Dec 18, 2006

It's in the Genes

Three years ago, when I had the chance to talk with racing legend Mario Andretti, he was beaming about his grandson, Marco. Just wait, Mario told me, this kid is really going to be something.  At that time, Marco was kicking tail and taking names on the kart circuit, but his progress over a few short years has been mind-boggling even for an Andretti. In May he finished second in the Indianapolis 500 and was named the Indy Racing League rookie of the year.  And now, as the year comes to a close, the 19-year-old sensation has been tapped for a test in a Honda Formula One car on the track in Jerez, Spain.

To say Marco's progress has been phenomenal would be understating the case; it is now apparent why his grandfather, Mario, had that gleam in his eye when he talked about his grandson on that cold day we talked back in February 2004. Of course, Marco has a virtually unmatched racing lineage. His grandfather, of course, literally symbolizes "race driver" for a whole generation of racing fans, myself included. One of the greatest open-wheel racers of all time, he won the 1969 Indianapolis 500, dominated Indy-style racing over the course of two generations and was Formula One World Driving Champion in 1978. In all, he won 12 Grands Prix between 1971 and 1978.

Marco's father, Michael Andretti, also had an extremely distinguished career as a race driver. After his father's reign as the king of Indy-style racing, Michael quickly took over that crown, becoming the dominant CART circuit driver of his era. He, too, raced in Formula One, but his tenure, in 1993, wasn't as successful as his father's. Many outside observers thought he was treated unfairly in his short stint in F1, becoming the fall guy for the McLaren team's limitations and failures that season. After returning to CART racing, he was a perennial front-of-the-pack finisher for more than a decade.

Now, Michael runs the Andretti Green Racing Team that employs Marco as a driver, and that won't change in 2007. But it is exhilarating to see another Andretti climb into an F1 cockpit.  Godspeed, Marco!