Īndretti told author Paul Stenning: 'My father left everything behind, we left our home and took what we could carry and went further into Italy.

The Andretti family, like many other Istrian Italians, left in 1948, during the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus, ending up in a refugee camp in Lucca, Italy. Istria was then part of the Kingdom of Italy, but it became part of Yugoslavia at the end of World War II, as confirmed by the Treaty of Paris (1947) and Treaty of Osimo (1975). Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo were born to Alvise Andretti, a farm administrator, and his wife, Rina, in Montona, Kingdom of Italy, now Motovun, Croatia. In American popular culture, Andretti's name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.

With his final Ind圜ar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won Ind圜ar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five. 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. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). Īndretti had a long career in motorsports. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. As of 2021, Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix is the last Formula One win by an American driver. 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 Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. He has also won races in midget car racing and sprint car racing.ĭuring his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four Ind圜ar titles (three under USAC sanctioning, and one in CART), and IROC VI.

One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only three drivers to have won races in Formula One, Ind圜ar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR (the others being Dan Gurney and Juan Pablo Montoya). Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver.

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