dirt, and on the pavement.
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  His achievements are legendary.
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  The world watched as he won the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and
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  ultimately the Formula One World Championship, an unprecedented trifecta.
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  Mario Andretti took the checkered flag 111 times during his career,
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  a career that stretched five decades and across six continents,
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  and includes nine That's right.
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  Nine entries in the famed 24 hours of Le Mans.
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  And with that, I'm your host, Crew Chief Eric from the Motoring
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  Podcast Network, welcoming everyone to this evening with a legend.
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  And so without further ado, Mario, welcome to the show.
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  Thank you, Eric.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Well Mario, let's start off by talking about your road to Le Mans.
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  Your first visit was in 1966 with the Holman Moody Ford GT40 Mark
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  II with co driver Lucien Bianchi.
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  So tell us about that first trip to Le Mans.
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  How did racing at Le Mans compare to everything you'd done on
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  the road up until that point.
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  First of all, I really look forward to doing Le Mans.
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  At that point, I had only done one long distance race, which was a
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  Daytona 500 in 66 with Ferrari, but the opportunity to go to Le Mans with
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  Ford, there was a big, big effort there.
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  Their objective was obviously to win it, you know, and they did finally.
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  So anyway, I welcomed the idea, and Lucien Bianchi was quite the
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  veteran of Valon Dess racing, and he and I became very, very close
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  friends, you know, over the time.
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  The experience was good, but we didn't finish.
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  The GT40, it was still new, it was evolving, we've all seen
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  the movie Ford versus Ferrari.
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  Was it a lot like that, going to Le Mans with that car?
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  Well, I had done a lot of testing.
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  Uh, I was part of the testing team.
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  So I was involved in, uh, all of the running that was done.
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  So I had a pretty good feel for the car, except that, as I said, that in
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  that particular event, they put in the, well, no, no, actually there was
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  one later that where they put in the wrong pads, you know, on the side.
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  Oh, we'll talk about that.
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  Yeah.
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  And actually in 66.
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  I think we had an engine issue, but I felt comfortable.
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  I felt that we had a good shot of doing well.
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  I mean, because again, I felt good in the car, you know, and the
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  following year, Bruce McClaren and I won the 12 hour, so I was familiar.
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  It's not that I didn't have extensive road racing experience, but I was,
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  when I was coming on pretty good in the testing, you know, my speed was, was
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  actually comparable to anyone there.
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  So would you say that first trip Lamar was intimidating?
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  That was probably the longest lap you'd ever driven, right?
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  On any course, or had you done other courses like the Nuremberg ring or
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  something like that up until that point?
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  No, no, that was for me.
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  That was the first.
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  And yeah, it can be intimidating if you let it be intimidating.
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  It's just that obviously any potential negative.
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  out of your mind, no question.
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  You approach it the way you should approach any, any
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  new experience, if you will.
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  I felt that we had a great team behind us.
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  There was plenty of time to get familiar with the course.
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  Yes, I've been challenging, daunting, high speed.
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  Yes, all of that, all of those things that we, you know, I love because, uh, I
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  mean, I used to do the Banking at Daytona, you know, flat at 220 miles an hour.
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  So the speed was not a factor, but anything, any new experience
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  is daunting, no question.
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  And again, the fact that I really, really look forward to it, I
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  think makes a big difference.
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  So I embraced it in the most positive way.
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  Well, you brought it up, Mario.
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  Le Mans 1967, that was your second trip to the famed 24 Hours, and you hinted at it.
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  There was a bit of a mistake made in the pits in the middle of the night.
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  So what happened?
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  Describe it for us.
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  Yeah, it was Aleutian Bianchi, uh, and I, and again against Zangerni and, and A.
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  J.
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  Foyt.
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  I was in the same stint as A.
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  J.
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  Foyt, and I thought that I probably could do a bit better.
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  Uh, I had, you know, more experience with the car and I was putting up
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  quite a bit of distance between us.
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  And especially it was wet and part of the stint, actually I did two stints at
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  that point, then when I handed the car.
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  To Lucian, he didn't know that we had a break issue, but
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  we knew how to deal with it.
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  And there was a lot of vibration, but we had to live with it up to a certain point.
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  But he was not aware of that.
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  I had almost a lap advantage on AJ at that point when Lucian took over.
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  Then I'm still sitting at the wall because I was pretty well spent
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  in those daunting two stints.
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  And all of a sudden he comes in.
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  And he's discussing the situation with one of the mechanics, like, you know,
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  like during practice, I said, you know, there's a race going on, but he
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  wanted the brake pads changed, which that was not going to change anything.
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  It was that the disc needed to be changed, but it wasn't the time.
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  That's what I'm saying.
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  But since he asked for something.
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  All of a sudden the change in the pads and I was a bit upset.
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  So I pulled him out.
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  I said, I'm going back in and of course full load of fuel.
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  And, uh, unbeknownst to me later on, I'm coming over the rise, going to
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  the down lump chicane and breaking the car, just, just turn to the right.
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  That's it.
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  So we crashed and it was all over.
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  Actually, I busted some ribs and whatever.
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  That was the race that was unfortunate.
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  Later on, when they gather all the pieces together, they found out that
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  one of the pads on the right front was put on backwards, metal to metal,
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  uh, since the disc was cracked, it caught and with a full load of fuel.
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  We still run, you know, a lot of fuel in those days and it took
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  the wheel right out of my hands.
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  And then we went, I went into the dirt bank and basically
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  destroyed the front of the car.
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  So after that incident in 1967, you didn't return to Le Mans until after
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  completing your seasons in Formula One.
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  We're talking a gap of 1967 all the way up to 1982.
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  So let's talk about how Lamar evolved during that time period.
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  When you returned, what was it like, you know, walking down
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  the paddock into pit lane?
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  How had Lamar changed since 1967?
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  You know, obviously, Things evolve, you know, that everything just
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  changes for the better, if you will.
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  It'd be, you know, the infrastructure is different and the cars, rules
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  and all those things, it's not that I had been away from the sport.
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  So I was changing with that.
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  I expected things to be different.
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  Of course, I felt quite comfortable in that situation as well, because.
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  We were with a Kramer Porsche, great experience team and so on and so forth.
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  And Felipe was a third driver, you know, very good.
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  And of course it was, uh, Michael was his second experience, but the first
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  experience we never got to start.
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  You know, well, it's a long story there.
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  We were on a grid and they said the car was illegal.
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  So anyway, so I had a little bit of everything as far as experiences there.
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  That was with the Mirage M12 Ford?
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  Yes, yes, yes, yes.
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  And in 82, that was still pre bus stop, pre chicane on the Molson.
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  So you were able to go full tilt down the straightaway.
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  Full tilt.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  So did you guys make it through qualifying in 82?
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  You just didn't make it to the grid?
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  Yeah, we made it through qualifying.
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  We were on a grid.
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  We were ready to start and all of a sudden, you know, one of the marshals come
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  here and he's pulling me out of the car.
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  And I said, what's going on?
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  But anyway, one thing led to another that they deemed our car illegal
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  because they said that some of the, uh, oil coolers, intakes, so forth, were
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  changed from qualifying to the race.
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  So I was not aware of any of that.
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  So they pulled us out of the race.
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  That would have been Michael's debut.
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  My son Michael's debut at the time.
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  And that would have also been the first time that you guys co drove together.
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  Indeed.
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  Indeed.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  But not the last time.
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  Not the last time.
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  1982, if I do my math right, and I was doing some research on this, a
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  Porsche 924 GTR Carrera took your place.
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  I'm wondering if that was one of our previous legends that were on the show.
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  Maybe that was the Jim Busby, Doc Bundy team that took your spot
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  after the car was disqualified.
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  Cause I heard a little bit of that story as well.
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  Well, I suppose that was it, but I wasn't too interested in that.
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  Speaking of that, you know, you've talked about the breakdowns and
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  the pads and the disqualifications, all these situations with the car.
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  And one of the biggest themes that has come up with other guests on
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  this program is mechanical sympathy.
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  So would you say that's maybe one of the most important parts about endurance
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  racing, especially racing at Le Mans?
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  No question.
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  You know, it's a mouthful when you say 24 hours, the mechanical
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  side plays, and this is when.
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  Porsche comes in or Ferrari, the renowned reliability they always had and as a
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  driver, that's where you want it to be in, quite honestly, either one.
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  The record is insurmountable, you know, the Porsche, especially a Le Mans.
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  Yeah, to have that opportunity, you know, it was a lot of pleasure because we
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  finished third, but we were just behind the full factory team, which they won too.
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  Actually, they had Trouble right at the end at one, I think it was determined
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  that one or two laps, we would have won that race because they're both has a
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  turbocharger problem and nevertheless, uh, on a podium was, it was a good
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  beginning with my son, Michael, alongside and of course, uh, it was a good podium.
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  So the last time you and I got together, we talked about how you helped.
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  Team Lotus and Colin Chapman developed ground effects in the Type 79.
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  And you saw that technology carry through into the sports car and
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  endurance world, especially at Le Mans.
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  Here we are in the eighties moving into 1988, where you mentioned earlier,
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  you were running the Porsche 962 with Michael and your nephew, John.
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  And so these were full ground effect cars.
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  And so I want to take a moment to kind of compare and contrast the 962 To
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  everything else you driven up into that point, because a lot of us hold the 9 62
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  in massive regard is probably one of the most legendary endurance cars of all time.
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  So I'm going to walk us through that experience and that technology change from
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  the Lotus 79 and what you helped develop.
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  To that point in 1988, almost 10 years later, well, obviously you learn more,
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  you know, you develop and all of a sudden with the sports car, you have a lot more
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  square inch area to deal with as far as your diffusers and so on and so forth.
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  So even though obviously it's regulated, if you will, the diffuser
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  access and so forth, but still no ground effect downforce is what
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  drivers we love because, you know, you have more speed through the corner.
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  That's the whole objective.
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  To me, all the drivers, I'm sure, we welcomed that feature, no question.
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  The unfortunate thing, everybody else had it, too.
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  You know, so all you did is just go faster, which is great.
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  I remember clearly that getting away from Le Mans at Daytona, I was, Michael
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  and I, We're the first ones to drive a 962 because usually Le Mans was a
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  956, you know, 962 was for us because that single turbocharger for him.
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  So, and, uh, we were the first ones actually, I was on Polo
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  Daytona and we had a gearbox issue.
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  Actually, I was at the infancy of ground effects for Porsche because the 962 at the
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  beginning was like a lot of air cooling in the engine and so for qualifying, it just
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  blocked the air intakes underneath and you gain tremendous amount of downforce
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  obviously because of that, but in a race.
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  They had to obviously keep that open.
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  So in the race, it was, it was not the same, but here at the beginning
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  and so on and so forth, the 962, it was full, full downforce, the maximum
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  that could be allowed under the rules.
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  And, uh, it was an awesome car to drive.
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  Absolutely.
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  Well, I have a very specific question from Neil here.
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  So this goes back to the 1988 race, you against the factory Porsche team
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  with Stuck Bell and Ludwig in the car.
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  They were the expected winners.
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  What were you, Michael and John told to do?
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  Like, was this still a time of team orders and rank and file and things like that?
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  Were you told to take it easy?
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  You just had to bring the car home.
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  What was the plan?
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  And did you feel like you could beat the Jaguars?
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  Well, we felt that we could beat the Jaguars, but there was a
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  strange rule in place in 1988.
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  There was a maximum amount of fuel that you could burn
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  for, you know, with any car.
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  Kind of was a stupid rule, but that's it.
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  You had to go by it.
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  Quite honestly, the engineer, Mr.
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  Singer, Herbert Singer, I loved the man.
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  I really did.
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  And I think he liked us and he knew that we would obey.
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  And there was no order as far as, you know, who does whatever.
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  It's just that who just follows the strategy.
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  He said, if by one in the morning, it said, you're on, on a, on a fuel mark.
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  He said, no deficit.
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  You probably have a chance to win the race there.
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  That the big competition was with the Jaguars and our teammates were in
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  deficit of fuel, something like actually.
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  Five or seven liters, which can mean you have to stay in the pits for
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  that long, like for maybe 30 seconds, sometimes a minute, you know, because
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  you won't have fuel to finish.
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  And we were right on.
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  And then what happened?
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  We lost an injector.
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  We went on five cylinders, you know, obviously not a disappointment, you
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  know, with a Porsche, here we go.
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  And we, from one in the morning to the finish, we had to go five cylinders.
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  We lost the cylinders and we still finished.
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  We finished sixth and what helped us.
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  To stay somewhat competitive with the rain for at least three or four hours,
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  which helped, but at Lamont, especially straight line, we lost tremendous amount
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  of straight line speed, obviously, and that's, that's a big penalty there.
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  So, you know, going back to the question, do we have any orders?
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  Okay.
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  There were no orders at all that I know because going in, you
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  never know what's going to happen.
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  If there was going to be an order, it was going to be maybe toward the end or
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  something, you know, because of points.
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  But, you know, we did what we needed to do as far as, uh, the stain right within
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  that allowed fuel burn and so forth.
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  And we were right on it.
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  I had all the faith in the world and, uh, Mr.
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  Singer because, uh, you know, his experience and, uh, uh, Another
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  I know that he liked us as well.
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  And what's great about this time period here in the late 80s,
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  especially early 90s, you're still running an IndyCar or cart, whichever
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  name you want to use at that time.
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  So if you compare your IndyCar to the 962, maybe it's apples and oranges.
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  And I want to ask which one did you like better, but were they similar
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  in a way to drive or were they just totally different animals?
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  Absolutely, totally different animals.
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  I mean, you talk about the weight factor, the size.
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  When you go from one discipline to the other, usually there's a lot of, you know,
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  adaptation that you have to deal with to be able to extract everything out of it.
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  So, you cannot compare a sports car with an open wheel with a single seater.
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  You just cannot compare that.
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  The sports prototypes are a lot of fun.
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  I mean, I enjoyed it.
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  I mean, every bit about it.
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  It's not to be compared with a single seater.
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  1988 is the second to last year of the open straightaway, the open
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  Mulsanne as we jump your story forward.
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  You return to Lamont in the 90s 3 times in a row, 95 96 and 97 with the courage
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  team outside of that major change.
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  And let's talk about the lap itself.
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  What else about Lamont had changed from the 80s?
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  Into the mid nineties.
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  When were the Porsche curves introduced?
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  I'm trying to think because that was a huge, huge change.
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  Their white house corner, I think it was called, was eliminated, which, uh,
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  you were going through a narrow bridge and all that sort of thing that was
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  very dangerous part, probably the most dangerous part of the lot, you know,
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  before the change that I don't remember exactly when, but I'm glad that I had
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  the opportunity to drive that too.
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  You know, as a comparison to the course.
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  So the 90s, the Courage team, three in a row, what happened?
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  The first one there, we, uh, we obviously, we should have won that one.
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  I made a mistake very close to the beginning.
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  The car that I wanted to overtake was a car in front, it was
• 17:45
  really quite slow in the wet.
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  Hans Stuck was one of the drivers there and I was surprised, you know,
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  that he was that slow, but I figured, okay, it's Hans Stuck, he'll know
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  that I'm coming up to overtake him.
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  I was a bit too anxious, I should have waited.
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  2DS is there, and he pushed me in the grass, and I spun and hit
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  the guardrail with the left side, and of course, you know, bent.
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  You know, body wasn't as bad, but there was a wishbone that needed to
• 18:13
  be changed, and unfortunately, they were not really ready for it, so it
• 18:18
  took a lot longer than we thought.
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  I felt the responsibility to really get a lot of the time back, and I was driving
• 18:25
  like a man possessed, especially at night.
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  And there was a time when it was, uh, it was some wet driving and
• 18:32
  again, I got back, you know, more, uh, almost all the time that, that we
• 18:38
  had, it's still plenty of time to go.
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  And then Bob Wallach had a problem.
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  He spawned something on a bush curve.
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  So we lost some more time there.
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  And then.
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  And we were recovering, but we needed a few more laps.
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  At the end, we were about four minutes behind, and we couldn't recover
• 18:57
  that, because obviously our car was quicker than the McLaren's that won.
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  The only thing I can tell you, I had a lot of fun, because I, I drove my
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  butt off, and I love that, because that, you know, we had nothing to
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  lose, and I was qualifying every lap.
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  And, uh, I remember one of my guys, you know, J.
• 19:17
  F.
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  Thorman, was on the side, he said, Oh, unbelievable, Alex, you're
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  running, you're turning, you know.
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  So that part was fun, but we missed out.
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  We finished second, but first, first in class.
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  So I can claim.
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  I won Le Mans.
• 19:31
  If you win class, you still win, right?
• 19:33
  That's true.
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  And I have a trophy upstairs to prove it.
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  So it should have been overall, obviously.
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  But a win is a win.
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  I probably had more fun than if we would have just cruised around
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  and, you know, and won that way.
• 19:49
  Outside of the other changes to the track with the addition of
• 19:52
  the chicane bus stop there on the Mulsanne, did you like that addition?
• 19:56
  You know, slowing the cars down a bit instead of what you were used to,
• 19:59
  the full bore down the straightaway all the way down the Mulsanne corner?
• 20:02
  I liked it because it was another breaking point for overtaking whatever and quite
• 20:07
  honestly made it a little more technical because the chicane at the Mulsanne, you
• 20:12
  know, I think was really, it's well done.
• 20:15
  It's not a Mickey Mouse chicane, you know, it's like a proper corner.
• 20:19
  So I think it was needed because, you know, you love the high speed,
• 20:22
  but something happens and so forth.
• 20:24
  You know, before that, again, we were reaching, you know, 220, 230 miles
• 20:29
  an hour, done this straight away.
• 20:31
  I know I did that one in the morning or something with a mark two, we were about
• 20:35
  235 miles an hour way back when those speeds were absolutely unbelievable.
• 20:41
  When you look at the nine seventeens and the GT forties, all these
• 20:44
  cars doing 200 plus mile an hour.
• 20:46
  It's absolutely incredible.
• 20:48
  Yeah.
• 20:48
  Again, back to back to back three years in a row.
• 20:51
  So 96 and 97, you're back with the courage team.
• 20:54
  Any significant stories you can share with us about 96 and 97.
• 20:58
  It's crazy that I didn't have a lot of luck there for some reason,
• 21:02
  I think in 96, I think it was 96, uh, we were running quite well.
• 21:07
  What did we do?
• 21:08
  I tried to out break into the Indianapolis corner, uh, one of the Porsches.
• 21:14
  And, uh, like the fronts, I went into the sandbox.
• 21:19
  That was embarrassing.
• 21:20
  That was embarrassing.
• 21:21
  Yeah.
• 21:22
  So you mentioned luck.
• 21:23
  And one of my predecessors on this program used to bring up, when talking to
• 21:27
  the Le Mans legends, he had this saying that was, Le Mans chooses its winner.
• 21:32
  You don't get to choose the winner.
• 21:33
  Whether you win Lamont's or not.
• 21:34
  Do you feel that that's true?
• 21:36
  Is there a certain bit of, I don't know, mystique or superstition there
• 21:39
  that Lamont's chooses its winner?
• 21:41
  Well, to this winner, I mean, in a sense, because of so much
• 21:45
  can happen in a 24 hour period.
• 21:47
  In my situation, like, you know, I said, okay, I was unlucky.
• 21:51
  Some of it, I brought the unlock.
• 21:53
  I brought on myself quite honestly, because I must admit that many times
• 21:57
  I was Caught up in a moment that, uh, I could have let things go, but
• 22:02
  my specialty was not long distance.
• 22:05
  I'm only thinking of the moment.
• 22:06
  I said, Oh, gosh, why did I push that?
• 22:09
  And this was a one stupid mistake that I, I would like to have
• 22:13
  another crack at, you know?
• 22:14
  So I follow my sword when, when, when I need to, you know, and
• 22:18
  some of the situation I brought on myself, quite honestly.
• 22:21
  The fact is, my competitive spirit, you know, was, I mean, a little bit
• 22:25
  too aggressive there for long distance.
• 22:28
  But, you know, I guess I was going about to change for some reason.
• 22:32
  I'm looking at the results here in, in, in my nine.
• 22:36
  There were a lot of DNFs here.
• 22:38
  Nevertheless, I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of it, out of
• 22:42
  my time there, just being at Le Mans, I just love, love driving
• 22:47
  that course, I just truly did.
• 22:49
  And what's really fun about this discussion, nine times at Le Mans,
• 22:53
  we've only talked about eight of them so far, and I held the best one for
• 22:56
  last, because if it isn't, Incredible enough until this point and people, I'm
• 23:00
  sure searching and Googling like, Oh, Mario's time at Lamont race results.
• 23:04
  You're looking at as well from the time.
• 23:06
  But in 2000, it's not that long ago.
• 23:08
  You returned to Lamont at the age of 60 and attempted the race 1 more time.
• 23:14
  And I find that just mind blowing because how many professional drivers
• 23:17
  can say I returned to the track at that age and competed in the 24 hours.
• 23:21
  So this time you partner with pain knows in the L.
• 23:23
  M.
• 23:23
  P.
• 23:24
  1 Roadster s.
• 23:25
  Mhm.
• 23:25
  And when you look at the, again, mid nineties to the two thousands,
• 23:29
  it's another jump from the last time you went to Lamont.
• 23:31
  So the circuit has changed again.
• 23:33
  It has evolved.
• 23:34
  So I want to get your thoughts on that ninth entry at Lamont.
• 23:38
  What was going through your head at 60 years old, looking back over that time.
• 23:42
  Well, here again, you know, I just, uh, I look forward to that.
• 23:46
  As you can see, that was actually my very last professional race of my career.
• 23:51
  Uh, you know, driving with David Brabham and John Magnuson, I think
• 23:55
  it was actually a great opportunity to be with those two drivers.
• 24:00
  And, uh, there's two things that happened.
• 24:02
  One, the left front tire blew up on me once along the way, and that's
• 24:07
  going into Indianapolis, actually.
• 24:09
  But I didn't crash, you know, fortunately did some damage, you know, to the body
• 24:14
  because of the high speed got in the grass a bit, but I brought it back
• 24:17
  to the pits and then at night I was really, really running well, actually.
• 24:22
  They were very happy, the competitive times that we were doing.
• 24:26
  And then there was a crash, I think was one of the GT Porsches.
• 24:31
  There were a lot of bits on the track and I was just coming in to change, you
• 24:36
  know, at the end of my stint, and it was something in the middle of the track that
• 24:40
  went underneath the oil filter somehow stood out outside of the body underneath.
• 24:46
  And it caught the oil filter.
• 24:48
  I felt something drag, but I had no idea.
• 24:51
  And then what now?
• 24:52
  I think it was David that took over.
• 24:54
  They were ready to go.
• 24:55
  They were all happy and all of a sudden smoke.
• 24:58
  They didn't know what it was and they, you know, lost time there to
• 25:00
  change the oil filter or whatever.
• 25:02
  So we lost quite a bit of time there and that's why we
• 25:05
  finished about 16th or something.
• 25:07
  For our listeners who have never been to Lamar before, they may
• 25:11
  only be familiar with watching the race on television, right?
• 25:14
  The actual dedicated 24 hours of Lamar, but the race itself is more
• 25:18
  than just the spectacle, you know, over the Saturday and Sunday, it takes
• 25:22
  place over the entire week, sometimes longer there's testing, there's
• 25:25
  night practice, there's scrimmages, qualifiers, all this kind of thing.
• 25:28
  And so that adds to the stress level.
• 25:30
  Of every pro driver into the car.
• 25:32
  I mean, by the time you run the 24 hours, and in some cases, the
• 25:35
  cars already run the 24 hours.
• 25:37
  By the time you get to the race, thinking about Lamont holistically,
• 25:41
  what do you feel is the most challenging part of driving Lamont?
• 25:45
  Well, it's the physical side to be able to stay sharp.
• 25:48
  Physically, you're, you're basically spent nowadays.
• 25:51
  That's why in those days there were three driver, but I already drove it.
• 25:55
  We were two drivers, you know, at the beginning, but three drivers,
• 25:58
  it was actually quite a relief.
• 26:00
  And now they have four drivers, which, uh, I think it's a, it's a good idea as
• 26:04
  long as all four are up to the same level.
• 26:07
  Yeah.
• 26:08
  I mean, it's the physical side of it.
• 26:10
  No question about it.
• 26:11
  And as you said, there's a lot of activity.
• 26:13
  I mean, if you pull the short straw, sometimes they say, okay,
• 26:17
  you're going to do the morning warmup at nine in the morning.
• 26:20
  So you have to get up at seven and then you have to stay up 24
• 26:24
  hours, which is a race starts at two in the afternoon or something.
• 26:28
  So you get the little extra.
• 26:29
  And, and, uh, I think I, uh, I do the shorts twice.
• 26:33
  I think I had to do that.
• 26:34
  So as you can see, like I said, from a physical level, yeah.
• 26:37
  You really have to prepare properly and that's what it's about.
• 26:41
  I mean, it's, uh, it's equal for everyone, but that's the other challenge that you
• 26:45
  have, not just the mechanical challenge.
• 26:47
  Are you sure in the world don't want to leave anything on the table just because
• 26:52
  you're tired or because, uh, You know, you're not functioning a hundred percent.
• 26:56
  So that's a matter of pride.
• 26:58
  So that's one thing that can tell you clearly, I don't think I've
• 27:01
  given up an ounce in that respect.
• 27:03
  That was a real challenge, you know, to be right on.
• 27:06
  And again, that's another one of those things he had paid a lot of attention to.
• 27:11
  Stay hydrated, all the things.
• 27:13
  And I'm glad you brought up the physical side of racing, because
• 27:16
  multiple of our audience had either sent in a question like that, or
• 27:20
  even posted it here in the chat.
• 27:21
  And they wanted to know about the physical fitness part.
• 27:23
  You know, if you think about it today, all these pro drivers, they
• 27:26
  have simulators and reaction time testing and physical trainers and
• 27:30
  strict diets and teams of people.
• 27:32
  You were jumping from discipline to car to races all over the world.
• 27:36
  And so for you.
• 27:37
  Was it just another day at the office or how were you keeping yourself
• 27:41
  physically prepared, even mentally prepared for all these races,
• 27:44
  especially for the 24 hour Le Mans?
• 27:46
  Well, Eric, you have to realize what you're up against, you know, and you
• 27:50
  prepare accordingly and you know, what's going to be daunting, you know, whether
• 27:54
  it's any long distance race is that long distance and you better be up for it.
• 28:00
  As you said, we, we had some, uh, professional help even in those days.
• 28:05
  As far as, uh, you know, people making sure that we have the, you
• 28:09
  know, the proper meals and whatever and all of that and stay hydrated
• 28:14
  and, and then we will have somebody to do some massaging or whatever.
• 28:18
  There was even one of the races, we had a hyperbaric chamber where you could
• 28:22
  go in and take a bit of a nap, but I'm claustrophobic, so I couldn't use that.
• 28:27
  I was in there and I was going crazy.
• 28:30
  So Anyway, but usually the teams, you know, they have professionals, you
• 28:35
  know, to help you along that, that area.
• 28:38
  Another thing that comes up when discussing the 24 hour Le Mans
• 28:41
  and how demanding it can be for a driver are the weather conditions.
• 28:45
  It is so variable.
• 28:46
  There's other tracks, Spa, Watkins Glen, the Nurburgring are like this
• 28:50
  too, where you could be at one side of the track, it's completely dry.
• 28:53
  And on the other side, it's downpouring and everything in between.
• 28:57
  But Le Mans also has this added bonus.
• 28:59
  Of hitting around the summer solstice is the longest day of the year with
• 29:03
  the shortest amount of nighttime driving in all those conditions.
• 29:08
  Obviously, every driver wants to drive the perfect lap when it's sunny in the
• 29:12
  middle of the day without the sun in their eyes, but talk about driving in
• 29:16
  the wet and talk about driving at night.
• 29:18
  How bad is it at Lamont?
• 29:19
  I'm glad you mentioned that actually, because.
• 29:22
  You know, even going back to, um, 95, I made the most of that at night.
• 29:27
  It was, uh, quite a few hours of wet and I stayed in the car because the
• 29:31
  worst thing to do is to be, you know, to interrupt the stint and put a fresh driver
• 29:37
  in there in the middle of the night.
• 29:38
  Whoever starts the part drive most of the night.
• 29:42
  And that's where I made up tremendous amount of time.
• 29:46
  You figure, oh man, it's daunting.
• 29:48
  In a way, you never know what's going to happen, and the
• 29:50
  visibility factor and everything.
• 29:52
  But I, I said, this is an opportunity.
• 29:55
  That's why I was making time like crazy.
• 29:57
  Especially I could see when, um, even in our own class, when, uh,
• 30:01
  they would have a driver change.
• 30:03
  It takes two, three laps for the individual to get acquainted
• 30:07
  with the conditions, if you will.
• 30:09
  I can tell you one thing, the breaking point at the end of Molson, most of
• 30:13
  the time you couldn't even see, you know, where the breaking point, and
• 30:17
  there was a church steeple on the right beyond the trees, and it was
• 30:21
  like a bit foggy and messy, you know.
• 30:24
  And I was judging myself to that church steeple, and I could go probably
• 30:29
  another, maybe, uh, 100 meters or so.
• 30:33
  And then definitely, you know, that was my breaking point.
• 30:35
  I said, if that church ever moves, I'm done.
• 30:43
  That church really, really helped me because I didn't have to hunt for it.
• 30:49
  That's awesome.
• 30:50
  Yeah.
• 30:51
  I can still see it.
• 30:53
  So a question from our audience that falls right in line with this.
• 30:56
  Matthew asks, did you find noticeable differences in your ability to stay
• 31:00
  sharp for the whole race throughout your entire career there at Lamont?
• 31:04
  You know, you know, your own self, you know, as far as what you can
• 31:09
  do and how you can extend yourself and, and you'd be surprised.
• 31:14
  How, you know, obviously toward the end of the race, obviously you're pretty spent,
• 31:18
  but as soon as you get in the car and all of the thing that requires, you know,
• 31:23
  the speed up, you just wake right up.
• 31:26
  I mean, your senses just sharpen up immediately and you just
• 31:30
  go, to be honest with you.
• 31:32
  And there was some other race, one race that I thought that, you know,
• 31:35
  uh, how can I go back in, in a cockpit?
• 31:38
  It was at Sebring with Bruce McLaren, you know, because, well, anyway, it was
• 31:41
  one of the hardest races of my life.
• 31:43
  But you back in, maybe you just somehow your senses just pick right up and you
• 31:48
  go, then you die again when you come out.
• 31:52
  It's just, you know, it's what it is.
• 31:55
  It's adrenaline.
• 31:56
  All of a sudden, you're living on pure adrenaline.
• 31:59
  At that point, there's a story about my life to, you know, my long career.
• 32:04
  When I actually came out of the cockpit officially, I had some issues,
• 32:09
  issues that I Could not understand.
• 32:12
  And I was under the temptation of a professor at the University of
• 32:16
  Pennsylvania, who, by me telling him stories about my life, my
• 32:21
  career, he says, I have it now.
• 32:23
  He says, uh, the most part of your life, he said, you, you've been
• 32:27
  in an adrenaline junkie and your senses, your body thinks you're dead.
• 32:32
  Believe it or not, it took me like five years to kind of start reclaiming myself.
• 32:38
  And it's, uh, when I got in the cockpit again to test at Indianapolis for,
• 32:44
  uh, Tony Kanaan, I was going to have to qualify for him in, uh, 2003, just
• 32:50
  as I'm in the car in the first run, all of a sudden, I just resuscitated.
• 32:55
  I mean, I was in, in my element again, and I realizing what was been happening
• 32:59
  all my life, but it's, it's amazing how your body just gets attuned to something
• 33:04
  and it sort of helps you deal with that.
• 33:08
  But then if you change it dramatically, like I did, all of a sudden, you know,
• 33:12
  your senses are somewhat, I don't know, I mean, confused, if you will.
• 33:17
  And that's what's happening.
• 33:18
  It's something that was interesting, you know, talking with this
• 33:20
  professor, but he was right.
• 33:22
  He said, it'd probably take you two, three, four years, you know,
• 33:25
  to just get back to what you, you know, you're okay again.
• 33:29
  You mentioned earlier about switching between disciplines, and we
• 33:32
  highlighted the fact that there were gaps between your entries at Lamar.
• 33:36
  And so when you think about it, Coming into the sixties, you had done tons
• 33:40
  of oval tracks, stock car, sprint car.
• 33:43
  And you brought that knowledge and that experience with you to Lamar.
• 33:46
  And then you go back and then formula one happens.
• 33:49
  And then you bring that to Lamar and then you go back and IndyCar.
• 33:51
  And you know, you, you have this leapfrog in between, even though you brought a
• 33:55
  ton of experience with you to Lamar.
• 33:58
  What did Lamont teach you and what did you take back to those other
• 34:02
  disciplines of racing every time you went back sort of to your day job?
• 34:05
  Well, I'll tell you what it teaches you.
• 34:07
  It teaches you along this is that you'd be surprised sometime when you, you start
• 34:13
  more, you know, relaxing to some degree, how you start doing the perfect lap.
• 34:19
  And you're still quick and you take less out of the car, especially
• 34:23
  in those days where reliability factor was a big, big, big thing.
• 34:27
  And even the short, especially the short races, you know, to be
• 34:31
  able to just get to that zone.
• 34:33
  Long distance race, the beautiful thing about it, between stints,
• 34:37
  you think about this and that, a lot of things, then you go back.
• 34:40
  And you're trying this, you have the luxury to try so many things.
• 34:45
  And you said to yourself, I'm going to try to do the perfect lap.
• 34:49
  Come off the same revs where I want, because you always feel when you have
• 34:54
  good acceleration off the corner.
• 34:56
  You see it, you see that at the end of the straightaway and all that.
• 34:59
  You just measure yourself.
• 35:01
  There's always something that you learn.
• 35:03
  And yes, and in long distance, as I say, you have the luxury to
• 35:07
  keep trying and trying different things every time you're in a car.
• 35:12
  Maybe it's just small nuances, not big changes, but those are
• 35:15
  the things that make all the difference, you know, and in the end.
• 35:18
  So, uh, no question.
• 35:20
  I mean, that it's a great, great test bed for, for any driver.
• 35:24
  You know, if you really try to pay attention to a lot of things.
• 35:28
  So Scott asks, what is your favorite corner or section of the Sartre?
• 35:33
  Do you have a favorite track outside of all of the ones that
• 35:36
  we've already talked about?
• 35:37
  People ask that often, you know, what's your favorite corner, this and that.
• 35:41
  And, uh, I don't have a favorite corner, you know, and it's just that I think,
• 35:45
  quite honestly, Slight bit of banking.
• 35:47
  You could really lean into the front going into Indianapolis.
• 35:51
  You know, that's what they call Indianapolis, you know,
• 35:53
  and I sort of like that.
• 35:55
  I really tried to measure myself a deep.
• 35:58
  I could go into it and just take advantage of what it can.
• 36:01
  But other than that, I like all the corners.
• 36:05
  So there's no least favorite at Lamar.
• 36:07
  No least favorite, quite honestly.
• 36:10
  One of the most popular questions from our audience of all the mail
• 36:13
  ins that we got, I kind of summarized it and created one question for you.
• 36:16
  You've driven a long list of cars over your career.
• 36:20
  Which was your favorite or most memorable and why?
• 36:23
  I'll give you a short answer to that.
• 36:25
  Every car that I could win a race with.
• 36:28
  That's it.
• 36:29
  That's all I can tell you.
• 36:30
  Nothing that can top that.
• 36:31
  People ask me the same thing about what's your favorite
• 36:34
  track, any track I want to race.
• 36:37
  That's it.
• 36:37
  That's the ultimate, the only objective you have, you know, as a race driver
• 36:42
  to win, and that's your memory.
• 36:44
  That's the golden memory.
• 36:46
  And, uh, you fall in love with the car you're in because.
• 36:49
  It gave you that.
• 36:50
  It gave you the opportunity and so yes, that's the only way I can put it.
• 36:56
  So that leads into another one.
• 36:57
  By May, what was the best racing moment in your career?
• 37:01
  I must say because of what really drew me to the sport, what attracted
• 37:08
  me as a young age, a young teenager.
• 37:11
  The day that I clinched the Formula One World Championship.
• 37:14
  You know, I've been fortunate when, you know, as you say, premier races like,
• 37:19
  you know, the Indy 500 and all that, and even winning the Indy 500 was a
• 37:24
  great day, but my thing was winning the championship, you know, the national
• 37:28
  championship, because that's Encompasses the whole season, you know, so I won
• 37:33
  four of those and the winning world championship and another championship,
• 37:37
  the third track championship, all of those, you know, but, you know, to answer
• 37:41
  your question, the favorite moment that, uh, obviously really, really brought
• 37:46
  it all together for me was, uh, When the ultimate dream for me started, and
• 37:52
  that's winning the world championship.
• 37:53
  Well, Mario, we are heading into our wrap up segment here, and I'm gonna morph
• 37:58
  Christopher's question into my question, which is sort of along the lines of, if
• 38:02
  you go back to Le Mans, and if you're a fan now, would you just watch the race?
• 38:06
  But we'll take it a little further and say, if someone asks you today, why
• 38:11
  should I go or watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans, what would you say to them?
• 38:15
  I'm gonna watch it from the hotel.
• 38:17
  No television.
• 38:20
  Well, you see what I mean?
• 38:21
  It's that to watch it there, when you've been in a car, done that, to be honest
• 38:27
  with you, I'm not a good spectator.
• 38:30
  If I had one of my own, maybe driving, if you will, you know, then it's a different
• 38:34
  story, you know, but just to go watch.
• 38:37
  I watch, you know, just periodically during the race and be interested.
• 38:41
  But if you were in a car, you've done that.
• 38:44
  Watching is not really my, my rodeo.
• 38:47
  Well, you've seen a lot of change in the last 58 years since your first
• 38:51
  Le Mans, so what are some of the highlights that you would say that
• 38:54
  have come out of Le Mans since your very, very first trip there that you
• 38:58
  would communicate to somebody that maybe is interested for the first time?
• 39:01
  What's beautiful today is the reliability of the cars due to the
• 39:06
  Proper rules today, barring mistakes or something usually have the best
• 39:11
  chance of finishing than ever before.
• 39:14
  And that's why the races are daunting because, uh, all the top competitors,
• 39:19
  you know, can be right there.
• 39:21
  Fighting hard.
• 39:23
  That's the beauty of today's long distance sports car racing and the
• 39:28
  way actually some of the U S races, it seems to run in himself, you know, they
• 39:33
  have different ruling when the yellow come out, you regroup and all that.
• 39:37
  If you have problems.
• 39:38
  Along the way, you have a chance to recoup and, and, you know, I'm doing the yellow.
• 39:43
  That's a good thing, obviously, uh, you never feel you're
• 39:46
  totally out of the race that way.
• 39:48
  The races are as competitive as ever because of this, and that's why even
• 39:52
  from a spectator standpoint, you know that there's so much to look forward
• 39:56
  to, because most of your favorites will still be there at the end, and uh, that's
• 40:01
  a, that's a great thing, that's a plus.
• 40:03
  So our final question, Mario, I've been waiting to ask this since
• 40:07
  the last time we got together.
• 40:08
  Do you have a car for me?
• 40:10
  That's the answer, right?
• 40:11
  You hinted at going after some records even at your spry age
• 40:15
  of 85 years old now, right?
• 40:17
  Oh, four, four, four.
• 40:18
  Yeah, there you go.
• 40:19
  Almost, right?
• 40:20
  So what's next, Mario?
• 40:22
  And let's add to that.
• 40:23
  What's next for Andretti Autospart as part of the future of Le Mans?
• 40:27
  Well, they obviously they're going to be there this year, and that's another
• 40:32
  chapter for Andretti Global, if you will.
• 40:35
  Now, I'm very proud of my son, Michael.
• 40:38
  He wants to be part of all the major disciplines in our sport.
• 40:43
  That's certainly one of them.
• 40:44
  So, um, yeah, we're all excited about that.
• 40:47
  And because of that, one of these days I might be there as well.
• 40:50
  So.
• 40:51
  Well, before I do the outro, I want to pass the baton quickly
• 40:54
  to ACO USA President David Lowe.
• 40:57
  Do you have any parting words for Mario before I close out?
• 40:59
  All right.
• 41:00
  It was certainly an honor and a pleasure to have you on.
• 41:02
  I know the members were very, very excited and looked forward
• 41:05
  to this for quite some time.
• 41:06
  So it was very gracious of you to share your time with us this evening.
• 41:10
  so much.
• 41:11
  Well, my pleasure.
• 41:12
  I enjoy that.
• 41:13
  You know, this always brings back some fun memories for sure.
• 41:16
  Mario Andretti remains one of the greatest ambassadors and one of the
• 41:20
  most respected voices in motorsport.
• 41:22
  You can follow Mario on social media by finding him on Twitter at Mario Andretti,
• 41:27
  on Instagram at Andretti Mario, and on Facebook at Mario Andretti Official.
• 41:32
  Be sure to visit his official website at marioandretti.
• 41:35
  com for more updates on what's next for Mario.
• 41:38
  And on behalf of everyone here and those listening at home, thank you
• 41:42
  for sharing your stories with us.
• 41:44
  Because it doesn't get bigger in racing than a name Mario Andretti.
• 41:49
  A name everyone knows, past, present, and future petrolheads alike.
• 41:53
  Someone all of us can relate to.
• 41:56
  So we hope you enjoyed this presentation and look forward to more Evenings
• 41:59
  with a Legend throughout the season.
• 42:01
  With that, thank you, Mario.
• 42:03
  Thank you.
• 42:04
  Grazie mille.
• 42:06
  Arrivederci, as they say, right?
• 42:07
  Arrivederci.
• 42:08
  Thank you.
• 42:09
  Thank you.
• 42:21
  This episode has been brought to you by the Automobile Club
• 42:24
  of the West and the ACO USA.
• 42:26
  From the awe inspiring speed demons that have graced the track to the courageous
• 42:30
  drivers who have pushed the limits of endurance, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is
• 42:34
  an automotive spectacle like no other.
• 42:36
  For over a century, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has urged manufacturers to
• 42:39
  innovate for the benefit of future motorists, and it's a celebration of
• 42:43
  the relentless pursuit of speed and excellence in the world of motorsports.
• 42:47
  To learn more about or to become a member of the ACO USA, look no further than www.
• 42:53
  lemans.
• 42:53
  org, click on English in the upper right corner, and then click on the
• 42:58
  ACO members tab for club offers.
• 43:00
  Once you've become a member, you can follow all the action on the Facebook
• 43:04
  group, ACO USA members club, and become part of the legend with future
• 43:08
  evening with the legend meetups.
• 43:10
  Hello, hello, hello, hello.
• 43:20
  This episode has been brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports as part
• 43:23
  of our Motoring Podcast Network.
• 43:25
  For more episodes like this, tune in each week for more exciting and educational
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• 43:46
  Please note that the content, opinions, and materials presented and
• 43:49
  expressed in this episode are those of its creator, and this episode has
• 43:53
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• 43:54
  If you have any inquiries about this program, please contact the creators
• 43:58
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