Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Mario Andretti: The Master of All Terrains and a Lifetime at Full Throttle!

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Mario Andretti: The Master of All Terrains and a Lifetime at Full Throttle! · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
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  all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
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  designers, and everything in between.
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  Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder.
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  How did they get that job or become that person?
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  The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
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  Our guest is a racing icon considered by many to be the greatest race
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  driver in the history of the sport.
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  Born in Italy, emigrated to United States at 15, he began racing stock
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  cars in Pennsylvania at 19, which was the start of an illustrious career.
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  He won races in sports cars, sprint cars, and stock cars, on ovals, road courses,
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  drag strips, on dirt, and pavement.
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  His achievements have become legendary.
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  The world watched as he won the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and ultimately
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  the Formula One 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 has stretched five decades and across six continents.
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  I am joined by William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace in welcoming the
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  one and only Mario Andretti to BreakFix.
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  Thank you.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Appreciate you taking the time to join us, Mario.
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  Really appreciate it.
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  It's my pleasure.
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  My pleasure.
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  In Eric's intro, he mentions the 111 wins.
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  Does that include the 23 that started when you were underage?
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  No, it doesn't because it's almost impossible to verify
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  those because of the times.
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  It was not a, um, a sanction series.
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  It's a local.
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  You know, a race within 150 miles, you know, different tracks, Western
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  Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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  But, uh, it was not sanctioned, so they cannot verify it.
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  We started when I was 21, started with the three quarter midgets, which
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  was, uh, sanctioned by American Three Quarter Racing Association, U R C,
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  then A R D C in, in 1959 and 1960.
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  I won a lot of races.
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  You know, the way, as much as I can remember is 23 races.
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  I'll take your word for it.
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  We'll add it to the tally.
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  It says you can ask some of my friends.
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  They're verified.
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  I was watching the year before when Zach Brown offered you
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  to drive his McLaren at Coda.
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  I always remember that day cause you're walking next to him.
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  You kind of said it half heartedly and he said, sure.
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  That look on your face was shocked, like really?
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  And then they set it up.
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  So I was curious, how was it driving that car?
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  Obviously, it's been a long time since you're in something so
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  technologically advanced like that.
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  Well, actually, uh, it was pretty much everything I expected, if
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  you will, because, uh, it's not that I've been totally out of it.
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  An IndyCar in every aspect has a lot of the same commands and so forth.
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  And I've done some testing for my son on high speed, and then
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  I was playing around with it.
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  I'm pretty current, technically, it was really a pleasure.
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  I just wish that I would have had more time to really get the
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  cockpit properly, the adjustments.
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  It was impossible to adjust the pedal platform and the steering.
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  There was no adjustment at all.
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  So for me to reach the pedals because I'm not six foot two.
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  So they had to bring me up so far forward that the steering was right in my chest.
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  So I could not really get the feel that I wanted to be able to
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  thrash the car like I wanted to.
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  I got what I expected and I'm grateful that he made that
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  available for me of course.
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  Zach Brown is a good man, he's a great friend.
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  Next time I'm going to ask for a full day of testing so we can set a record.
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  And a seat fitting.
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  Fitting, yeah.
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  I must say, the padding was very soft, you know, except foam rubber.
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  I felt like I was in a jelly bowl.
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  One time down the straightaway, you know, yeah, my hunch device.
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  The back of it got stuck on my headrest and I was looking up at the sky.
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  Oh my goodness.
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  Well, anyway, that was fun.
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  I will say from the outside, all of those things that you
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  described, none of us could tell.
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  And I will say this, watching you drive a modern Formula One car at Koda.
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  And lap after lap, despite everything you just said, it looked like you were
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  going faster and faster and faster.
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  Your lines were perfect.
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  Your apexes were on point.
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  You sat back and you go, I'm watching a master.
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  Just learn from this, watch this in slow motion, every little inch of the track.
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  So hearing it from the other side is hilarious.
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  But from those of us watching, it was.
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  Perfection.
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  Well, you're very kind.
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  Just wait until I get the seat fitting.
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  Obviously, with what's going on in F1 now, the downforce the ground effects,
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  what I always found was interesting, and you don't hear much about it,
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  you were really integral in regards to creating the ground effects,
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  working with the engineers at Lotus.
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  And if memory serves me, I know you were saying how when you're going
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  around corners, getting closer to the ground, it was creating that effect.
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  It popped in your head about the marches you drove.
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  In regards to the angle of the side pods in that.
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  So you kind of were integral in creating the ground effects and
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  helping get these perfected.
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  What happened is in, uh, 1970, I drove the March 701.
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  It was a, uh, grenatility effort in Formula 1.
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  And the car had side pods.
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  The side pods was primarily cosmetic, but there were shape of a wing profile.
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  We were testing in South Africa, which is altitude, and I'm looking at the
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  silhouette of the car and I felt maybe we should take those off because I thought
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  there was additional frontal area.
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  And so we did, and all of a sudden the car started flying the front end.
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  So basically I needed to compensate for the balance of the rear wing.
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  I needed more front wing, which that created actually more frontal area.
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  Okay, so we bolted the side pods back on, which meant they gave us some downforce.
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  Some forward center of pressure at the end of 76 with Lotus, with Colin
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  and the engineers at the end of the season, you know, we all caucusing about
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  talking about, okay, what is a driver?
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  What would you like?
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  You know?
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  And I said that, well, I said, as a driver, I would love to have
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  downforce without penalty of drag, you know, and nobody laughed.
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  The bottom line is I gave that example.
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  And I said that nobody discussed that ever that I know.
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  I said, but we tried it.
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  We did take those off.
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  So why don't you construct on a new car, get a longer profile?
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  Because if you look at that March 701, those weight profiles were very short.
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  And I said, Why don't you take advantage of the entire wheelbase, you know?
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  And then of course you put the fences on, you know, so we'll direct the
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  air properly because there were no fences on those, you know, the fences
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  were, I mean, end plates anyway.
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  So that's how the Lotus 78 was born in 1977.
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  Immediately we got definite ground effect out of it, but we were still searching.
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  We were not really on it, if you will.
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  The other part is that we found out, which is very important.
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  All of the wind tunnel testing was done was static wind tunnel.
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  They were getting some numbers that didn't really coincide very much with what
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  we were feeling, you know, on a track.
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  We're testing in Hockenheim, Germany.
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  Porsche curb that connects the two main straightaways is
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  kind of a long right hander.
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  And I remember just in the middle of the right hander when you get the,
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  you know, the most roll in the car.
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  That means we were closing the side plate to the ground.
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  All of a sudden I was getting an enormous amount of downforce and the car felt good.
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  And I was really flying through that corner.
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  And I came in and I said, you know, I said, there's something
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  about closing the gap here.
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  Okay.
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  How do we do that?
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  So Colin sent one of the mechanics into town to get some plastic sheets, pop
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  rivet those on to drag on the ground.
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  And I went out.
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  All of a sudden it was a whole new deal.
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  The car really felt good.
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  It was fine, but two laps later, you wear them out and then you're back
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  where you started the next race.
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  He had like bristles, like a broom bristles, you know, they were not that
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  effective, but they were at least.
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  consistent.
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  After that, the so called movable skirts were born.
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  He designed that, which obviously that's when the situation was much more
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  consistent and then also most effective.
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  So you could see there was a, we were searching throughout the season,
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  started out on the one idea and it turned out to be something else.
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  And then.
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  And then what was important was that Colin Chapman, they were the first ones
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  to develop a wind tunnel with a belt, which would mean the moving road that
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  of course the wheels had to be turning, you realize how much the wheels were
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  affecting the flow into the tunnels.
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  And so a lot of, you know what I mean?
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  Then all of a sudden it's a whole new deal, how you're designed to direct
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  the air in that direction and all that.
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  So, but again, you were just learning and then you could start
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  putting the pieces together.
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  Oh yeah, okay.
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  This is a whole new world now.
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  Then of course, everybody else, uh, you know, obviously pursued the same thing and
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  then great engineers, you know, the other teams, and they just started perfecting in
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  their own way, but, uh, we definitely are the ones that, you know, the Lotus that
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  brought this about, you know, this idea.
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  It's great how Connell was willing to push the envelope
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  like that and have those ideas.
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  And he was brilliant in that aspect in regards to new techniques, new things,
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  trying stuff and building cars like that.
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  Yeah, it was also interesting that, you know, you talk about porpoising and all
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  that, you know, we actually started with putting a name to that bouncing that the
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  car gets, the more downforce that you got.
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  Then we started getting that because the car would be at high
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  speed, pushed down and bounced up.
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  As soon as you hit the travel of the dampers and get on a bump
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  rubbers, then it bounced right back up and you get all of this.
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  Well, obviously, I saw when, you know, they went back to the tunnels
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  in Formula One, I saw that they were dealing with a sport pursuing situation.
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  It was very familiar, as you can imagine for us.
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  Did you guys have it as bad as they seemed to have it in the beginning last year?
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  Well, we did, but each design will produce more frequent.
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  Or less, and also depends on how stiff your suspension is at the
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  time, but porpoise is probably, it's very annoying and disturbing.
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  And then obviously physically it's a real problem for the driver.
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  No question.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  We're on you quite considerably.
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  Yeah.
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  I kind of want to jump into Italy.
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  I believe you said you were 14 when you went to Monza for the first
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  time to watch your first F1 race?
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  14.
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  Yes, that was a year before we came to the States.
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  Yes.
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  Ascari was your favorite driver at that time, or always has been
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  as one of your favorite drivers?
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  Yeah, of course, you know, Italy was very prominent in Formula One, as you
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  can imagine, the 50s with Ferrari, you know, Maserati especially, and then of
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  course the beginning of Formula One.
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  Alfa Romeo winning the first official world championship and
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  Alberto Ascari was at the time was the first Italian world champion.
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  Liz Farina was, I'm not clear on that, but nevertheless, you know, I was just
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  a teenager and Ascari was the guy.
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  To be able to witness him first hand in Monza, you know, it was
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  a huge, huge thing for me and my brother, Aldo, my twin brother.
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  But honestly, that's when my, uh, the dream of becoming a
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  race driver was cemented in my head, you know, no question.
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  When you got over here though, 15, what were you working to get to?
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  Cause you obviously didn't start racing until you were about 19.
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  What were you doing in that interim here in those four years?
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  Were you just trying to get everything together to start go racing or?
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  Were you doing some other things?
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  At that age, I was going to school, you know, Aldo and I, we were
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  going to school and then, uh, we used to alternate in the evening,
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  uh, working at, we call him uncle.
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  He was, he was married to my second cousin.
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  He had a snorkel gas station at the end of town.
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  And that was a great way to be able to, you know, to mingle with
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  people and learn the language.
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  Because, uh, in school in Italy, we had three years of English, but,
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  uh, you know, it was not practical.
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  I mean, I couldn't even ask for a postcard in English, you
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  know, when, when we came here.
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  But when you have more knowledge of the grammar, you know, it's
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  easier to learn the language.
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  And in school, we...
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  I think we did quite well, but it was, the objective was to really, we
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  arrived in the States here in June, of course, start school in September, but
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  I vowed, I said, by Christmas, I want to be able to communicate in English
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  and, uh, and I think, uh, we achieved that, Aldo and I, which was very useful,
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  but going back to your question, when we arrived here on a Thursday, we were
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  hanging out at my uncle's house at the end of Nazareth, the end of town.
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  Yeah.
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  And Sunday night, we see the bright lights on the background, and then
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  all of a sudden, a big explosion of engines, and that's when we
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  discovered modified stock cars.
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  And that's when the idea started.
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  I said that because, you know, you had a dream, okay?
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  How do you put a dream into reality, you know?
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  We didn't know much about racing in the States, except after seeing a
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  movie, uh, to please a lady in Italy.
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  That's another one that gave us some idea that what was going on here, but,
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  uh, it was dirt racing was something that I said, Oh, I don't know.
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  This was very far after seeing a formula one race.
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  In Monza, then going to the fairground and seeing the stock, you know, the
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  one good thing, it looked doable, didn't look as sophisticated.
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  That's what three years after we arrived here in 1957, we got to know
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  some buddies, you know, always you talk racing and this, and I always
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  say, you know, I tell the same story.
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  I said that there was a geek there, a guy that knew everything, Charlie Mitch.
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  And he's the one that was giving some ideas as to how to go about it.
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  And we could not afford to go modify a race, but they had a category,
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  sportsman, and that's what we pursued.
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  And we did the right thing because the Hudson cars were very popular
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  in NASCAR on the dirt tracks.
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  They were winning, pretty much winning most of the races.
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  At the time, so, uh, we pursued that.
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  We bought some information from a Marshall T team.
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  Factory folded.
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  They went out of racing at that time, officially.
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  So we got suspension setups.
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  We got, uh, all of that, which was, uh, pivotal.
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  It was, uh, amazing how useful that was for us.
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  And then, uh, we found out that the factory was sold all the racing
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  engines to, uh, the Whitney company in Chicago that they were selling
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  for, like, power plants or something.
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  So we bought one of the racing engines there, and you know, when we
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  put that thing together, you know, we thought that, okay, we start
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  racing at 21, but the car was ready.
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  We were 19.
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  I said, time to go.
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  And, uh, we had a friend of ours that, uh, fudge day.
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  I've actually, the Editor of the local paper, fudged the birth dates
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  on our license, driver's license, and telling everybody that we used
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  to race in Italy and all that.
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  So it was a bit of a fib there, but for sure.
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  But anyway, so that's when it started, 1959.
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  And I'll go!
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  Aldo, by the way, won car to drivers.
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  Aldo won the toss.
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  He won the heat and the feature in the very first race.
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  Yeah, your brother was a heck of a driver, too.
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  You know, we have some newspaper clippings to back that up, by the way.
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  Not just a dream.
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  You piqued my interest when you started talking about dirt, but not in the same
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  way I grew up during what's known as the killer bee or group B era, watching
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  drivers like Michel Mouton and Walter Rural and Hannu Mikola driving rally cars.
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  And that's what I wanted to be.
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  I wanted to be a WRC guy.
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  Yeah.
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  But as we look through your portfolio, you've done so many different
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  disciplines of racing, which is amazing.
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  And in that.
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  Our attempts at Pikes Peak and a win at Pikes Peak and you hold a similar
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  title to Bobby Unser who won Pikes Peak in the same year as winning
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  Indy and that was back in 1969.
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  So what drove you to go to Colorado Springs?
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  What about that Pikes Peak experience?
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  Well, it was Bobby Unser.
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  He's the one, you know, you know, we were good pals.
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  He's the one that talked me into it.
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  As a matter of fact, the very first one, I only drove there three times, three years.
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  One of the third, and I figured I'd never go back because I think I
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  was going to kill myself with that.
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  I took so many risks on that third year.
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  But The first year I drove and the deal was with him that I'll drive,
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  if he only drives a stock car class, you know, so I don't have to compete
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  against them because there's no way I could have beaten him there.
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  You know, that place so well.
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  And that's what the whole thing is.
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  You need it to know 183 corners.
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  There's no way.
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  And then point is you miss one, a couple of them.
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  And they used to say that a bird will build a nest up your
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  butt before you hit the bottom.
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  That's how far you had to go.
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  So you had to respect the place.
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  There was not a guardrail, you know.
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  I mean, it was just gone.
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  There was no guardrails at all, nowhere.
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  And obviously Bobby went on to run many times more at Pike's Peak.
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  He set the record in the Audi Sport Quattro S1, which was later.
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  Taken away by Peugeot and things like that in the eighties.
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  What do you think about now?
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  Pike's Peak has been paved all the way to the summit.
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  Is it really still the same race to the clouds?
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  No way, no way.
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  I mean, you're talking about rallying, you know, I, uh, that's why I said
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  that at least I have a Taste of that.
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  I could say that I technically did rallying, you know, because
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  that's what it was all about.
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  You know, the dirt racing left, right up and down, you know, and, and braking
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  accelerating, yeah, that was unique in itself, no question now being paid.
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  I mean, now it's, it's just another hill climb.
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  As we transition the conversation here, both William and I want to dive a little
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  bit more into Formula One, but we also want to talk about your time at Le Mans,
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  because Le Mans is coming up on its hundredth anniversary here very soon.
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  You talked about starting in dirt and stock car, and we've talked about
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  Pike's Peak, but I've heard the story that you sort of walked up to Colin
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  Chapman after Jim Clark won the 65 and you were asking him about a ride,
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  but is that really how it played out?
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  And where did you find the motivation to just?
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  You know, knock on his door and say, Hey, Mr.
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  Chapman, I want to come drive for you.
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  Well, you know, in 65 at Indianapolis, it's one race where you have the luxury
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  of spending a lot of time, much more even was one week longer than now, even.
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  And so you get to know people, you know, every day.
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  And back of my head was always somehow I want to have the opportunity to
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  do some formula one in my career.
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  At the time there was not much road racing on the single seaters.
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  The way it worked out with Colin Chapman and Jim Clark, you know,
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  I got to know him quite well for the period that we were there.
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  So I finished third, so I got Rookie of the Year.
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  So I got some recognition.
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  The end of the banquet, you know, which was traditional banquet, which goes
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  on every year now, even the day after the race, we were saying our goodbyes.
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  I said, Colin, I said, someday I would like to do Formula One.
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  And he said, Mario, he says, whenever you think you're ready, you call
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  me and I'll have a car for you.
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  You know, I hit cloud nine at that point, you know, my objective then was to try
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  to hone my skills into road racing.
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  You know, as, as luck would have it.
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  There was just one road race in 1965 on that season, which was
• 19:35
  Indianapolis Raceway Park, which I won.
• 19:38
  The only race that I won, even though I won the national championship that
• 19:41
  year, that's the only race that I won.
• 19:43
  I got a lot of seconds and thirds and so forth.
• 19:45
  And the other one is when I was driving midgets.
• 19:48
  I was driving the ARDC midgets.
• 19:50
  There was one race, a Lime Rock, on a road course.
• 19:53
  And I won that one.
• 19:54
  And there, they even had a Mark Donahue with one of John Cooper's, you know,
• 19:59
  chassis was a rear engine midget.
• 20:01
  They was constructed just for that race was brought in for just that race.
• 20:05
  And he led until the last lap.
• 20:07
  And I got him the last lap cross the finish line.
• 20:10
  And, uh, so I thought it was sponge of that day, actually.
• 20:16
  Uh, it was, you know, uh, road racing was something in.
• 20:20
  That was part of my objective right from the very beginning.
• 20:23
  I love my third track racing, but that was the way to get there.
• 20:27
  You know, the reason why I really tried to get the attention of Ford, to
• 20:32
  be able to join the Le Mans program.
• 20:35
  Because there was a big effort there to try to win Le Mans, of course, Henry Ford.
• 20:40
  That's, that was his objective and, uh, there were no holes barred.
• 20:43
  So there was a lot of testing and development that I wanted to be part of.
• 20:48
  I made myself available for every test.
• 20:51
  You know, I befriended Bruce McLaren along the way, great guy in every way.
• 20:57
  Plus he was very technical driver and I was watching.
• 21:00
  His rotations, braking and accelerating through the snow corners and all that, all
• 21:05
  the technical part, it taught me a lot.
• 21:08
  Bruce taught me a lot, actually.
• 21:10
  We won the Sebring together with the new Mark IV.
• 21:14
  So a lot of things were going in the right direction for me.
• 21:17
  And in 1968, I felt, you know what, it's time, it's time.
• 21:22
  It was, uh, two races left, Italy and the US.
• 21:26
  And I asked, uh, Colin, you know, if he's, if he would apply, he would absolutely,
• 21:31
  I will have a, he entered a third car for me for Italy and at Watkins Glen.
• 21:36
  It was a glitch there in Italy because I was going for the national
• 21:40
  championship and it was a dirt race on Saturday of that weekend.
• 21:45
  So I was in Monza a week before testing and it went well.
• 21:50
  In fact, Chris Heyman tested a Ferrari a few days before me, and
• 21:54
  at the end, I was quicker than him.
• 21:56
  And I couldn't believe it, you know, just how well that
• 22:00
  Formula 1 suited me at that time.
• 22:02
  And so I was very encouraged, you know, after this.
• 22:06
  There was the problem, like, I could only qualify on a Friday.
• 22:09
  You know, in those days, There was no specific qualifying period during
• 22:13
  the weekend, every lap that you turn in practice counted for qualifying.
• 22:18
  So I had to get my qualifying and the first practice on Friday
• 22:22
  morning because I had a 2.
• 22:24
  30 flight in the afternoon back to the States.
• 22:27
  I brought Bobby Anser with me.
• 22:29
  I got him a ride with the BRM, Lewis Stanley BRM.
• 22:33
  And so we could do some slip streaming because Monza was
• 22:36
  very important to do that.
• 22:37
  And he and I did that.
• 22:39
  And at that point I was Quickest, you know, but nobody was really
• 22:42
  trying very hard, but was quickest by a second and a half, actually.
• 22:46
  And so we left and ran to Hoosier Hunter, actually ran second to Floyd.
• 22:51
  And we went back the next day.
• 22:52
  We arrived at the track about an hour and a half before the race.
• 22:56
  My car was already on the grid, was seventh on the
• 22:59
  grid, but there was a protest.
• 23:01
  It was agreed that they were going to waive the 24 hour rule, which had
• 23:05
  been in place for a couple of years.
• 23:07
  It was agreed, but you know, it still was a protest and I never
• 23:11
  really knew officially who protested.
• 23:13
  I think it was Ferrari and it was the only one that could have protested that.
• 23:17
  Nevertheless, they would not let us start either Bobby or I.
• 23:21
  So the first actual official race was.
• 23:25
  Watkins Glen, two weeks later, and I put the car in pole there, which
• 23:28
  surprised the hell out of myself, but honestly, but you know, I felt
• 23:32
  like, okay, maybe, maybe I belong.
• 23:34
  It's one of those moments where it's so encouraging, you know, that, uh,
• 23:39
  it builds up your confidence that I haven't been wasting my time type of
• 23:42
  thing, you know, like, uh, belonging in this business and, uh, great moments.
• 23:47
  These are important moments in my career.
• 23:51
  Especially the fact, the difference between the two cars, USAC IndyCar.
• 23:54
  Heavy, a lot of power, don't know, but then you got this F1
• 23:57
  car, it's super light, nimble.
• 23:59
  That's impressive.
• 24:00
  Well, not only that, jumping to a prototype doing the Le Mans
• 24:03
  testing is completely different too.
• 24:04
  And so I think one of your key strengths, Mario, is that you had so many different
• 24:09
  racing disciplines under your belt by this point, it made you a versatile driver.
• 24:13
  But also well rounded maybe compared to other people that were coming only from
• 24:17
  touring car or only from open wheel.
• 24:20
  You had this ability to basically morph into whatever you were driving and be
• 24:24
  successful behind the wheel of everything.
• 24:26
  Yeah, Eric, I think it served me well in the sense that I could adapt.
• 24:31
  From one animal to the other, I could adapt, uh, easier and
• 24:35
  also because I really wanted it so bad, you know what I mean?
• 24:39
  I think there was a burning desire to get it done along with
• 24:42
  some of this wider experience.
• 24:45
  Like, I use some of my experience on the dirt tracks, you know, dirt racing for
• 24:50
  the wet races, because you always run a very different line through the corners,
• 24:55
  always searching for grip in a wet.
• 24:58
  And that's what you do in the dark.
• 24:59
  Exactly what you do in the dark.
• 25:00
  You could see that there's something that seemed that, you know, apples
• 25:04
  and oranges by comparison, you know, as far as the, you know,
• 25:07
  the type of car and circumstances.
• 25:10
  But a lot of things mesh, you know what I mean?
• 25:13
  You can put to good use what you learn one for the other.
• 25:16
  You were talking about the desire to win and to achieve and all that.
• 25:20
  And obviously along the way, you made tons of friends, lifelong
• 25:24
  friends and teammates and et cetera.
• 25:26
  But I wondered.
• 25:27
  Did you have any rivals or did just people consider Mario Andretti, their rival?
• 25:31
  You were the bar that they were trying to get to.
• 25:34
  You know, they're different personalities.
• 25:35
  It's different teammates and different personalities.
• 25:38
  And, uh, give you a, for instance, like in, you know, even with Lotus and Formula
• 25:42
  One, uh, with the Ronnie Peterson, he and I were really good friends.
• 25:47
  Outside the track, you know, we spent time together, you know, there were
• 25:51
  time when the family spent together when he came to the States, you
• 25:55
  know, we go out and play around, you know, up at the lake and so forth.
• 25:59
  We'd have a beer together and try to kill each other on the racetrack.
• 26:03
  And then, then have a beer together, you know, that kind of a thing.
• 26:07
  And Carlos Reutemann, he wouldn't even have dinner with me.
• 26:09
  You know, I just, he was very secluse.
• 26:12
  It was that kind of a thing.
• 26:13
  You want to have to keep it that way.
• 26:15
  And other areas, even in sports cars, you know, the teammate, Jackie Eaks and
• 26:20
  I got along peachy, just, you know, we understood each other and blah, blah,
• 26:24
  blah, and there were others where, you know, you're fighting, Oh, I'm going
• 26:27
  to qualify, I'm going to qualify, you know, I had one or two of those.
• 26:31
  Again, it's all about personalities, but you know, you try to keep
• 26:35
  the peace as much as possible.
• 26:38
  It's funny you say that.
• 26:39
  We had Lynn St.
• 26:40
  James on last year, and when I asked her that question, she
• 26:43
  said, everyone was my rival.
• 26:46
  Again, different perspectives on the same thing.
• 26:48
  We talk about rivals.
• 26:50
  Here's the way I look at it.
• 26:51
  There's always somebody better than you somewhere.
• 26:54
  You're learning, you know, the rivals.
• 26:56
  I mean, if it's not a potent rival, you're not going to work as hard for some reason.
• 27:01
  So I always say that the rivalries are ultimately very healthy, in my opinion.
• 27:06
  That's the way it served for me.
• 27:08
  You know, there's a premium as to who finishes second to you
• 27:12
  or who you finish second to.
• 27:15
  Very true.
• 27:15
  Yeah, that's the way it works.
• 27:17
  Speaking of Jackie Hicks, you guys actually, uh, I want to say reunited
• 27:20
  or ever got together in Long Beach.
• 27:22
  Yes, we did.
• 27:23
  Yeah, actually, I hadn't seen him for a while.
• 27:25
  Great way to catch up and sort of reminisce a little bit.
• 27:28
  But we, we had a great time together, obviously.
• 27:31
  That was a good period to be in a Ferrari and we won some good races together.
• 27:35
  What was it like switching from under Colin Chapman at Lotus and then working
• 27:40
  for Il Comendatore himself, Enzo Ferrari?
• 27:43
  What was the culture like switching from the Brits to the Italians?
• 27:46
  Uh, different culture for sure.
• 27:48
  And here again, that's where you have to adapt.
• 27:50
  The one.
• 27:50
  Good thing about Ferrari, I could speak the language, you know, some of
• 27:54
  the foreign drivers that, you know, everybody just, even, you know, whether
• 27:58
  they're German, whatever, whatever the nationality, you still learn
• 28:02
  the language, but I could speak it fluently and I could speak it with the
• 28:05
  mechanics, which was a good feeling, you know, and it was very special.
• 28:10
  And my relationship with Mr.
• 28:12
  Ferrari was also direct.
• 28:14
  I didn't have to have a middleman feel like Dr.
• 28:17
  God, see, uh, For instance, uh, as of late, and you can imagine that just
• 28:23
  me having that relationship with him, you know, where I dreamt so much,
• 28:28
  you know, being a race driver because of Ferrari really as a young lad.
• 28:32
  So you could see how precious those times were for me.
• 28:36
  Yeah, especially winning your first F1 race in a Ferrari, taboo.
• 28:39
  Yeah, so many of the right things, you know, happening.
• 28:42
  My last experience in Formula One was a Ferrari, you know, and they
• 28:46
  do, you know, how do you design that?
• 28:48
  You cannot, you know, someone upstairs.
• 28:51
  Yeah, yeah.
• 28:52
  Somebody upstairs likes.
• 28:54
  During the time period, especially when you were leaving Ferrari in 1982, this
• 28:57
  was also where the Villeneuve Pierroni rivalry was sort of coming to light.
• 29:01
  We're starting to hear about that now.
• 29:03
  What was your take on that situation as you were sort of there on the scene?
• 29:08
  I was never in the middle of that.
• 29:09
  All I know is that Villeneuve was loved by Enzo Ferrari.
• 29:13
  And he was...
• 29:15
  Obviously, and it was a such tragic time.
• 29:18
  Not, there was nothing you could talk about, you know, going back
• 29:21
  to Monza, uh, was moment mm-hmm.
• 29:26
  , you know, it was just sad and you didn't talk about it, obviously.
• 29:30
  Yeah.
• 29:30
  It was trying circumstances.
• 29:33
  Uh, you put aside everything else.
• 29:35
  There was, uh, any controversy, you didn't discuss it.
• 29:38
  That was something that whatever went on, went on with them.
• 29:42
  I had nothing to do with it.
• 29:43
  But the reason I bring it up leads back into the conversation about Jackie.
• 29:47
  And in 19...
• 29:48
  69, he stood his ground at Lamont's and said, I'm not partaking in this craziness.
• 29:53
  That is the Lamont start.
• 29:55
  And he walked out to his Porsche and he still ended up winning
• 29:58
  the race at the end of it all.
• 29:59
  Like we talked about in the beginning where William was talking about how
• 30:02
  the technology changed and you were in the new formula one car recently,
• 30:06
  how has safety changed for the better?
• 30:09
  Or maybe some things have stayed the same.
• 30:11
  How do you see the transition over the years as you've been involved in racing?
• 30:15
  Huge transition and everything evolved.
• 30:18
  The safety aspect, as I say, certainly was not dealt with very virgously, you know,
• 30:22
  in those years that we're talking about.
• 30:24
  And it took someone like Jackie East.
• 30:27
  To stand firm and say, this is crazy.
• 30:30
  Why are we doing this?
• 30:31
  Like I said, then all of a sudden, I think reasoning prevailed.
• 30:35
  I said, you know, here, Baba, we don't do it anymore.
• 30:38
  So that was a step in the right direction for sure.
• 30:41
  Because I experienced that in 66 and none of us actually really
• 30:45
  clipped the belt on, you know, until we were on the Le Mans straight.
• 30:49
  30 miles an hour trying to click the belt on.
• 30:52
  So anyway, it was crazy.
• 30:54
  Uh, but the safety aspect is what I think saved the sport in my way of thinking.
• 31:00
  Going into modern times when the sport, you know, has become more commercial,
• 31:04
  as you could see with, we're relying on, um, outside investment companies
• 31:08
  spending millions of dollars to be.
• 31:10
  Proud with being connected and they don't want to go to funerals, you know?
• 31:14
  So from our standpoint, it had to be something that we had to lead.
• 31:18
  And actually all of us started with forming the GPDA in formula
• 31:21
  one and demanding certain aspects of improving circuit safety.
• 31:26
  We started from the beginning, you know, from the bottom up.
• 31:29
  I brought into Formula One some, uh, you know, aircraft fueling aspect.
• 31:34
  After I did Sebring, you know, they were dumping fuel in the funnel.
• 31:38
  I got a bunch of fuel on me and when I went out and my whole right side of my leg
• 31:43
  blistered because, uh, you know, the heat.
• 31:45
  and rubbing and the fuel that was all blistered down to, you know, a
• 31:50
  lot of things that, and it took time.
• 31:52
  It took time.
• 31:53
  I'm one that obviously nowadays appreciates what today's drivers
• 31:58
  are enjoying because I've seen and experienced back then.
• 32:02
  But in the same breath, did that make a difference when we were in the car?
• 32:06
  Hell no.
• 32:08
  Did we hold back?
• 32:09
  Because of that, hell no.
• 32:11
  You know what I mean?
• 32:13
  You still went for it.
• 32:14
  So that's the way it is.
• 32:15
  But some of us are not here to tell the story, you know,
• 32:18
  because of that unfortunately.
• 32:20
  It's wonderful that today's drivers, like I said, have the best chance
• 32:24
  ever to retire on their own terms.
• 32:27
  That's a beautiful thing.
• 32:28
  We are about to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Le Mans.
• 32:32
  Are you going?
• 32:33
  Are you participating in some way?
• 32:34
  What are your thoughts looking back over the hundred years, especially the
• 32:37
  many, many years you spent at Le Mans?
• 32:39
  Well, since I'm not driving, I don't think I'm going, but I was invited there.
• 32:43
  They have a lot of events.
• 32:45
  They have dinners and all that sort of thing.
• 32:47
  I don't know.
• 32:48
  It's not a hundred percent.
• 32:49
  I'm not going, but I don't think I'm going to go, but it's very
• 32:51
  nice that I was invited for sure.
• 32:54
  Officially great to celebrate an event like that, you know, wonderful milestone
• 32:59
  for Lamont Lamont, let's face it.
• 33:01
  That is the premier long distance race anywhere on this planet.
• 33:06
  So I've had the opportunity to race there.
• 33:08
  I think it's, uh, something that I put on my mantle very proudly.
• 33:12
  So are you rooting for the new Ferrari 499P or do you have something else you're
• 33:17
  interested in following during that race?
• 33:19
  Well, if Ferrari would ask me to drive, I'd probably go there.
• 33:24
  It's going to be an exciting year.
• 33:25
  16 new cars in LMP1 or GTP.
• 33:28
  So it's looking really cool.
• 33:30
  Sports car racing is really, really, it's at a good place nowadays as well.
• 33:36
  WEC and IMSA just seeing great equipment and the technology
• 33:40
  and all the right things.
• 33:42
  And it's amazing how hard you can drive these cars, you
• 33:45
  know, and it's a 24 hour race.
• 33:47
  He'd leave nothing on the table.
• 33:49
  You know, the reliability aspect is such that, uh, it's amazing.
• 33:53
  So it's gotta be so satisfying.
• 33:56
  I'll have a lot more opportunity to be closer to that because of.
• 33:59
  Michael involvement with the Wayne Taylor team, you know, he,
• 34:03
  he owns part of that team now.
• 34:05
  And, and it was really interesting.
• 34:07
  I mean, it's the first time I just sat there with Wayne, um, in Long Beach
• 34:11
  and great event, you know, obviously they started on Paul with Philippe
• 34:15
  Albuquerque and then, uh, he led until the, they had a pit stop issue,
• 34:20
  radio, whatever, and then it couldn't.
• 34:22
  Connect and they did last like 14 seconds.
• 34:25
  And Ricky Taylor had to make all, just about all of it up.
• 34:29
  And he did.
• 34:30
  And at the end, they kind of tried a little bit hard, but nevertheless,
• 34:37
  they're always competitive and that's, that's going to make it fun.
• 34:40
  That's what makes for good racing.
• 34:42
  Absolutely.
• 34:43
  Yeah.
• 34:43
  William, one final question, right?
• 34:45
  You're some Michael and what's going on.
• 34:47
  Last thing you want to ask is me and her both want to see it.
• 34:49
  Same journey name back in F1.
• 34:51
  We know the powers that be over there not wanting to cut up the
• 34:55
  slice of the pie, so to speak.
• 34:56
  Has there been any more progress in regards to getting the team
• 34:59
  together or getting it on the grid?
• 35:00
  Well, the process is continuing, you know, with the FIA.
• 35:03
  It's in the hands of the FIA right now.
• 35:06
  We're responding to all the requests.
• 35:08
  It's a specific protocol they want to follow and we're going with it, of course.
• 35:14
  And so, yeah, the process is on for sure.
• 35:17
  Yeah.
• 35:17
  Fantastic.
• 35:18
  Mario Andretti remains one of the greatest ambassadors and one of the
• 35:22
  most respected voices in motorsport.
• 35:24
  And you can follow Mario on social media by finding him on Twitter
• 35:27
  at Mario Andretti, on Instagram at Andretti Mario, and on Facebook
• 35:32
  at Mario Andretti Official.
• 35:34
  Be sure to visit his official website at www.
• 35:37
  marioandretti.
• 35:38
  com for more updates on what's next.
• 35:41
  For his racing career.
• 35:42
  Mario, I cannot thank you enough.
• 35:45
  Grazie Emilia for coming on Break Fix.
• 35:48
  There's not a bigger name in racing than Mario Andretti.
• 35:51
  A name everyone knows, past, present, and future petrolheads.
• 35:55
  Someone that all of us can relate to.
• 35:57
  You're very kind.
• 35:58
  Thank you so much for having me on.
• 36:00
  Oh, thank you.
• 36:00
  Thank you.
• 36:01
  I like it , man.
• 36:03
  I really do.
• 36:04
  . We'll make a slight correction on it.
• 36:06
  I know I'm wrong.
• 36:08
  Like I said, I was trying to squeeze it in.
• 36:09
  So , you should trademark this Mario and start selling merch on your site net.
• 36:14
  If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.
• 36:19
  Remember ? Thank you, Gracia.
• 36:22
  Very kind.
• 36:23
  out.
• 36:28
  If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM,
• 36:31
  be sure to check us out on www.
• 36:35
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• 36:35
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• 36:36
  You can also find us on Instagram Also, if you want to get involved or have
• 36:41
  suggestions for future shows, you can call or text us at 202 630 1770 or send
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• 36:51
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• 36:51
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• 36:53
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• 36:56
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• 36:59
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• 37:04
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