Mario and his twin brother, Aldo, were born in Montona, Italy, on February 28, 1940.
Mario's passion for racing was sparked by a friendship of two garage owners, where he worked parking cars.
The Andretti brothers considered starting their careers racing motorcycles because it would be cheaper than racing cars.
Mario's first race car was bought out of a junkyard, a 1948 Hudson straight from the scrap heap.
In 1960, Mario won the first race in his third stock car, even though the brakes failed halfway through the race.
At the end of 1960 , Mario borrowed a race car. He was told that he had to win the heat to earn enough prize money to pay for fuel for the race. Mario crashed the car.
Mario Andretti, the only driver to be named Driver of the Year in three decades, is also the only driver to win the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship.
When arriving in America Mario's First impression was: everyone had a car.
In 1965, on his first Indy 500 race, Mario got the track's Rookie of the Year award.
In 1966, Mario drove fourteen different cars in 51 races. He won 14 of those races driving 4 different cars.
During a tire test on an oval track in 1969, slightly smaller tires were accidentally used on one side of the car. The result was noticeably faster lap times.
The last F1 race of Mario's career was in the parking lot tracks of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
In hopes of finding an advantage, Mario and Aldo went with  a '48 Hudson for their first car instead of the '37 Ford everyone else was driving.
"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough" - Mario Andretti.
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