RELATIVE SPEED - Cover story: Team Andretti
It’s May in Indianapolis, and that means it’s Andretti time. When Michael and Marco Andretti—son and grandson of Mario—take the green flag for the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500, it will be time to write yet another page in the family annals of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Michael, the son of racing legend Mario Andretti, and Michael’s son, Marco, repeat Andretti Indy 500 history this year. In 1984, then 21-year-old Michael Andretti drove his first Indy 500 in a field that included his world-renowned father, the 1969 Indianapolis 500 champion. Mario would go on to compete wheel-to-wheel with Michael in the open-wheel extravaganza for 10 years.
After racing in the 2003 Indy 500 for the Andretti Green Racing team, Michael Andretti left a driving career that included the most dominant season in the CART series history. But, after a three-year self-imposed retirement, he announced he would return to race at Indy. It also was revealed that Marco would become an Indy car rookie, driving for his father’s AGR team.
For his part, 1991 CART series champion Michael goes for the Indy win that’s eluded him 14 times. Revved to drive again, Michael figures his cup runneth over with Marco racing alongside. “I remember how excited Dad was when we first raced in an Indy 500,” Michael says. “Now to do it with Marco is incredible.”
Once the die was cast for his return, Michael began an intense workout regimen to prepare for the rigors of the 500. A strict diet and exercise program, and test sessions in his AGR Honda-powered Dallara renewed Michael’s vigor and shook off the cobwebs. “I’m having fun again,” he says.
For 43-year-old Michael, racing once again in the biggest motorsports event in the world means one thing. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could win,” insists Michael, who holds the record for an active driver leading the most laps at the Brickyard without winning. “For me, it’s unfinished business.”
Observers believe Michael was at the top of his game when he left driving to manage his fledgling team. But deep down, the Indy 500 never left his soul. “I had to do it,” he says. “I decided that if I was ever going to win Indy, I had to do it now.”
Marco, who began his racing career in the World Karting Association at age 10, is impressed with his dad’s dedication to the Indy 500 this year. “Right away he started eating right and getting in shape,” says Marco of his father. “He’s giving it all he has. I honestly feel that after all these years, he’ll win the race.”
Michael’s famous father, Mario Andretti, retired at age 54. Mario holds four Indy car championships, a World Formula One title, 52 Indy car wins and a Daytona 500 NASCAR title to go with his 1969 Indy crown.
In addition to Michael, other family members took to the track. Brother Jeff Andretti was an Indy 500 rookie of the year himself. Cousin John Andretti also became an Indy car and NASCAR driver.
Michael was six when his father won the Indianapolis 500. “I think when Dad won Indy, I realized my name was special,” Michael says. “They had a parade in our town [Nazareth, Pa] and named our street [Victory Lane]. I remember we got a lot of attention.”
After he won the ’69 Indy 500, Mario would race on to earn Driver of the Century honors for his achievements. He remains one of the most recognized sports figures in the world and still receives loads of fan mail each year. But despite many flirtations with winning at Indy again, he never repeated.
Victory at Indy has also eluded Michael, who once was less than 25 miles from the finish with a big lead when his car faltered. Bad fortune for both Mario and Michael over the years led to a popular myth about a kind of Andretti curse. “Every year, we would come home from Indy on the plane and talk about why we didn’t win,” Marco says. “My grandfather and father have had more than their share of bad luck there—but I don’t believe in curses.”
While Mario Andretti has indelible status in the sport of racing, the name Michael Andretti is nearly as celebrated. That leaves Marco, 19, needing to learn his craft as an Indy rookie while facing high expectations and media attention due to his heritage.
“I understand the tradition of our family at Indy,” Marco says. “And I see it now as my turn.”
Both Michael and Marco had early expectations of a racing career. “From day one when I was little and people asked me what I wanted to be, I told them a race car driver,” Michael says.
And as Marco puts it: “For every day that I can remember, I knew about the Andretti thing. I always knew my grandfather and my father were special. I understand that everyone wants to talk to me about living up to them, but I have to do my own thing.”
Michael and Marco also have a shared experience of growing up in a household with a celebrity and sports idol. From the time they were infants, Michael and Marco traveled with their families to Indianapolis for the month of May.
As a youngster, with his father one of the big stars at Indy, Michael’s challenge was to sneak into the garage area and the pits. “You had to be 18,” he says. “We knew all the holes in the fence to get into the garage, but security was tough getting into the pits—we never made it.”
Ditto for Marco. “I went there every year since I was born, every May of my life,” he says. “The only trouble was I wanted to get into the garage area and the pits, but I wasn’t old enough.”
Ironically, Marco Andretti’s first venture into the Indy pits during a race was when he was driving in the IRL Pro Series event on the
2.5-mile course the day before the Indy 500 last year.
After a season competing in the IRL Pro Series, Marco got on the Andretti Green team when 2005 Indianapolis 500 winner and series champion Dan Wheldon left AGR for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Although Marco’s speedy rise to the IRL might seem a touch unorthodox, father definitely knows best. “Marco is icing on the cake. He wouldn’t be in the car if we didn’t think he was ready,” says Michael, who holds 42 career Indy car victories and has led 426 Indy 500 laps.
“I’m thrilled like you can’t believe the way things worked out,” Michael adds. “It’s just so special to be at the greatest place to race in the world, Indy for the 500, and know Marco is there too.”
Marco, who made his Indy-style open-wheel debut in the season opener in March at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, is aware that he drives in the shadow of two immortals. But his father has confidence in him. “He’s very good. He’s way beyond what I was when I started,” says Michael. And Marco has indeed proved himself by winning three national racing titles in 2004 alone.
With such a legacy behind it, Andretti Green has a formidable five-car phalanx in this year’s Indy 500. Along with the Andrettis, the team includes former IRL champion Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta. Concentrating on the owner’s end of the business with AGR partners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree, Michael forged an instant success on the IRL scene. In the very first year in the IRL for all members of the team, Kanaan was a title contender down to the last race.
With two championships in a row and the Indianapolis 500 victory in hand, Andretti Green is one of the super teams of the IRL. Last year, Wheldon, Kanaan, Franchitti and Herta combined to win 11 of the 17 races.
“Marco is the team’s future,” says Michael Andretti. “But we’ve got the advantage that we have so much going for us now that he has time to grow.” Built on a legacy of victory, this father-son team is sure to be a favorite with thousands of fans at the 2006 Indy 500.
Words by Chuck Givler & photography by seth kushner