Thread: Best F1 driver ever?
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Old 05-08-2011, 12:43 PM
Honus Honus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by t walgamuth View Post
I believe Andretti only drove about three full seasons in F1. It was stressful I imagine with all your family in the US. Mario was a very hard working driver who tested and tested and tested and made adjustments and got the Lotus's working very well.

He was also hands on to some extent. There is a picture of him in his Autobiography bending over one of his champ cars adjusting the front sway bar preload. He said it was difficult to explain to the mechanics how he wanted it so he did it himself.
He could also drive anything with wheels:
Quote:
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, sprint cars, and drag racing.
During his career, Andretti won four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), the 1978 Formula One World Championship, and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever 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 Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.[1] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.[2]
Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984).[3] He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.[3] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades[4] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.[3]...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Andretti
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