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

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Evening with a 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 Le Mans to
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you, sharing in the legend of Le Mans with guests from different
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eras of over 100 years of racing.
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And as your host, I'm delighted to introduce Andrea Robertson, a woman who
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carved her name into Le Mans history.
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In 2011, she became the last American woman to date to race in the 24 Hours
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of Le Mans, and more importantly, the first ever to stand on the podium
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in the race's 100 year history.
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She and her late husband, David Robertson, along with pro driver and former Evening
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with the Legend guest David Murray, took on the grueling challenge of Le
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Mans as privateers, fielding their iconic Ford GT40 against some of the
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biggest names in endurance racing.
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With grit, determination, and sheer passion, they defied the
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odds and made history on one of motorsports biggest stages.
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How'd they do it?
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What was it like to go wheel to wheel against factory backed giants?
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And what does Andrea's success mean for the future of women in endurance racing?
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That's what we're here to find out.
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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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Andrea, welcome to the show.
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Thank you so much.
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Every good story has an origin, and this one has to be probably
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one of the most unique ones.
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So take us back to the beginning.
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Did you just get up one morning and say, I want to race at Le Mans.
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Like, how did you get into endurance racing?
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Take us on the journey through your beginnings of even high
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performance driver's education, meeting up with David Murray.
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And what led you to competing in the 24 hours of Le Mans?
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I go back to when I was a teenager back then.
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We had their classic cars now.
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But I started drag racing unbeknownst to my parents.
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I had a niche.
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I had friends and we had a good time.
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I was at the drag strip pretty much every weekend.
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Then of course, work gets in the way, your career, both David
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and myself, aviation people.
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We met in the early nineties and then we always talked about racing.
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We watched Formula One together.
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There was an interest in racing.
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And then he came home one day and he says, Oh, we're going to get a race car.
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We're going to start racing.
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We'll start at our home track in Michigan, Waterford Hills.
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I said, okay.
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So we got a Spec Racer Ford.
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We shared it for the first year or two.
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It was great.
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Had a good fun.
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The next year he decided he wanted to go into Formula
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Ford, which he was too big for.
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I thought he was.
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He squeezed into it.
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But I stayed with the Spec Racer and we just kind of built
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ourselves up through the years.
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He said, we're gonna go to different racing schools, which we
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did throughout the United States.
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And we just kept building up and we liked it.
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We were at the track all the time.
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Then we ended up, we got a couple Painos GTSs.
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We ran those for a bit.
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Just kept working on the skills, working on the skills.
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And you know, we ran some races here and there, SCCA.
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And then one day Dave comes home and he goes, Oh, we're going to
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run in the American Le Mans series.
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And I kind of rolled my eyes.
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I said, Oh, come on.
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What are you talking about?
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You know, craziness.
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And he was dead serious.
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So we kept going again through the schools, got our licensing built up.
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Watched ourselves.
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This is what his goal was.
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So I think it was way back in 2006.
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We bought a Painos.
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It was not a real good car.
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We campaigned it for part of a year and we parked it.
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The handling was just, it was not a good situation.
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We kept looking.
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He said, well, we're going to do the American Le Mans series.
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And I was a little apprehensive because I thought, oh boy.
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That's a series.
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That's tough competition.
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We got to really be on top of our game.
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So we went and looked at a couple different cars and he
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wanted to try the Ferrari, but he couldn't fit into it properly.
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And then we weren't sure about a Porsche.
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We were looking all over and then we got a call out of the blue.
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There were some GT40 frames over in Kevin Duran's shop in Lebanon, Ohio.
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I think we went out there and we decided, well, let's build
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our own car and let's try it.
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So we took that task on the team.
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We had.
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built the car from scratch.
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We debuted it in 2007 at the 12 hour Sebring.
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We were doing pretty darn good considering, you know, brand new
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going up against so many pro drivers.
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And again, I was very, very nervous.
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But prior to that, we did a whole lot of driver development.
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We bought another GT40, a street car with a two seat.
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Terry Borcheller was my coach.
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And then David Murray was a coach for Dave.
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So we rented tracks.
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We were at Carolina Motorsports.
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We went to VIR.
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We went to Road Atlanta.
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We went to Sebring.
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We did a lot of driver development and I studied real hard.
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Dave Murray will probably tell you, I probably worked the hardest out
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of all of us because I just felt as a female, I had a disadvantage, I
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guess that's the word I want to use.
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I had a disadvantage.
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I felt it.
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When we debuted at Sebring in 2007, I was very self conscious as a female, but
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then I thought, ah, you know what, when you put your helmet on, nobody's going
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to really know if you're male or female.
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You just go out and do your thing.
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So we ran for seven hours.
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We were actually holding our own and doing pretty good.
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And then my David got in the car and the water bottle failed and he
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dehydrated and he crashed and turned 10.
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So we were out of the race, but it's like, well, You know, these things happen.
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He was okay.
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And then we continued on better and better.
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It was our money all on ourselves.
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No factory help.
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No, nobody.
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Cause Ford was against us.
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They didn't think it was right that we were campaigning a Ford GT.
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They didn't want nothing to do with us.
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We didn't ask him for help.
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It's like we had enough other people coming forward, even from some of the
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other teams that we made friends with.
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There were people that came to us, you know, what do you need?
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You need help?
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You know, we had wind tunnel.
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We sometimes shared tracks for tire testing driver
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development and we kept at it.
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We just kept at it.
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And then Dave says to me the one day, Oh, we're going to do the 24 hour Lamar.
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And I rolled my eyes.
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I said, Oh, come on, you got me in the American Lamar series.
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Now you want to do the 24 hours.
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I just thought, okay, Okay.
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So you get into it, you just tell yourself, okay, it's a big undertaking.
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And it was a big undertaking because it was all on ourselves for shipping the
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cars and the team, who is going to go.
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We kept that even with the American Le Mans series.
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We had one year, we were pretty much a top 10 finisher all through the year.
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We had some good finishes here and there.
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But, you know, you're going up against factory teams that had all
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the money, all the backing, every three years they get a new chassis.
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They had all kinds of stuff.
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What we did was all on our own with the very clever people we had and, you
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know, the determination and the fun.
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He wanted to do 24 hour Le Mans.
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Okay.
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So, April that year, 2011, we were trying to get both cars in.
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One of the cars was going to be Dave Murray, Colin Braun, and Anthony Lazzaro.
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And then Boris said was going to be with me and Dave and the other car.
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We went over in April.
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We had to qualify.
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You had to qualify.
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So we did.
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We did the night session.
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We qualified.
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We did good.
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We held our own.
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One car was in.
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The other car was the first on the reserve list.
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And we were waiting for Aston Martin because they weren't sure they were
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having problems with the one car.
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Then they decided they were going to take that spot.
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So the 04 car got bumped out.
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So we ended up, Dave Murray drove with us.
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And, you know, we had half of the team instead of the whole team.
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Big undertaking.
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But we did it.
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And then when we were over there in April, Aston Martin invited us over to England.
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They had a simulator because we had never been on the track.
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So they had a racing simulator.
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So we were over to England with Aston Martin and taking turns on their
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huge, I've never seen a simulator that big, the screen that big.
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There were some good people there that they talked to us.
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They guided us, helped us.
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I studied, studied, studied, studied.
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I thought, you know what?
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If Dave's going to get me into this, I'm going to be the best I can be.
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And I wanted to outshine him.
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That was kind of my goal was to outshine him, smarty pants.
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So I worked, I did everything possibly could to become a very, very good driver.
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So thanks to Anson Martin.
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We came back home, got ready, got prepped, flew into France, went to Le Mans.
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Wow.
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Let's pause there for a second and get everybody caught up.
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There's a couple things that we can unpack from your story.
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ALMS in the early two thousands, there were other women drivers at that time.
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Some that had been on other programs that we have on the NPN, people like
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Cindy Lux, and even there was, you know, Lindsay James, there's a women's variant.
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Series of ALMS.
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Did you compete in that as well?
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What was the paddock like?
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And how did you feel like being mixed in that environment coming away from
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SCCA club racing and things like that?
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Intimidating because we weren't a factory team.
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We were a husband and wife team.
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I was a female and for years, I believe I was the only female that ran.
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I remember one race Cindy Lux was in at mid Ohio, and that was the only one that I
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remember, but it seemed like I was always.
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the only female.
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And so I tried to really be conscious of the fact of going against pro drivers
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and minding myself out there and watch.
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I listened very, very intently to Dave Murray, Terry Borcheller at
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the time, and even the other drivers that we got to know, like got to be
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good friends with Seth Nyman from the Porsche team, Flying Lizards.
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And there were some other good people that we got to know.
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And, you know, we listened.
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I listened very intently what to do out there, what not to
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do, how to be, how not to be.
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And I didn't want to cause any trouble.
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I wanted to keep my car safe, keep myself safe.
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And then we finally, we made friends.
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I mean, people would stop by from the other teams and they'd
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come by and chat with us.
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How's the car?
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You need any help?
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How's it going?
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And we got to be friends with some of them and I didn't feel so intimidated.
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Maybe after about a year and a half, I started to feel more
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comfortable with the environment that I was put into by my husband.
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Let's unpack that for a moment to Dave kept coming with these new challenges.
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We're going to do this.
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You know, we're going to go spec racer Ford.
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Oh, we're going to go formula Ford.
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We're going to go SCCA.
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We're going to go IMSA.
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We're going to go, you know, and kept stacking, stacking, stacking.
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When was the point where you suddenly shifted from, all right, Dave, we'll do
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this too, I really want to do this too.
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Was there a moment at which you said, this is suddenly real.
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We are going to Lamar.
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It manifested itself in you that you really wanted to do this.
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We've always competed with each other.
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We were type A personalities.
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Both of us worked for aviation backgrounds and Dave, he was borderline
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genius and he held many positions in aviation besides a pilot and flew
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just about every airplane out here.
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I was in aviation too and I'm a private pilot.
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I have a dispatch license so I worked just as hard even though I wasn't
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a commercial pilot like he was.
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But it got to be the point where that's all we talked about was racing and
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friends and family, it was racing.
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So I just told myself, you know what, I'm going to show you
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that I'm the better driver.
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And I worked real hard at that.
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Cause we would get asked that a lot of times, you know, Dave would always
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want to be the first one to say, well, you know, sometimes she's faster.
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Sometime I'm faster.
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And then it got to be a certain point where we'd be asked and I
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would stand there quietly and he'd kind of acknowledge grudgingly goes.
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Andrea's the better driver.
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She's always faster than me.
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So I thought, finally, he realizes.
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He put me into this, but I worked hard.
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I was always on our home simulator.
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I was reading track notes.
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I listened, I talked, and then it got to the point where, oh, you know what,
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I just want to be in the car, because I felt that was the best learning tool.
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Be in the car, feel it, do it, become one with the car and the tracks.
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And then Dave would start asking me, well, what are you doing different out there?
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Because we each had a different driving style, which you know, every driver does.
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You can coach and you can take the feedback, but ultimately when you're
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in the car, you follow the rules, but you become your own driver.
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The road to Lamar, you mentioned 2010, 2011 timeframe.
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You mentioned Aston Martin and we recently had Adrian Fernandez on it
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and he was on the Aston Martin team and they had some complications.
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And so, you know, it's.
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It's funny how small the world is, especially when it's in the same timeline.
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Do you just call up the ACO and say, Hi, I'm Andrea and I
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want to compete with my GT 40.
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Like I understand when Aston Martin goes to Lamar and then they call
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up somebody like Adrian and they say, we need you to drive for us.
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And the, you know, there's all these contracts and all this stuff.
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It's very different for the pro drivers.
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How did you broker this deal as a privateer to go campaign your car?
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Well, it's been quite interesting to say the least.
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In 2009, we had a personal invitation to bring our team and race in the
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Asian Le Mans Series over in Okayama.
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I remember Dave got off the phone, I think Scott Atherton might have called
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him, he was in charge of ALMS at the time and said, Personal invitation, you're
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invited to go to the Asian Le Mans Series.
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It's like, really?
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So we did that in 2009.
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We got some help transporting the car over all the way to Tokyo.
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That's a long, I think it was a 14 hour flight for us.
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But we did that.
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I think we got a sixth place and an eighth place finish over there.
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So we didn't do too bad.
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And the people just welcomed us.
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We don't know the language.
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We had an interpreter we hired because of the language barrier.
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But the fans that came to the track were so gracious.
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They showered us with gifts.
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Here were this little mom and pop team.
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Our interpreter would come.
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You have some guests.
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I have never bowed so much in my life because they would come
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over and they'd bow to you.
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And we would bow back and they would present us with baskets
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and boxes of beautiful things.
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Asia was good.
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Japan was good to us.
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And then when Dave started, well, we're going to work up to the 24 hour Le Mans.
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That's my goal.
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My goal.
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It's like, okay, okay, okay.
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So when we got to that point, I kept, I'm going to work hard.
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I'm going to work hard because if he wants to do this.
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I want to be on top of my ballgame with this endeavor.
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What it was is, in 2010, there was talk, I believe, with Scott Atherton from
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ALMS, because that year, I believe, Jaguar went over to the 24 Hour Le Mans.
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Their campaign didn't do very well.
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So then it was the next year between Dave broaching the subject with Scott Atherton
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of what about us going to Le Mans?
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So I think there was phone calls had been made.
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Maybe Scott campaigned on our behalf.
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And the next thing I know, I think it was in January of 2011,
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Dave came home all excited.
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He goes, we've been accepted.
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We have an invite to go to the 24 hour to participate.
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And I just looked at him.
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I said, really?
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So he goes, here's the plan.
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We have to go over in April and qualify ourselves and the car.
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Cause that's their rule.
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Okay.
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So we started right away getting everything ready.
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Passports for everybody.
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Who's going to go shipping the cars over.
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But we did get an invitation.
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And we took it.
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We went over and we took it again, April of that year.
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And both cars were left with Aston Martin after we were done with
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qualifying and the night qualifying.
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So Aston Martin said, yeah, we left the cars in England with them.
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And then everything would be transported over in June for the 24
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hour previous guests of the show.
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You know, we've asked them questions about what were your first impressions of Lamar?
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How were you receiving?
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by the French by the other teams and things like that.
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There's a whole other layer of complexity here.
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Was it different being a privateer and not being one of the big name teams
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where you looked at differently and gender aside, what was it like stepping
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foot at hallowed ground, like Lamar for the first time as a privateer?
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We were welcomed.
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The French were so kind to us.
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All the ACL officials were so kind to us.
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And even like other teams, it's so funny how, I think because Dave
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was 6'4 and I'm shorter, that's how we stood out to a lot of people.
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Oh, there's the husband wife team.
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And it would be hilarious that people would call our names.
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Oh, Dave and Andrea, Dave and Andrea, can I have an autograph?
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How do they know we're Dave and Andrea?
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But the other team's friendliness, most of the other teams were very
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friendly to us, very gracious.
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We got very high compliments from the French officials at ACO.
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This was from Scott Atherton.
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He said, after the fact, he said that they complimented us on the
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little American team that came over and didn't cause any problems.
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The team was gracious.
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We respected the country.
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We respected the people.
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We respected the race itself, the whole venue, and we didn't do anything to
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get ourselves in trouble on the track.
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We were one of the only teams that didn't have speeding in or out of the pit lane.
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I was specifically told no burnouts, which is kind of disappointing.
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But I was told by my engineer, no, no burnouts and ALMS.
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We could do nice big fat burnouts going out of the pit lane, not in France.
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But yeah, we stressed to the team, you know, we're guests in another country.
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Represent the United States and us as a team.
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Just represent us the highest standards that you can.
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And we did it.
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And in a weird way, it sort of parallels the Garage 56 experience
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from a couple years ago, right?
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It's like, who are these guys?
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Where'd they come from?
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But again, super well received, well respected, everybody
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minded their P's and Q's.
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Yeah.
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LeMans, as we know, Is one of the crown jewels of racing.
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It is one of the toughest endurance races in the world, and it's highly regarded.
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It's over a hundred years old now.
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So for you, and I've heard part of this story from David Murray about how hard
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you train or one of the hardest working drivers out there, but what was some of
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the biggest challenges you faced leading up to race day and on race day itself?
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I wanted to make sure I was mentally and physically fit.
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One of the things I've always strived for, and I used to get made fun of by my
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Dave, he goes, you're always working out with the weights or in the exercise room.
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I said, well, I have to be on top of my game.
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And one of the things, when we first started in ALMS, the GT cars did
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not have air conditioning in them.
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And we saw drivers that would literally come out of their stint
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and almost collapse on pit lane.
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It's hot in those cars.
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And the next year, of course, the rules change and air conditioning
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was allowed in the GT cars.
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Good for Dave, my husband.
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But what I told myself, that's a mechanical part.
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If that fails What do I do?
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I don't want to rely on the air conditioning.
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So I conditioned myself.
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I worked, worked, worked.
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When I drove in the car, I didn't turn the air conditioning on because
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I always told myself if that fails, I don't want to be the driver that fails
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because the air conditioning failed.
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So I made sure I was always as fit as I could be physically as
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well as mentally and emotionally.
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When you're in the car, you kind of put the blinders on.
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You're focusing on what you're doing.
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You're driving that machine and what you're doing out there on the track.
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Like I said, I didn't use the air conditioning.
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It'd be sparingly.
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If it was real hot, I'd click it on.
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Cause you know, a cool suit only works for a couple laps anyway.
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So this is the difference between me and Dave.
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I said, if the air conditioning fails, you don't want to fail as a driver.
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So I stressed that even today, you know, I just got back from Sebring two weeks
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ago and I don't use the air conditioner.
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If I don't need it, I don't use it, but I wanted to make sure that as a driver.
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I wasn't going to cause a failure for the team.
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I wanted to be the best I could be because I'm also representing
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my team because we worked so hard together to come to this big endeavor.
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I always felt that after reading and researching the biggest race in the
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world, the 24 hours of Lamar, David Murray also mentioned that during the race.
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You had a hard time keeping up with the caloric intake, forgetting
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to eat or not wanting to eat.
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Did that weigh on you?
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There is a special moment in there because I believe the race occurred
19:08
on your anniversary as well.
19:11
I'm still about that weight.
19:13
Again, we were at Sebring and we have a cook and he'd come around with the
19:17
food and when it's right before I'm getting, no, no, no, I don't like food.
19:20
I will eat breakfast and I will eat a little bit for
19:23
lunch, but I don't feel myself.
19:24
But at Lamar, I did a three hour stint overnight.
19:28
And I would go out, come in for tires and fuel and go back out, go back out.
19:32
And then my engineer radioed, he goes, okay, I need to get you out of the car.
19:36
And it was so funny because at that point in time, I thought, man, I'm hungry.
19:41
I just got ravenous.
19:42
So I radioed, I said, this is what I want to eat.
19:44
Tell my little gal, we had helpers, you call it.
19:47
I said, I want salmon.
19:48
I want green beans.
19:49
I want potatoes, salad, a roll, get me something to drink.
19:53
No pop, but she was made sure we had these bottles of electrolyte.
19:56
I still have my bottle with my straw in it.
19:58
I still have it, but my drink.
20:00
And I said, maybe a cookie.
20:01
I said, have that.
20:02
That's what I want to eat.
20:04
So Lee gave that to the little gal that was taking care of me.
20:07
So I come into pit lane and I'm thinking, yeah, I just, all of a
20:10
sudden it was like, I want to eat.
20:11
I want to eat.
20:11
I wanted to drive more, but I was hungry.
20:14
So I get out of pit lane and then Lee, my engineer, he goes, Oh yeah, Dave's here.
20:18
He's got something special for you.
20:19
I'm like Dave Robertson.
20:21
Yeah, it was our anniversary.
20:22
So he's standing on pit lane waiting for me.
20:24
He had a bouquet of flowers.
20:26
He told one of the boys to go to Vanessa's.
20:28
She was our hospitality gal and he goes, go get some
20:31
flowers from one of our tables.
20:33
So he's, he was standing there and it was hilarious.
20:36
I didn't know this.
20:37
So I get out of the car and I get my baby seat out.
20:39
I drive with the baby seat because we had such a height
20:42
differential between me and Dave.
20:44
The seat was made for him and I had to ride with an insert.
20:47
So I'm getting my insert out.
20:48
Dave Murray gets in the car and Dave goes, Oh, happy anniversary.
20:51
So he's giving me a kiss on my helmet.
20:53
I will thank you.
20:54
And it was hilarious because Speed Channel was there filming me.
20:57
It was just comical in a way.
20:59
But I said Well, thank you.
21:00
I love bouquet.
21:01
And now I'm going to go and strip out of my uniform and wash up
21:04
and wait for my meal to come the anniversary scene around the world.
21:07
I think we all saw that moment on television.
21:11
You were always trying to best your husband, even on the day of the race.
21:14
And you talked about driving overnight.
21:16
We'll get into that a little bit more.
21:17
But one of the things That David Murray had mentioned when he was here.
21:21
He talked about the fact that Dave, your husband sort of did the shortest
21:24
amount of driving and you split the load between yourself and David Murray.
21:29
So when you took on the extra stints and the extra time, did that play
21:33
a toll on you physically, mentally?
21:35
How did you stay focused for all those hours of driving?
21:37
Not at all.
21:38
I was on a mission.
21:40
So yeah, we kind of not let Dave be in the car.
21:43
Sometime he would lose his focus or something.
21:45
And me, um, you know, I'd do two hour stints, and then I did three hour stints.
21:49
I could do more, but Lee was trying to make sure I didn't burn myself out.
21:52
But I loved driving.
21:54
The car was so good.
21:56
Once you got comfortable with everything at Le Mans.
21:58
It was no issue at all.
22:00
And I drove a lot through the night, which was fine.
22:03
My Dave, he was not big on the night driving.
22:05
So, you know, okay.
22:06
So I took a lot of driving.
22:08
I think we let him in maybe one more time and then me and Dave Murray
22:11
finished off the rest and then I took the checker, but the car was so good.
22:16
It was so smooth.
22:17
It breaks so straight.
22:19
And it responded so well.
22:22
We had two hiccups that I can remember.
22:24
One of my earlier stints, the paddle shift fail.
22:27
So I had to bring it back in, but I tell you, the team was smart.
22:31
They left the sequential shift in.
22:33
It was just bolted down.
22:34
When I radioed, I said, paddle shift fail, paddle shift, we'll
22:37
limp it in, limp it in, limp it in.
22:38
So when I got to pit lane, I was rolled into the garage.
22:41
They took the hood or the lid off the back of the, by the engine.
22:45
They put the sequential shifter back up.
22:47
The paddle shift was done.
22:48
And then inside the cockpit, we, I did the zip tie, brought
22:51
the sequential shifter up.
22:53
I thought, Oh boy, I'm going to be rusty.
22:55
But you know, after one lap, you're back into the groove.
22:58
Yeah.
22:58
The paddle shift was brand new that year.
23:00
And you know what?
23:01
It failed.
23:02
So what, but guess what?
23:03
Because.
23:04
The crew was smart enough to keep the sequential in that saved us
23:08
because I think there were two other teams, their paddle shift failed.
23:11
They were out, so it kept us going.
23:13
So after one lap, I got the rest out.
23:15
I can do this.
23:16
I had been used to the sequential, but yeah, I did love the driving.
23:20
So for me, it didn't drain me physically, mentally, or emotionally.
23:24
I took it methodically.
23:26
Even when it was my rest period, I really don't think I rested.
23:29
I'd come in and strip because you're all wet because you got your long racing
23:33
underwear on under your driving suit.
23:35
So I'd come in, we had little cubbies, little trailers or whatnot.
23:39
Ours just happened to be right under a speaker and it was so loud.
23:43
All you heard was whatever was on the speaker, but I tried to
23:46
rest as best I could, and then there'd be a knock on my door.
23:49
Andrea, you're up.
23:49
Get dressed and get dressed and go out to our garage and
23:53
I'd be ready to rock and roll.
23:54
But I wasn't tired.
23:56
I wasn't worn out.
23:57
My mind was still sharp.
23:59
I tried to stay as focused as I could and I kept myself hydrated.
24:03
And again, my little gal kept giving me these electrolyte drinks to make
24:06
sure I had that at least in my body.
24:08
So you mentioned one issue with the car was the shifter.
24:11
What was the second one?
24:12
Oh, The second one, Dave Murray got a flat tire way on the other side of the track.
24:16
You know, Lamar's about what, 8.
24:18
46 miles carbon fiber from a previous crash.
24:21
You know, it's cleaned up as best as can be.
24:23
We feel he must've ran over some carbon fiber, got a flat tire.
24:27
So he brought that in change and out he went.
24:29
Those were pretty much the only two hiccups that I can remember we had.
24:32
And we just kept going.
24:33
Hold your line, get out there, and just keep at it.
24:37
So, we kept at it.
24:38
Racing as a privateer comes with its own unique set of obstacles, because
24:42
you don't have as many resources and spare parts, and you're trying
24:45
to maintain the car for 24 hours.
24:47
Talking a little bit more about the car and the driving, you know,
24:49
David Murray mentioned how he spent a lot of time, he was very
24:52
conservative, did a lot of drafting.
24:54
He felt that maybe you guys had a slight performance differential between some of
24:58
the factory teams and things like that.
25:00
Did you have the same impression of the GT or did you feel like you
25:03
were in the mix with everybody else?
25:04
We had a slight disadvantage as a privateer team.
25:08
Yeah.
25:08
We didn't have the resources like Ferrari Corvette had.
25:12
And yeah, some of those cars were blindingly fast, but I will tell you.
25:16
What I noticed, sometimes the drivers got a little bit too aggressive and
25:20
they crashed themselves out right away.
25:22
I saw that with the Audi with Alan McNish coming out of Dunlop turn.
25:26
He collided with a Ferrari and knocked out that Audi R18.
25:30
One of my early mornings, since it was Corvette was battling with someone else.
25:35
They passed me on the Porsche curves, which is fine.
25:37
I'm holding my line.
25:38
I'm keeping my business, doing my business.
25:40
I come up to the Corvette corners and here's a Corvette smashed out pretty
25:44
bad, and it's over aggressive driving, but you know what, we did have some
25:47
rain in the morning too, but I was trying to be, and like Dave says, you
25:51
be conservative, go out there and be fast when you can, but be conscious of
25:55
the fact of what you're doing out there.
25:58
We've always felt that, yeah, we were always a little bit behind
26:01
because we didn't have the same thing that the factory drivers had.
26:04
And then there'd always be like, Oh, you, you're restrictor.
26:08
You got to have this.
26:09
We didn't always feel that everybody was on the same playing field, so to speak.
26:14
With restrictors or weights, but that's just, you know, paddock talk.
26:17
And at this point racing at the 24, based on all your ALMS experience, you were
26:22
used to running in mixed class racing.
26:24
And obviously the ALMS schedule doesn't always include what would have been
26:28
considered at the time LMP one cars, P1 cars, which are now GDP cars.
26:31
Again, the speed differential, the United.
26:34
States.
26:34
Even though the cars are the same is different because
26:36
the tracks are a lot smaller.
26:38
You don't have cars doing necessarily over 200 miles an hour at every
26:41
track in the United States.
26:43
So what was it like being at Lamar with LMP one cars bearing down
26:47
on you at over 200 miles an hour?
26:49
Did you spend a lot of time in your mirrors?
26:51
No, I don't want to drive that way.
26:53
I glance, but I don't drive in my mirrors.
26:55
I always ask my team, especially on the front when they're in the engineer stand,
26:59
I'd always say, give me a heads up.
27:00
Give me a shout out that Audi or Peugeot five, six seconds behind.
27:04
That helps me.
27:05
And then you watch for the corner workers.
27:07
You see a flag.
27:07
Nighttime, it was easier because the GT cars, we had gold headlights and
27:12
the prototypes had a whiter headlight.
27:15
So, you know, when you glanced, so we had a rear in car camera rear view.
27:20
So I would glance at that and I could tell immediately prototype coming,
27:23
or there was a GT car coming at me.
27:26
So at nighttime, it's easier to see just glancing, but I refuse to drive in my
27:31
mirrors because I figure if I'm holding my line, I'll glance to see a radio call
27:35
from the engineer stands goes a long way.
27:38
And once I would get that, you know, five or six seconds or whatever it may
27:42
be Audi Peugeot or whoever it may be.
27:44
Has that in my mind.
27:45
And I, you know, I would just kind of do a quick glance and I'd calculate.
27:48
It's like, I'm holding my line.
27:49
I don't have to do anything silly.
27:51
So it worked out very, very well, but yeah, those cars are fast, especially
27:55
on the most on straight and coming out to Indianapolis, it's like, Holy moly.
28:00
So when you compared it to other tracks you drove on,
28:02
what did you think of Lamont?
28:03
Did you enjoy turning laps there?
28:05
Oh, heck yeah.
28:07
Yeah, very much.
28:10
It was an honor to be there.
28:12
Would you consider it a favorite or do you have something that you keep above it?
28:15
That's one of my favorites just because of what we did and we weren't expecting it.
28:20
What we told ourselves going over, our goal was let's do Lamar.
28:25
That's Dave's Dave wanted to do Lamar.
28:27
And we said, if we can finish the race, that would be great, man and machine.
28:31
That means that we have a good car and we did it.
28:34
And that was kind of our goal was to be able to finish the race without crashing
28:39
out or mechanically being thrown out.
28:41
The podium was just an added, what a bonus.
28:44
What was it like crossing the checker, realizing you were in third
28:48
place on the podium for the first woman to ever podium at Le Mans?
28:51
Well, it was kind of surreal because when I got my call, the knock on my little
28:56
cubby door, you're up, get dressed.
28:58
And I went into our garage and I'm looking at the monitors and I'm
29:01
like, okay, we're in fourth place.
29:03
You know, some of the team, Andrew, we're in fourth place.
29:05
Okay.
29:06
I played it cool because you don't ever count anything ahead of time because
29:10
you don't know what could happen.
29:12
I thought, okay, well that's pretty good.
29:14
You know, cause Dave Murray was in the car, he was coming in.
29:16
I thought, okay, fourth place, this is good.
29:18
So I got on, just kept doing my own thing, and then toward the end, as we started
29:23
getting to the end of Le Mans, Lee came on the radio and he says, Andrea, P3.
29:27
I said, What?
29:29
Excuse me?
29:29
He goes, P3.
29:30
Just keep doing what you're doing.
29:32
Okay.
29:33
So I thought P3.
29:34
I didn't allow myself to get excited.
29:36
I didn't allow myself any type of emotion.
29:39
The only thing was focus and drive the car till the end.
29:42
There's no way I was going to celebrate something that I didn't
29:45
know if it was really going to happen.
29:46
You can't because I've seen too many drivers disappoint themselves.
29:49
And then Lee gets on, he goes, you got one more lap, he goes, bring it
29:52
home, he goes, we're still in P3.
29:54
Okay, Lee, thank you.
29:56
Come around, you know, off of the Porsche curves, Corvette corner,
29:59
I see the checker up there.
30:01
So as soon as I got the checker, Lee comes on, he goes, congratulations, we are P3.
30:05
And it's like, then, I don't know, I just had this big, like, grin came on me.
30:10
I said, oh my god, P3 after 24 hours, I could go for another 24 hours.
30:15
I was pretty psyched up about it.
30:17
And then it was the most hilarious.
30:19
thing because after the checker flag went out and we were, you know, all out
30:24
there on the track, you couldn't move.
30:26
The track was inundated with corner workers and the flags and people were
30:31
beating on your car and they were yelling your name and Lee would come on.
30:35
He goes, Andrew, where are you at?
30:36
And I said, well, I'm at, and I tell him where I was on the track.
30:39
Well, what's taking so long?
30:40
I said, I can't move.
30:41
The track has people all in it with corner workers and flags.
30:45
And I said, they're yelling our name and beating on the cars,
30:48
like pounding the fenders.
30:49
It was hilarious.
30:51
So I finally get in, you know, I'm directed to park for me.
30:54
I thought, okay, so I'm going over to park for me.
30:56
I get out and I'm kind of standing there and I thought, I have no idea
31:00
where to go from here because I'm hearing all these different languages.
31:03
I'm seeing all kinds of different drivers.
31:05
I didn't know where I was supposed to go.
31:06
And it's so funny.
31:07
There was a driver, like I was saying earlier, people knew who we were.
31:12
One of the European drivers and he called me, goes, Andrea, come with me.
31:16
He goes, I take you.
31:17
He goes, I know where your team is.
31:18
Okay, thanks.
31:19
I don't know who he was, but he knew me.
31:21
So he took me, there was a car there.
31:23
He goes, you get in here.
31:24
They're going to take you up to the podium.
31:26
And then Joey Hand got in.
31:27
I knew Joey.
31:28
He was a BMW driver.
31:30
They got a third place in their class.
31:32
So then we went up to the car and we couldn't even move.
31:35
There was just So many people when we got up to the podium, and then
31:39
I'm walking up and there were people again that I'm standing there.
31:42
I didn't see anybody.
31:44
I know, but people knew with Andrea over here over here and they would yell for
31:48
me or somebody would come and get me.
31:49
Finally, I caught up to the crew.
31:51
Then we were like, kind of being organized your team and when you're going to
31:54
go out for what not onto the podium.
31:56
And it was really surreal.
31:58
There were 249, 500 people at Lamar.
32:02
And when you went up and walked on that podium, it was stunning.
32:06
There were people yelling our names or American flags flying.
32:09
So we were waving to people and then, you know, people were calling our names,
32:13
screaming, and I'm looking and I thought.
32:15
This can't be happening.
32:16
And everybody was just a joy for all the teams, for all
32:20
the drivers that we did this.
32:21
We ran for 24 hours.
32:23
Our car lasted, our car was a good little car and we did it.
32:26
You mentioned before that Ford wanted nothing to do with it.
32:29
Can't believe campaigning our car, privateer, all this kind of thing.
32:33
And obviously you chose the car because it was what Dave could fit in.
32:36
When you think back, Ford hadn't won at Le Mans in a very long
32:40
time, especially in the GT40.
32:42
We're going to put air quotes around that.
32:43
You're up there on the podium, privateer to GT40.
32:46
A GT40 hasn't won at Le Mans since the late sixties.
32:49
Did it suddenly give you the feels?
32:51
That had to have been a heck of an experience.
32:53
Again, I can still see walking up on that platform, all the people that are looking
32:59
at you and they're calling your name.
33:01
It was a moment to be proud.
33:03
And I remember me and Dave and Dave, we hugged and we were like, you
33:06
know, we can't believe we did this.
33:07
A little guy like us.
33:09
And you know, some of these other teams, these factory teams had, you
33:12
know, maybe campaigned in two or three cars and maybe one or two crashed out.
33:15
It's like, we did it.
33:17
And mine and Dave's phone was going nuts.
33:20
There were friends from the States that watched and the messages was,
33:23
we watched you and we're crying.
33:25
Because we've known you guys, you raced with us at Waterford or wherever.
33:30
And this is the response is what we were getting messages from people.
33:33
We were crying, watching you on the podium, but we're so proud of you.
33:37
And it's like, wow.
33:38
Okay.
33:40
So did Ford ever come back and say anything after it was all done?
33:43
You know, there were some of the Ford people did, they invited us to dinner.
33:48
And I don't remember the one he was from Ford.
33:51
He was one of the grandsons and he kind of apologized, said some
33:55
real kind things, talked to us, you know, like last year I was at road
33:58
America and Edsel Ford came up to me.
34:01
I went to the bathroom and then my team said, Hey, somebody here to see you.
34:04
Brian Redmond was there, which I know Brian and then Edsel Ford.
34:07
And he wanted to shake my hand.
34:09
He goes, this is a beautiful car and thank you for bringing it and driving it.
34:12
And I said, it is a beautiful car.
34:14
I said, I think it was one of the best.
34:15
years and one of the most beautiful, iconic Ford GTs there are.
34:18
This was last year.
34:19
And then again, after Le Mans, there was some outreach from Ford.
34:22
We were invited to events, car shows and come to speak and whatnot.
34:26
And then in 2016, we got an invitation from Ford because they debuted.
34:32
Remember Chip Ganassi, they brought the new Ford GT to debut at Le Mans.
34:36
And we got an invitation to bring our winning Le Mans car over.
34:40
So I could drive in the parade lap before the start of the race.
34:44
And there was some other GT winners of 66, 67.
34:47
So we were all there with these cars.
34:49
So that was a personal invitation from Ford in 2016.
34:53
One and done.
34:54
Right.
34:55
So Dave said, we did it all.
34:57
We even podium.
34:58
We did better than we expected.
34:59
There was no bucket list after that.
35:01
There was no more reach.
35:02
Why not a second attempt?
35:04
Because.
35:05
We didn't have a new chassis.
35:06
Basically, it was like after about three years, you retire a chassis and Ford
35:12
didn't make anything after that year.
35:14
And then, you know, we kind of thought the technology was advancing so well
35:19
with like the other manufacturers.
35:21
We would always be down here without anything new for us going forward.
35:26
Yeah, we talked about it.
35:27
It would have been nice.
35:28
But again, that was kind of like the norm of every so many years,
35:32
everything changes with the technology.
35:34
And that wasn't us.
35:35
We were the mom and pop team.
35:37
What we decided or when Dave was still alive, he said, what we'd like to do is
35:41
go back and if we could get the invitation to go back and do the vintage Le Bon.
35:45
We said, Oh yeah, that'd be great.
35:46
If we ever come to that point.
35:48
And if that point ever comes, I'll go back and have Dave Murray go, we'll do
35:52
it to honor Dave, if that ever comes.
35:54
Well, the classic is coming back this year for the first time in a very long time.
35:57
So maybe that will become a reality here soon.
36:00
So I hope so.
36:01
So switching gears a little bit, as we sort of wrap out here, one of the things
36:06
that is a common thread when you talk about Le Mans, what did Le Mans teach you?
36:11
How did it change you as a driver?
36:13
What did you take away from the experience and does it
36:15
still affect your racing today?
36:17
Yes, it does.
36:18
It truly was an honor that we got to go.
36:21
I felt we represented ourselves very well for who and what
36:25
we were as the little guys.
36:27
Kept ourselves out of trouble and I learned a lot by listening to the
36:30
other drivers, you know, who we got to be friends with, who we got to know.
36:34
And you take some of their skill sets or their thought processes.
36:38
Today even, girls might come up and talk to me.
36:41
I was just approached a couple weeks ago about, actually I
36:43
got two speaking engagements I'm supposed to do for females.
36:47
And I said, yeah, I'll be happy to do that.
36:49
What I want to do, especially when we went over to La Mom, and I told this to
36:52
my day because I said, don't get cocky.
36:55
Do not ever, ever get cocky because that can knock you out of a race right away.
36:59
When you have that type of attitude, I always felt even keeled matter
37:03
of fact about the whole situation and you don't get above yourself
37:07
because I've seen this happen.
37:09
If you get that type of attitude, it gets you in trouble.
37:12
So I. Still see the moments.
37:14
I can relish the moments.
37:16
I can see it right as I'm talking to you now.
37:18
I'm driving the track.
37:19
I'm seeing the track and I'm driving and I remember when I was there for the
37:22
night qualifying when I was running and I wanted to take that as a perspective
37:26
back to even what I do here in the States.
37:29
I got to do that, but it changed me to be a better driver to know that I can do it.
37:34
I trained myself physically, mentally, and emotionally.
37:38
I know I can do it.
37:39
So if there was another 24 hours, I'd be on it.
37:41
And again, I want to say thank you to France.
37:44
What a great place.
37:45
The sights and sounds of everybody, all the different teams, all the different
37:49
languages, and the people you meet.
37:51
everybody was gracious.
37:53
I didn't see anybody out of line there.
37:55
Even all the fans, everybody was so gracious and so kind and so excited.
38:00
So excited when you look back over the last almost 15 years now, since your
38:04
podium, you're still the last American woman to run at Lamont and you're one
38:09
of the only women to podium at Lamont.
38:11
How does that make you feel when you think back?
38:13
And how does what you did impact the future of motorsport?
38:16
What do you think we can do different to get more women to
38:19
compete at the level that you did?
38:21
You have to really commit to it.
38:23
You have to want it and you have to commit.
38:25
I know it takes money.
38:26
It takes money and time.
38:28
And like I've told some gals that I've spoke to.
38:30
When you do driver development, and then as I started to be at the end
38:34
of the ALMS, I used to do the setup, work with the tires, tire testing.
38:38
I said, you have to want to do this.
38:40
And you have to be open to criticisms and suggestions.
38:45
It has to be in you.
38:46
You have that excitement.
38:48
You want to be one with the car and the track.
38:51
And if you can't commit that way, 110%, then you're just going to be
38:55
a weekend driver at your local club.
38:57
But to go as what me and Dave did, we took the racing schools.
39:00
We kept advancing our licenses.
39:02
We kept advancing our driving skills.
39:05
I listened very, very intently to Dave Murray and some of the other people
39:08
that came along that was in our life.
39:10
But I tell gals today that if you can't commit fully, and I understand money could
39:15
be a factor with some of the young gals.
39:17
But you have to be committed 110 percent that I want to do this.
39:21
I want to get out there and prove it and do it.
39:23
Andrea, if you could go back today and run one of the cars in the last
39:27
couple of seasons, 2023, 24, and now the new announcement for the 2025 cars.
39:32
What would you drive?
39:33
I love the Ford GT.
39:35
I've been spoiled with it, so to speak.
39:37
Very much spoiled with it.
39:38
I was invited.
39:39
I forgot how many years back it was a prototype.
39:42
Would I come over and run it in a prototype?
39:44
And I don't know.
39:45
I'm not keen on it.
39:46
So I kind of passed on it.
39:48
Perhaps a Ferrari.
39:50
But if there was another Ford GT, I'd for sure get into that.
39:53
I'd like to see what the technology, what it's.
39:55
change from our year to what it is today.
39:58
What do you think about the Mustang, especially with its win at Rolex?
40:01
Is that a good jumping off point for Ford, especially with their recent
40:05
announcement that they are going to come back and compete at Le Mans in GTP?
40:09
I want to see, because I think the Mustang's a heavier car than the Ford GT.
40:13
I don't know what engine they have in it.
40:15
It's got me intrigued.
40:17
Back in the day when I drag raced, there would be Ford
40:19
Mustangs that would drag race.
40:21
And I always thought they were a heavier car and more boxier.
40:24
If they've streamlined the aerodynamics on it, it's going to be interesting.
40:28
I'll watch it closely and see.
40:30
We ran at Miller Motorsports.
40:32
They had a school out there and they used the Mustangs.
40:34
Me and Dave drove the Mustangs.
40:35
They weren't bad, but they were school cars over at Miller
40:38
Motorsports over in Utah.
40:40
Well, the new ones definitely proved that they got the legs on the car.
40:43
Corvette team.
40:44
So GM's got some work to do after all these years.
40:46
Oh, all right.
40:47
Well, I have to keep my eye on it then.
40:49
Go Blue Oval, right?
40:50
Yes.
40:50
So that said, Andrea, what's next?
40:53
You're still racing.
40:54
What's left to do?
40:55
I'm still racing.
40:56
Like I said, I just got back from Sebring and I'm running next week.
40:59
I'm going to Road Atlanta.
41:00
I'm still having fun.
41:02
I never realized I was talking to somebody last week and she was asking me about
41:07
the race and I was telling her and then she sat there and she looked at me.
41:09
She goes.
41:10
When you talk about racing, you just light up.
41:13
She goes, your face lights up, your eyes sparkle.
41:15
I said, really?
41:16
I just thought I'm relaying what goes on out in the track.
41:19
She goes, well, it affects you.
41:20
And she goes, you can see it in your aura.
41:22
And it's like, But I like it.
41:24
The car is still so good.
41:26
I just had the engine rebuilt, the transmission, paddle shift.
41:29
We did everything brand new.
41:30
We started at ground zero this year at Sebring and Sebring went pretty well.
41:34
I still want to keep doing this and I want to honor Dave because
41:38
this was his baby, so to speak.
41:40
It is hard at times without him.
41:43
I get kind of choked up and emotional about it, but I think he rides with me.
41:47
I think he does.
41:48
Well, as we close out here, Andrea, we are very fortunate because you never
41:51
know who's going to be in the audience.
41:53
And there is a special guest with us tonight, the first American
41:56
woman to ever run at Le Mans.
41:57
So I'm wondering if Margie would like to take a moment to say something
42:00
and let you guys chat for a second.
42:02
Andrea, I just want you to know, I appreciate so much
42:06
you're telling your story.
42:07
Your ability to pull your listeners into the car with you is so special,
42:12
even into your dressing room and how you have gone on with your goals
42:18
to race and your positive attitude.
42:21
And I so can identify with you with the loss of your husband.
42:25
Cause I had the same things happen when I won my championship.
42:28
We had cancer that year, but I lost my husband almost two years ago.
42:32
But you will always have the memory and experience with him and your
42:36
crew and everyone, and always will remember those flowers being
42:40
delivered to you for your anniversary.
42:44
But I do hope that you have a lot of success in your remaining racing.
42:49
And please, please speak as many times as you can.
42:52
You're absolutely amazing that everything you do, every word you
42:56
say, I could not take myself away from listening to your story.
43:00
You're a true legend, and I know you're a major person who will help
43:04
young thrivers and technicians and so forth to pursue their goals.
43:09
Congratulations.
43:10
I'm very proud of you.
43:11
Thank you.
43:12
And sorry about the loss of your husband.
43:14
And again, when I got this invitation to speak.
43:16
And I got the book out and all Dave's notes in it and those little
43:20
dog eared pages I just choked up.
43:22
I thought, Oh my God, I remember that.
43:24
This was great.
43:24
I remember that.
43:25
I remember that.
43:26
The memories come flooding back.
43:27
And it seemed like it was just yesterday.
43:29
You can imagine he, he enjoyed the experiences with you and
43:33
probably had a lot of pride in helping you along your path.
43:37
I'm glad you beat him.
43:43
But I got to Al Qaida because he outshone me in aviation.
43:46
He could fly every airplane out there and I was just private pilot
43:49
and I worked in flight control.
43:50
But I'd do his paperwork for him when he'd have to go pick up airplanes out of
43:54
Iceland or wherever we picked them up.
43:56
I'd give him all his paperwork and all his credentials.
43:59
So I played an important part in getting those MD 80s back over here.
44:04
That's great.
44:05
Congratulations.
44:06
Thank you.
44:07
All right.
44:07
And on that, I would like to pass the mic over to David Lowe, ACO USA
44:11
president for some parting thoughts.
44:13
Andrea, thank you so much on behalf of the ACO and all the ACO USA
44:18
members that are watching today or will be watching the rerun.
44:21
It was so great to meet you up in Pontiac.
44:23
Yes.
44:24
Thank you so much for this evening.
44:25
Thank you for inviting me.
44:27
What an endeavor from us just thinking we wanted to finish in one piece.
44:32
Again, Andrea, thank you on behalf of the ACO for your contribution.
44:36
and we look forward to checking in soon.
44:38
Absolutely.
44:39
I'm your girl.
44:40
Thank you.
44:40
And on behalf of everyone here and those listening at home.
44:43
Thank you, Andrea, for sharing your stories with us from the grit and
44:47
determination it took to race as a privateer and making history as the first
44:51
American woman to ever podium at Lamar.
44:53
Andrea story is nothing short of legendary.
44:56
Andrea and her late husband David and David Murray proved that passion,
44:59
perseverance, and a little bit of Ford GT magic can take on even the toughest
45:04
competition in endurance racing.
45:06
Their journey wasn't just about speed, it was about breaking barriers, defying
45:10
expectations, and proving that anyone with enough heart can make their
45:14
mark on motorsports biggest stage.
45:16
And we hope you enjoyed this presentation and look forward
45:18
to more Evening with a Legend.
45:21
And with that, Andrea, I can't thank you enough again for coming on
45:23
the show and sharing your stories.
45:25
You are a legend.
45:26
You are an inspiration.
45:27
You completed a circle that started with Margie and has
45:30
yet to be broken at this point.
45:32
So thank you for what you've done.
45:33
It's absolutely amazing.
45:34
And keep up the good work.
45:35
I'm going to keep at it as long as I can.
45:49
This episode has been brought to you by the Automobile Club
45:51
of the West and the ACO USA.
45:54
From the awe inspiring speed demons that have graced the track to the courageous
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For over a century, the 24 Hours Le Mans has urged manufacturers to
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To learn more about or to become a member of the ACO USA, look no further than www.
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