Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART championship, and amassed 42 race victories, the most in the CART era and fifth-most all time. Since his retirement, Andretti has owned Andretti Autosport, which has won four IndyCar Series championships and five Indianapolis 500 races. He is the son of Mario Andretti, a multi-time champion, and is the father of IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti.
Early life and education Andretti was born on October 5, 1962, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania to race car driver Mario Andretti, a four-time IndyCar champion and one-time Formula One champion and his wife, Dee Ann (née Hoch). His brother Jeff Andretti competed in IndyCar. His uncle, Aldo Andretti, was an open wheel racer until an accident ended his racing career. Aldo's son John Andretti raced in IndyCar before he became a NASCAR regular. He returned to IndyCar in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, where he raced in the Indy 500. Aldo's other son, Adam, is also a racing driver. In 2006 Michael's eldest son, Marco, made his debut in the IndyCar Series. The Andretti family became the first family to have five members (Michael, Mario, Marco, Jeff, and John) compete in the same series (CART/Champ Car/IndyCar).
Andretti graduated from Nazareth Area High School in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and then attended Northampton Community College in Bethlehem.
Career Following a successful career racing karts, winning fifty of his 75 races over eight years, Andretti moved into racing cars. He obtained his SCCA National License in 1980, then won six races to claim the SCCA's Northeast Division Formula Ford championship in 1981. He also drove in a number of Formula Vee races in regional SCCA events.
In 1982, Andretti won six of the eleven races on his way to winning the Robert Bosch US Formula Super Vee Championship. He also won the opening race of the 1983 Super Vee season before he moved up to drive in Formula Atlantic, and won his second title by winning the FIA Formula Mondial North American Cup the following season. Although he made his international sports car debut at the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans, he was denied the opportunity to race, as the Mirage M12 he had chosen to race with his father was disqualified eighty minutes before the race was due to start. The father and son partnership returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe the following year, and were joined by Philippe Alliot in the Porsche Kremer Racing's Porsche 956, taking third place. Andretti also raced alongside his father in the Riverside 6 Hours where they were joined by A. J. Foyt and Preston Henn, but the Porsche 935 failed to finish. The father and son duo paired up again the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona, this time in a full-works Porsche 962, which made its race debut. They took pole position, but during the race, the engine broke.Martin Cotton, "Directory of World Sportscars GROUP C and IMSA Cars from 1982" (Aston Publications, , 1988)
CART
Andretti made his CART debut in 1983, racing for the Kraco Enterprises team. He re-signed for Kraco for the 1984 season, where he managed five third-place finishes and ended his rookie season in seventh overall. In the Indianapolis 500, he finished fifth and shared the Rookie of the Year award with Roberto Guerrero. He went on to win his first IndyCar race in 1986 in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The season became a two-man battle for the championship title, between Andretti and Bobby Rahal. Andretti would take the points lead with his victory on the Milwaukee Mile. A week later, on Father's Day, Andretti was leading on the final lap at Portland, when his March-Cosworth 86C ran out of fuel, allowing his father Mario to beat him by just 0.07 seconds. It was one of the most shocking finishes in the history of IndyCar, and the closest finish until 1997. With Rahal continuing to win races, Andretti's consistent finishing only allowed Rahal a nine-point lead in the standing with two races remaining. Andretti won a key victory in at Phoenix. Going into the season finale at Tamiami Park, Andretti was just three points behind Rahal, but neither driver were a factor in the race, with Andretti retiring with a broken halfshaft.
In a one-off race with Alfa Corse, Andretti took part in the inaugural World Touring Car race, 500 km di Monza. Paired with Alessandro Nannini, they finished sixteenth overall, second in class. Back in CART, he continued with Kraco in 1987, and like 1986, the championship was between Andretti and Rahal. Andretti would win the 1987 Marlboro 500, drawing within nine points of Rahal. With him winning in dominating fashion at Nazareth Speedway, his championship hopes remained alive, although Rahal clinched the championship at the next race. Andretti would also win the season finale, Tamiami Park. He would finish runner-up for the second season in a row. Back in June 1987, Andretti joined Hendrick Motorsport to race a Chevrolet Corvette GTP in the Mid-Ohio 500 km, this time joined by his cousin, John Andretti, where they finished eleventh. Following Porsche's defeat in the 1988 Daytona 24 Hours, Porsche entered a 962C at Le Mans for Michael, Mario, and John. They were competitive in the first half of the race until the Andretti family's car needed minor repairs before lapsing on to five cylinders, finishing sixth overall. Michael and Mario join Busby Racing for 1989 Daytona 24 Hours, only for their 962 to retire with brakes problems.
The 1988 CART season was a lean year for Andretti. He remained with Kraco and won only a single race, the Marlboro Challenge, for which no championship points were awarded. For the 1989 season, Andretti signed with Newman/Haas Racing, partnering him with his father. He won two races that season, Molson Indy Toronto and the 1989 Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway, placing third in points. For 1990, Al Unser Jr. would become champion, Andretti was his nearest competitor, winning five races and four poles. In the second-to-last race of the season at Nazareth, Unser crashed out, giving Andretti a huge opportunity to close the gap. Andretti managed only a sixth-place finish, and could not capitalize on Unser's misfortune. Unser left Nazareth with a 27-point lead, enough to clinch the championship. Andretti would finish runner-up once again. For the 1991 24 Hours of Daytona, Andretti was joined by his brother, Jeff Andretti. Piloting a Jochen Dauer Racing entered Porsche 962, they were classified fifth overall, despite not finishing the race.
Andretti was the drivers' champion of the 1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. He won a total eight of seventeen races, eight poles and led more than half of the laps during the season, but Rahal still took the championship battle down to the final race of the season. Andretti's season started slowly, recording DNFs in the opening two events, then the heartbreaking second place at the Indy 500. He recovered from this, winning four of the last five races of the season and with Rahal retiring during the title decider at Laguna Seca, he cruised to the title. The day before, he won the non-championship, Marlboro Challenge for a second time.
Remaining with Newman/Haas for 1992, Andretti's season started slowly, but then won three races out of four during the mid-season. Despite taking two more wins later in the year, including the season finale at Laguna Seca, Rahal beat him again to the title by just four points. He would leave for Formula One at the end of the year, with his seat going to the reigning Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell, who would win the 1993 CART title in his rookie season. For four seasons between 1989 and 1992, Andretti had his father as his teammate at Newman/Haas. Together, they established a number of firsts, including the first father-son front row, for the 1986 Dana 200 for Special Olympics at Phoenix, and the first of 15 father-son podiums in the 1984 Cribari Wines 300K at Laguna Seca, with the last coming nearly a decade later in the 1992 Daikyo IndyCar Grand Prix, around the street of Surfers Paradise.
Racing record at Indianapolis
Andretti holds the record for most laps led in the Indy 500 without having achieved a victory. The Andretti family's bad luck at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known as the Andretti curse. He shared Rookie of the Year honours with Guerrero in 1984, when he finished fifth. In 1991, he led with 12 laps remaining, but finished second to Rick Mears after battling the multiple Indy 500 winner. The pair of them traded late-lap outside passes for the lead in Turn One. In 1992, he dominated the race, leading four-fifths of the laps, but, with 11 laps remaining after holding a two-lap lead, his fuel pump failed, and his car coasted to a stop. He was classified in 13th place. He also dropped out while leading the Indy 500 in 1989, 1995 and 2003.
Formula One
Andretti's first prospects for a Formula One drive came about in mid-. The American owned and sponsored, but English based, Haas Lola team, competing in their first (and only) full season of F1, needed a driver for the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix as one of their regular drivers, Frenchman Patrick Tambay, had a broken foot from the previous race in Canada and could not drive. Team owner Carl Haas had originally wanted his CART driver and World Drivers' Champion Mario Andretti to drive in Detroit in Tambay's place. However, Mario was not interested in a return to F1, but instead pushed for his son Michael to get the drive, to which Haas agreed. Unfortunately however, at the time the sports governing body FISA somewhat controversially refused to grant the younger Andretti the Super Licence required to drive in Formula One. As a result, the drive went to the only other American in Formula One during the 1980s, Eddie Cheever who was spending 1986 driving Jaguar sportscars in the World Sports Prototype Championship.
For the 1993 season, Andretti signed for Marlboro McLaren to partner with the triple World Drivers' Champion Ayrton Senna in their Ford HBD V8-powered MP4/8. He signed during the summer of 1992 and the deal was announced at Monza over the weekend of the 1992 Italian Grand Prix. Ron Dennis, McLaren's team principal, said: "I think he can win Grands Prix and become the World Champion. It's not a question of which country you come from. It's how you demonstrate your desire to win." There were practical factors that mitigated against Andretti being able to show competitive form in his debut season in Formula One. The rule changes introduced that season destroyed his hopes of unrestricted laps in free practice during which he could learn the tracks, as most were unfamiliar to him. From the start of 1993, just 23 laps were allowed in the morning's untimed session and only twelve in the qualifying session.