Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an
Italian-born
American former
racing driver, one of the most successful
Americans in the history of the sport.
[1] He is one of only two drivers to have won races in
Formula One,
IndyCar,
World Sportscar Championship, and
NASCAR (the other being
Dan Gurney). He also won races in
midget cars and
sprint cars.
During his career, Andretti won the
1978 Formula One World Championship, four
IndyCar titles (three under
USAC-sanctioning, one under
CART), and
IROC VI. 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. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the
1978 Dutch Grand Prix.
[2] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.
[3]
Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to
be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978,
and 1984).
[4] 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.
[4] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades
[5] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.
[4]
In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, as with
Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and
Stirling Moss in the
United Kingdom.

In 1986, he was inducted into the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 2000, the
Associated Press and RACER magazine named him Driver of the Century.
[53] He was the Driver of the Year (in the United States) for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984),
[54] and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades.
[16] Andretti was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992.
[3] He was inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001,
[3] the United States
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996,
[7] the
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America[55] in 1990, the Hoosier Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1970,
[7] the
Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005 and the
Diecast Hall of Fame in 2012.
On October 23, 2006, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the
Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.
[53] Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.
In 2007, Andretti was honored with the "Lombardi Award of
Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was
created to honor Coach
Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
From 2007 Mario Andretti is the "Mayor" (
Sindaco) of the "Free Commune of Motovun in Exile" (
Libero Comune di Montona in esilio), an association of Italian exiles from
Motovun.