Indy & Andretti – Act III
The Andretti brain trust – father Mario and son Michael – stood in the pits at Sebring International Raceway earlier this week and marveled at how quickly the young driver on the track was picking up the subtle nuances of driving an IndyCar.
Eighteen-year-old Marco Andretti apparently is a quick study – and he had better be. Come March, Michael’s son will be racing against the big boys in the Indy Racing League.
The unexpected opportunity for the youngster to move up to a ride with the elite Andretti Green Racing team – winner of the last two IRL IndyCar Series championships with Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon – came when Wheldon left over the winter to join Chip Ganassi’s team.
Marco split last season between the IRL’s developmental Infiniti Pro Series – winning three of six races – and the low-level Star Mazda Series. Suddenly, he finds himself in the seat Wheldon used to win an IRL single-season record six races, including the Indianapolis 500.
That might be an overwhelming challenge for most youngsters, but Marco Andretti was born to be a racer.
Grandpa Mario is considered one of the greatest and most versatile drivers of all time, winning at Indy in 1969, as well as taking the 1967 Daytona 500 and capturing the 1978 Formula One championship.
Michael walked away from Indianapolis in 2003 without a win at the classic track, but as one of America’s top open-wheel drivers still at the top of his game. His 42 career victories rank among the career best, and he has led more laps than any other non-winner at Indianapolis, 426 in 14 starts.
He seemed content to be a team owner the past two years, helping partners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree turn AGR into a powerhouse. With Wheldon, Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta in the team’s four cars in 2005, AGR won 11 of 17 races.
Into that high-powered arena steps the soft-spoken Marco Andretti.
Although his grandpa argued with Michael and Marco long and hard that the youngster should head to Europe to gain some experience, the opportunity to move up to his father’s team was too good to pass up.
He had driven an IndyCar before, turning 40 laps on the 2-mile oval at Michigan International Speedway last summer. But, working at Sebring with the team that will field his Honda-powered Dallara at the season-opener March 26 in Homestead, Fla., there was a lot more to prove.
Two days and 160 laps on the tough Sebring circuit in Central Florida was enough to convince Mario the kid had made the right decision.
“I was just telling Mike that this pretty much proves that the decision was correct because of what we see,” the proud grandfather said. “He was certainly not intimidated by the car. Just the opposite. And he’s not overconfident, he’s just plain confident that he’s very much in control of the thing.
“He’s thinking all the time,” Mario noted. “Normally, a first test for a rookie, it’s a matter of getting the thoughts organized. All they do is drive and not worry about any feedback.
“After his third run, we were doing some honest-to-goodness testing. That shows that he’s not overwhelmed about his driving, that he’s thinking ahead and that he’s in his element.”
Michael, who will come out of retirement at the age of 43 long enough to race with his son at Indy in May in a fifth AGR entry, was just as impressed by Marco’s runs at Sebring.
“He was on pace,” Marco’s father said. “He was very fast and we got very good feedback and he held up very well physically and did very well on his practice pit stops. So, to be honest with you, I don’t think we could have been any happier. Everybody on the team was impressed with him.”
Marco walked away from the Sebring test on a high.
“Now I have all the confidence in the world in these guys and in myself,” the youngster said. “I think they gained confidence in me, too. It was a matter of unknowns, and we answered all of our questions by just driving the car.”
Marco understands the opportunity he is getting.
“I think I have a better shot than any other rookie does because, if you just look at this team and their record in the last couple of years, it’s pretty unbelievable,” he said. “Also, having my three veteran teammates to work with me, it’s a great feeling.”
Mario and Michael drove against each other and were even teammates for several years. Mario also got to race against younger son Jeff and nephew John Andretti.
Getting the chance to race against his son is the main reason Michael is getting back in the cockpit this year.
“My initial reason to come back was to race with Marco,” he said. “I didn’t think this opportunity would come when I’d feel like I could still be competitive. I thought it would come in another year or two.
“But Marco’s progress has been way quicker than we had thought. So the opportunity came to put him in the car and then it was like, ‘Well, if I don’t take this opportunity, I think I’d regret it the rest of my life.’
“But, the moment that I committed to it, I realized it was another chance to win (at Indy). Once I realized I wanted to do it, then my competitive juices came out and I got excited. It’s not that I missed driving. It’s more that the opportunity is there to share something with my team and with my son.”
Mario, who retired following the 1994 season, could only laugh when asked if he’d like to join the other two on the track at Indy, where he and his family have had so much ill luck and been so much a part of its history.
“I’ll tell you, I’d give my right arm to be able to do that, to race with Marco and Michael, but my racing days are over,” he said. “But I’m going to be there every time Marco is on the track.
“Of all places, I think I can be of more help to Marco at Indy than anywhere else because you have a lot of time there and we have a lot of history there. I definitely want to be there for him.”