With less than 48 hours to go, Mario gets a call from Urban – and reveals what happens next… This is a great story! For the 100th Indy 500 in 2016, singer/songwriter Keith Urban was lined up to take his place in the back seat. Photo by: Vision Sport Agency Mario’s favorite passenger
Since then, you always see Mario in the two-seater heading the pack before all the Ind圜ar race starts for real – and Honda backed his program for 15 years. The Ind圜ar title sponsor of the time then asked Mario if he’d like to symbolically ‘start the Indy 500’ and he loved the idea. Jeff Sinden and Joe Kennedy – who have worked in Ind圜ar for the likes of Hemelgarn Racing, Galles Racing and Team Cotter – had the idea for the two-seater, which began running in 2001.
Photo by: Art Fleischmann How it all started I’m fortunate that things are still good physically, I haven’t given anything up yet! I’m still slalom skiing and flying my ultralights.”įor my money, Mario is the fastest – and coolest – 81-year-old on the planet! The cruise down the runway is another highlight, the ‘helmet suck’ indicating that we’re somewhere north of 150mph before Mario stands on the impressive brakes, and our 1.8-mile joyride is over all too soon.Īfterwards he says: “For me, it’s just a lot of fun to drive. Mario drives hard into the couple of fast, sweeping bends – the left-hander on Bayshore Drive and the right/left as we approach the Albert Whitted Airport, just breathing off the throttle to let the car settle before getting hard on the gas again. The vision is really good with just a pyramid-style rollhoop in front of me. Through the twisty section, where the corners arrive much quicker than you’d imagine, I can see over Mario’s shoulder at his elegantly smooth steering inputs despite the bumpiness of the track. As you’d expect, the acceleration matches the furious noise that’s punching me in the back, and we hit the streets of St Pete for a whirlwind lap. Starter engaged, Mario hits the ignition and lights up the rears. I asked the guy who was strapping me in to pinch me, but he just laughed.Ĭharles Bradley, Editor in two-seater Ind圜ar with Mario Andretti
Climbing in behind that achingly cool red-on-silver helmet design, it truly dawned on me that it was for real, when I looked into the wing mirror and saw those Andretti eyes staring back. I jumped into the ‘fastest seat in sports’ thanks to Andretti Autosport and the new sponsor for the program, Ruoff Mortgage.
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