Among the most versatile and best known drivers in the
history of the sport, known worldwide for his feats both in the United States
and international motorsport, Mario Andretti celebrates his 78th birthday
today, February 28.
Andretti is one of the all-time greats, and looking at his accomplishments,
it’s hard to argue. An Indianapolis 500 victory. A Daytona 500 win. Formula 1
World Champion. Four-time IndyCar titlist. The list goes on and on, and doesn’t
stop anytime soon.
But his statistics aren’t limited to victories and
championships. He is the all-time IndyCar leader in races, pole positions,
second-place finishes, podium finishes, top-five finishes and laps led.
Statistically, he’s near the top of many other categories, like starts in the
Indianapolis 500, oldest driver to win a race, laps led in a season and highest
percentage of laps led in a season.
In Formula 1, he became the second and most recent champion
from the United States to win the World Championship, taking the crown in the
1978 season. In NASCAR, he won his only Cup Series race in the Daytona 500 in
1967, and alongside A.J. Foyt is the only driver to win both the Indianapolis
500 and Daytona 500.
Since it is Andretti’s 78th birthday, here is a look at 78 Andretti
facts, figures and statistics spanning a wide range of motorsports activity.
Included are accomplishments in sports cars, Silver Crown cars, sprint cars and
midgets because, yes, he won in all of those, too.
- Races: 407 (213 USAC/208 CART; some races were
co-sanctioned by both bodies)
- First Race:
Trenton 100; Trenton Speedway in Trenton, New Jersey; April 19, 1964 (finished
11th)
- 50th Race: Labatt
Indy Heat 1; Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada; August
6, 1967 (won)
- 100th Race: Tony
Bettenhausen 100; Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois; August
18, 1969 (won)
- 200th Race: True
Value 500; Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania; June 22, 1980 (finished
17th)
- 250th Race: Quinn’s
Cooler 300K; Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California; October 21, 1984
(finished second)
- 300th Race:
Indianapolis 500; Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana; May 29,
1988 (finished 20th)
- 400th Race: Molson
Indy Toronto; Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; July 17, 1994
(finished 4th; final career top-five finish))
- Last Race: Toyota
Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California; October 9,
1994 (finished 19th)
- Tracks with Most Races:
The Milwaukee Mile (36); Indianapolis Motor Speedway (29); Trenton Speedway
(26)
- Wins: 52 (second all-time) (33 in USAC/19 in CART)
- First Win: Hoosier
Grand Prix, Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Indiana; July 25, 1965 (80
laps) (marked first USAC National Championship race on a permanent road course)
- 25th Win: Nazareth
100, Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, Pennsylvania; July 12, 1969 (100 laps)
(this was on the dirt surface; he never won a race on the pavement surface)
- 50th Win: Checker
200, ISW Raceway (Phoenix) in Avondale, Arizona; April 10, 1988 (200 laps)
- Last Win: Valvoline
200, ISW Raceway (Phoenix) in Avondale, Arizona; April 4, 1993 (200 laps)
- Wins on Pavement
Oval: 24
- Wins on Dirt Oval:
5
- Wins on Road
Courses/Street Circuits: 22 (16 on permanent; 6 on temporary)
- Wins on Hill
Climbs: 1
- Tracks with Most
Wins: Trenton Speedway (7)
- Tracks with At
Least One Win: 26
- State with Most
Wins: New Jersey (8)
- Most Wins in a
Single Season: 9 (1969; third all-time)
- Consecutive Wins: 4
(tied for third all-time)
- Seasons With At
Least One Win: 16 (six consecutive seasons on two occasions)
- Indianapolis 500
Wins: 1
- Wins from Pole
Position: 24 (all-time leader)
- Pole Positions: 67 (36 USAC/29 CART; 18 different seasons
with one pole)
- First Pole: Langhorne
100 at Langhorne Speedway in Langhorne, Pennsylvania; June 20, 1965 (finished
second)
- Final Pole:
Michigan 500 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan; August
1, 1993 (finished second)
- Most Consecutive
Pole Positions: 7 (1965-1966; second all-time)
- Most Pole Positions, Single Season: 9 (1966;
tied for second all-time)
- Led at least one
lap in 60 of 67 races with a pole position
- 27 of 67 pole positions
came with Newman-Haas Racing, the most he achieved with one team
- Championships: 4 (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984)
- Etc.
- Laps Led: 7,595
(most all-time)
- Laps Led in a
Season: 1,142 (1966; second most all-time to Al Unser)
- Percentage of Laps
Led in a Season: 54.8 percent (1966; second most all-time to Al Unser)
- Second oldest
driver to win a race since 1946 (1993 Valvoline 200; 53 years, 1 month, 7 days)
- Second-Place Finishes:
56 (most all-time)
- Most Second-Place Finishes
in a Season: 11 (1968; most all-time)
- Podium/Top-3
Finishes: 144 (most all-time)
- Most Podium
Finishes in a Season: 16 (1968; most all-time)
- Top-Five Finishes:
194 (most all-time)
- Most Top-Five Finishes in a Season: 19
(1968; most all-time)
USAC Midgets
- Wins: 1 (Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan; July 8, 1966
[50 laps])
USAC Sprint Cars
- Wins: 9
- First Win: Salem
Speedway in Salem, Indiana; October 4, 1964 (100 laps)
- Last Win: Oswego
Speedway in Oswego, New York; July 16, 1967 (50 laps; swept a sprint car
doubleheader)
USAC Silver Crown
- Races: 11
- First Race: Tony
Bettenhausen 100; Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois; August
22, 1971 (100 laps; 13th)
- Last Race: Hoosier
Hundred; Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana; September 7, 1974
(100 laps; finished third)
- Wins: 5
- First Win: Tony
Bettenhausen 100; Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois; August
19, 1973 (100 laps)
- Last Win: Ted Horn
100; DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, Illinois; September 2, 1974 (100
laps)
USAC Stock Cars
- Wins: 1 (First/Last Win: Mosport Park in Bowmanville,
Ontario, Canada; July 29, 1967 [150 miles])
Formula 1
- Races: 128
- First Race: Italian
Grand Prix; Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy; September 8, 1968
(finished 21st)
- Last Race: U.S.
Las Vegas Grand Prix; Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada; September 25, 1982 (finished
19th)
- Championships: 1 (1978)
- Wins: 12
- First Win: South
African Grand Prix; Kyalami Circuit in Kyalami, South Africa; March 6, 1971 (79
laps)
- Final Win: Dutch
Grand Prix; Circuit Park Zandvoort in Zandvoort, Netherlands; August 27, 1978
(75 laps)
- Podiums: 19
- Pole Positions: 18
NASCAR
- Races: 14
- First Race: Motor
Trend 500, Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California; January 23,
1966 (finished 16th)
- Last Race: Motor Trend 500, Riverside International
Raceway in Riverside, California; February 1, 1969 (finished 18th)
- Wins: 1 (First/Last Win: Daytona 500, Daytona
International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida; February 26, 1967 [one of
three Daytona 500s in which Andretti competed])
24 Hours of Daytona
- Races: 8
- Wins: 1 overall (1972: Co-drove No. 2 Ferrari 312PB with
Jacky Ickx; race was shortened to six hours due to energy crisis; weekend
consisted of races totaling 24 hours)
24 Hours of Le Mans
- Races: 9
- Class Wins: 1 (Co-drove
No. 13 Courage C34 Porsche 935 with Bob Wollek and Eric Helary to win WSC class
and finished second overall)
IROC
- Races: 20
- Wins: 3
Other Notes of Interest
- Along with Jim Clark and Dan Gurney, only other driver to
win IndyCar and Formula 1 races in the same season. Andretti and Clark are the
only drivers to win IndyCar races and F1 titles in the same year (Clark in 1963
and 1965; Andretti in 1978).
- Only driver to win IndyCar races in four different
decades.
Sources:
- Wikipedia: Mario Andretti
- IndyCar Media Guide, 2014
- USAC Media Guide
- Dirt Road to a Silver Crown
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