Andretti Receives Honor of
Lifetime
Mario Andretti Honored for Public Service, Racing Achievements
and Commitment to Heritage
ABC News
Mike Harris
Associated Press
Auto Racing Editor
October 25, 2006
NEW YORK- Mario Andretti just grins
when reminded that police officers all over
Andretti shakes his head and says,
"Hey, that even happened to me once. You can
imagine the look I got when I said, `Yeah, it's me.'"
Andretti didn't get that ticket.
Over the years,
the man who holds the unofficial title of best all-around racer ever has been
given many honors. None is more prized than the one he received Monday night at
the Columbus Citizens Foundation in
A beaming Andretti, standing before a small crowd of family and
friends, received the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica
Italiana in honor of his public service, achievements
as a race car driver and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.
The Commendatore,
as it is known, is the highest honor granted a civilian by the Italian government,
similar to being knighted in
Still, it was
more or less inevitable.
It's been 12
years since the most famous of the racing Andrettis
retired from competition. But the image of the skinny kid with a shock of
unruly black hair, a gleaming smile and hard, determined eyes remains just as
clear as ever to those who watched Mario race on circuits all over the globe.
He not only drove
just about anything with an engine, he won in whatever he raced. And he did it
during a time when deaths and serious injuries in racing were common.
Andretti has often said he used to
sit in the prerace meetings in his Formula One days
and wonder which of the drivers in the room would be dead by the end of the
day. Ronnie Peterson, his best friend, was killed in a crash in 1978 on the
same day that Andretti wrapped up the world
championship.
Yet Andretti never missed a race due to injury until the late
1980's, when he broke his collarbone in a crash at the Milwaukee Mile during a
CART event.
Despite
a career filled with disappointments particularly at the
He did win at
Indy in 1969, and he also added victories in NASCAR's Daytona 500, the 12 Hours
of Sebring sports car race three times and Monte Carlo, among many others. Andretti was a four-time
The diminutive Andretti won races in five decades,
was Driver of the Year three times and was named co-Driver of the 20th Century,
along with A.J. Foyt, by a panel chosen by The
Associated Press.
He came from
humble beginnings, born in 1940 in the town of
Over the years, Andretti represented his adopted country with a passion.
But he also remained very much an Italian something fellow Italians all over
the world have appreciated and admired.
The Commendatore
was presented by Antonio Bandini,
"Fantastic
achievements in sport are not the only reason we honor him with the most
important distinction of the
In the crowd on
Monday evening, eldest son Michael Andretti glowed
with pride.
"I remember
going to racetrack with dad when I was a kid and the respect that people gave
him," said Michael, who retired from full-time racing two years ago after
his own great career to concentrate on team ownership.
"I
never really thought about how good he was because he was doing all that stuff
before I was born and it just seemed natural," he added. "But, after
I started racing, I realized how incredible he was. During the years that we
raced against each other in CART, I saw up close just how good he really
was."
Marco, Mario's
19-year-old grandson who nearly won the Indy 500 in May but was overtaken on
the last lap to finish second, just ahead of his father, leans on his
grandfather as a racing mentor.
"I'm sure he
could still get in a car and be competitive," Marco said. "When I ask
him a question, he always knows the answer. He has been in every situation
possible on a racetrack and he is really good about being able to tell me what
should be happening out there. I would love to have the opportunity to race
against him.
"But,
mostly, I see the respect that people give him everywhere we go and I'm very
proud that he's my grandfather."
Mario proudly
displayed the green ribbon and medallion placed around his neck, a symbol of
his new stature, and thought about the other recipient of the Commendatore from
the racing world, the late Enzo Ferrari.
"Mr. Ferrari
was one of my heroes for most of my life," Andretti
said. "A lot of people called him Commendatore, but he always wanted to be
known as Engineer, which he was early in his career. Still, it's truly an honor
to be mentioned in the same breath with him."
Asked if there
was anything about his career or his life that he would change, the 66-year-old
Andretti, who keeps busy doing public speaking,
making commercials, running a business empire that includes the Andretti Winery in California and helping oversee Marco's
budding career in the IRL, just shook his head.
Gazing around the
room at the extended family and close friends on hand to see him honored, Andretti said, "What more could any man want?"