#marioandretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American-Italian former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from 1968 to 1982. Andretti won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1978 with Lotus, and won 12 Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Andretti won four IndyCar National Championship titles and the Indianapolis 500 in 1969; in stock car racing, he won the Daytona 500 in 1967. In endurance racing, Andretti is a three-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Born in the Kingdom of Italy, Andretti's family emigrated to the United States when he was 15. Andretti won the Formula One World Championship in 1978, four IndyCar titles, including three under USAC sanctioning, and one in CART. He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. As of 2023, Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix is the most recent Formula One win by an American driver. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. Andretti is one of only three drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR. He has also won races in midget car racing and sprint car racing.

Andretti is the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times. With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.

In American popular culture, Andretti's name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early 20th century, as well as Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton in Europe.
Mario Gabriele Andretti was born on February 28, 1940 alongside his twin brother Aldo in Montona, Istria, Kingdom of Italy (present-day Motovun, Croatia). He is the son of Alvise Andretti, a farm administrator, and his wife, Rina. Istria was then part of the Kingdom of Italy, but it became part of Yugoslavia at the end of World War II as product of the Treaty of Paris in 1947 and later the Treaty of Osimo in 1975. In 1948, the Andretti family, like many other Istrian Italians at the time, left during the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus. They initially ended up in a refugee camp in Lucca, Italy.

Both of Mario Andretti's sons, Michael and Jeff, were auto racers. Michael followed in his father's footsteps by winning the IndyCar title, with Mario's nephew John Andretti joining the series in 1988. This meant that the Andrettis became the first family to have four relatives compete in the same series. With Mario sharing driving duties with sons Michael and Jeff at the 1991 Rolex 24 at Daytona, driving a Porsche 962, the Andretti clan finished 5th.

Mario's grandson Marco completed his first full season in the Indy Racing League (IRL) in 2006, driving for his father Michael's Andretti Green Racing team. Marco finished second in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 and so became the first third-generation recipient of the race's Rookie of the Year Award.

Andretti lives near his grandson Marco in Bushkill Township, Pennsylvania. His late wife Dee Ann was a native of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who taught Andretti English in 1961. They were married on November 25, 1961. She died on July 2, 2018, following a heart attack.

Andretti has remained active after his retirement from full-time racing, making numerous speaking engagements to audiences and serving as a spokesman for Texaco/Havoline, Firestone, and Magnaflow performance exhaust. He was occasionally a spokesman for the now defunct Champ Car World Series, though he frequently attended IRL races to watch Marco compete. Andretti is vice chairman of a winery named Andretti Winery in Napa Valley, California. He owns a chain of gasoline stations, a Toyota dealership in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, car washes, car-care products, go-kart tracks, a clothing line, video games and replica cars. He also test drives cars for Road & Track and Car and Driver magazines. In July 2006, Andretti took part in the Bullrun race across the United States. The first pitstop was at the Pocono Raceway in Andretti's home state of Pennsylvania with Gate No. 5 aptly named Andretti Road.

Since 2012, Andretti has been the official ambassador for the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and the United States Grand Prix promoting awareness of Formula 1 in the United States and all forms of motorsports at COTA.
In 2015, he received the America Award from the Italy–USA Foundation.

Source: Wikipedia

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