The Dale Jr. Download - Mario Andretti: Chapter 2 - Entering The World of F1

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

In the second chapter of Next Level, Mario Andretti, and host Andrew Kurland discuss his entry into the F1 world. He shares what it was like amidst the protest that kept him out of his debut race in Monza, starting on the pole in his first start at Watkins Glen, and the highs & lows of his 1978 World Championship season.Andretti and Kurland also discuss the dangers of racing, where Mario describes the agony of losing several close friends to the sport. He also touches on the financial aspect of motorsports and explains the difficult times he and his family endured as he tried to make a name for himself in the sport.Watch the Next Level video series on Youtube: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFUhDMhE1U5TcDZEPO6-I3uE8VnVV_YXm Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How tough was that to navigate this thing that's supposed to be so great and then losing a close teammate? You can only imagine, you know, the agony. The teacher said, he was asking all the kids what their dads did for a living. And it comes to Michael, it says, my dad goes to the airport and makes bread. And that's what you thought you did. That's what you thought I did. Mario Andretti is the 1978 Formula One world champion in his career. He is 12 wins, 19 podiums, 18 polls, and all that in 128 starts.

Today, we talk all about Mario Andretti and Formula One. How did he get into it? Who are the right people to talk to to get those opportunities? Being able to afford it, I feel like that is something that is so talked to. about today in motorsports is the financial aspect. Well, Mario Andretti had to deal with that himself. We talk dangers and he really opens up about losing people that were close to him. You know, what if it's him himself who gets caught up in a bad accident and maybe won't get out of it? He shares those thoughts about navigating the world of the dangers of motorsports.

We learn more about Mario's family, his wife, Deanne, the relationship that they had. He also shares a very funny story about one of his sons at Career Day. You might have heard a little bit of it in the teaser. It's one of my favorite stories that he shares. This in particular, I'm very excited for everyone to be able to listen to. So enough of me rambling about it. Here's more of my conversation with Mario Andretti. You mentioned being pushed away in a dirt car and you're already thinking about F1. Was that the dream since you first laid eyes on it? Like, When did that become ingrained in your mind like, I'm going to be an F1? Well, you have to go back.

I mean, how, it's Formula One that I was, you know, Aldo and I were gravitated to the sport because that's where we were exposed. Yeah. With, you know, at the young age, during our teenage years in Italy. And coming to America, obviously, you had to, you know, once I got into racing, once you get to the top level, Formula One was in my head. I said, hopefully, God willing, some, you know, someday I'll have the opportunity. And, listen to this, in 1965, I was, I finished third here, and I began, it was rookie of the year. And throughout the month, I really tried to befriend Jim Clark and Colin Chapman.

Yeah. And, you know, there was a lot of conversation and so forth. and so I have some nice photos, you know, together. And so at the banquet, you know, Jim Clark won. I finished third. So at the banquet, when we were saying our goodbyes, I said to Colin Chapman, I said, Colin, someday I'd like to do Formula One.

You said, Mario, when you think you're ready, you call me, and I'll have a car for you. Can you imagine what those words meant? And so again, so I said, now, now I've got to start road racing. And can you imagine like in 63, two years before, there was only one road race amidst we ran Limberra, Connecticut. And I won it. And then in 65, I lobbied like crazy, you know, to USAC, you know,

to, you know, to expand the series, you know, to be as versatile as possible because we had, you know, we had part of the championship was, of course, all the ovals, but then also was the dirt races, you know? So, and they had one road race, which was here in, you know, near Indianapolis at Racewick Park.

Yep. And they had one road race, and I won that. You know, so then they started, in the Indy car, they started, you know, we started going to Canada, you know, to Mossport, the San Juvite. We started going to Riverside and so all of a sudden, you know, it was much more part of that. And that's when, you know, Dan Gurney actually used to do a lot of these road races in, you know, on Indy cars because he was doing indie also, you know, sporadically. And so, and then I, you know, I was able to join the Lamont program for Ford, which was an incredible amount of testing being done there. And I said, I'm available for all of it, you know. And I befriended, we became very good friends with Bruce McLaren.

And he and I, obviously, after day of testing, we used to spend time and go to dinner and talk. and I used to, you know, just kind of going to his brain, you know, and he was very technical driver, so I felt that I learned quite a bit from him. I think I had the high-speed stuff, you know, pretty well, you know, okay, but I just needed all the healing, all the break, you know, the approach for the hairpins and all that sort of thing. And he thought me a lot of that. And, you know, we won Siebering together in 67.

And then in 68, I called Colin Chapman. And sure enough, I said, I'd like to do the last two races of the season. And he said, right, I'll have a car for you. So the rest of less for races was Monza and Watkins Glen. And so I said, great, Monza, you know. And so obviously we were going to do a test. We did that a week before the race. And it went really well.

You know, the comparison I had at that time was an indie car, which, you know, obviously much heavier car and the Formula One car felt so nimble, so responsive. I felt so good in it. And I set a good time in Monza. In fact, that was quicker than Chris Heyman had been with a Ferrari four days earlier. But there was a glitch here. To race at Monza, we had to come back here and race at the Hoosier 100 on the dirt because I was going for the championship.

And so was Bobby Anser. Bobby Onsen, yep. And so I got Bobby Answer a ride in a BRM so he could drive a Monza so we could do slip streaming because in those days every single time you were on the track for practice, the time counted for qualifying by the way. Oh. So we were able to put in a qualifying time on the first practice of the Friday and then we had a plane at 240 to come to the States and race Saturday and then go back to race in

Italy on Sunday. And we had an agreement with the track promoter, you know, Bacchigalupi, and also the FIA arm in Italy, Count Lorani, that they would waive the 24-hour rule because, you know, USAC, you know, like, indeed, they were part of the FIA, you know, part of FIA, so they had adhere to the rule, which was a 24-hour rule. You could not race within 24 hours, you know, in any major event, so to speak. So they were going to waive that, and we did that. Bobby and I, we qualified. And in fact, it was quite a bit quicker, you know, to that, but nobody's really going for it, you know, the first practice. But nevertheless, we come back. In fact, the finish second to FOIA, here to O'S100, and we go back.

And my car was seventh on the grid, even with the time that I started in the first practice. And there was a protest. And to this day, I don't know exactly, but I think it was Ferrari that protested because, you know, they prevail. And the only one that could, there was no one that could speak Italian at the protest. Because, and so Colin Chapman, you know, I was there, and he said, well, cannot drive. And so we didn't, we didn't get to start that race. And but the first start, then it was the Watkins Glen. And I put the car on pole there.

And I was surprised myself, like, but you can't believe the feeling that I had at that point. Who was next to me? It was Jackie Stewart, world champion, you know. So, you know, to have. those moments you know in your career I mean you can just you can't believe you can you know my taking it for granted I mean I'm so fortunate so blessed you know to have had those opportunities I want to unpack those two starts or the really the one start but the attempt at Monza I heard there's a story where you

and Bobby were stopped by security going into the track yes What was the story? We didn't have our credentials with us, you know, even though a mechanic picked us up, the airport. And in fact, we had to pluck him out of the seat because he wasn't fast enough. Bobby plucked him out of the seat for me to drive. So we get to that. And there was, and the carabini, which is the military, actually, were the one that you had to go through there. you have to have credentials.

And I go there and I say nothing. And Bobby said, don't go, don't go. I said the guy's got his hand on his gun. Oh, my God. So I took a fortune. I could speak Italian, you know, and, but they, you know, they got us, but they, you know, at all. They didn't put us in jail.

But he gunned it, right? But he gunned it, yeah. That had to be a stressful start. the day. Nothing new. Nothing new. Is that pretty typical then? Oh man. We had moments like that. Yeah. How was it traveling back and forth? Like did you get jet lagged? Like the time zones throw you off? Having to do this? You know the good thing for me, I think I'm always been a good traveler because I could sleep on the plane and so forth. And you know, make the best of it. You know, what else? You have no other choice, you know. But, and, you know, you know, and, you know,

First class, or at least, you know, you had, you know, decent seat and so forth. But, yeah, I mean, I remember that when we left after the Hoosje, 100, you know, we had to be on the plane. And we, I don't remember this clear. I think that we borrowed, I think, a leer from Roger Penske. I'm not 100% sure, but I know we did something like that. to get us to Boston. Because Boston had a TWA flight that time, at 8 o'clock at night to go to Milan.

And that's what we did, that's what we took. But we were there, you know. You mentioned putting the car on pole at Watkins Glen, what a feeling that felt like, how did the first F1 start go? Well, you know, obviously it was my first start ever. And Jackie beat me into the first corner, you know, which was fine, which was perfect for me because I wanted to just have a feel of what the pace was going to be and so forth.

And things, you know, were going okay. But I didn't have, unfortunately, there's a third car. I didn't have the best engine. I had, and the clutch, you know, started going, you know, early in the race. I was running second, you know, to him. But, and I dropped out, you know, clutch slipping. So that was it. After that, what's the future for F1 like for you?

Did you know there was something down the line? What were the conversations like? Well, yes. I mean, Colin, you know, he's, we bonded, you know, to some degree. And, and I did a couple of. races the following year, you know, and this South Africa, I remember, I hadn't finished one yet. And then I did the Nureberg ring with a four-wheel drive, which was a takeoff from the Indy four-wheel drive car I had in 69. And that car was very fragile. And I remember at the start

of the race in Nurebergh Green when we come over, you know, the Fluke Plaza, which is called the airport when the car just goes all four wheels after the ground when it landed left front wheel just snapped right off you know the hub and then I didn't crash pull over the side you know but and actually you know I was fast enough that I think Colin was impressed you know that and he offered me a ride I couldn't afford it financially I just couldn't afford to do Formula One at the time because you know involved you you know, with this, with my contracts, with Firestone,

and what I had going here, and things were going quite well for me. I just couldn't afford to do it. But I want to keep my hand in it. Yeah. And then, you know, I was driving sports cars. Started driving some sports cars for Ferrari. And then Ferrari, you know, I talked them into giving me a ride in South Africa.

in 1971. I, to get ahead that, in 1970, once I was involved with the STP, you know, with the Andingradale, he had,

it was a heavy sponsorship with the March team. And so we had our own car. So in 1970, I drove, you know, quite a few of the races. The best finish was a third at Spain.

And, but we had sporadic races. You know, one race in Austria, got upside down. I had throttle stock, went over the wheel of Peter Rodriguez car. And so it was kind of a short season there. But then, you know, with my association with Ferrari, I expressed, you know, my desire to do some Formula One, not full time. And we did South Africa, which I had my first win there. As a third car to win the race, it's pretty good.

It's pretty good. It's pretty good. And then right after that, they had the non-champership race in Ontario. And the twin 100s because the reason they had twin 100s is because they had some Formula 5,000 cars there and didn't have a big, a tank big enough to go the full Grand Prix distance. so they split it. And what's interesting there, that Jackie Eeks was my teammate, you know, Ferrari,

and qualifying for the, I had to qualify on Friday because on Saturday I was driving a champ car race, Indy car race in Phoenix. Oh, man. So, and I was really in a rush to get my time in. And it was, One of the Ken M drivers was driving a Formula 5,000 car.

I tried to pass them on the outside at one point, and they put me out in the gravel, and I went into the guardrail. And so, you know, I had set a time, you know, but it was deep in the field, like mid-field or something. And so I had to go to Phoenix and then come back, and they fixed the car. They had, you know, they went to one of the local, well actually, Kuzma, some of those shops, you know, they did a good job.

And in the morning, and I think Jackie actually ran my car, you know, to just check it out. Everything was okay. And from midfield, there's a bang, bam, bam. I won that race. I won the first one. and Jackie Stewart finished second. And the second one, both he and I started in front. And he took the lead and the third lap.

I passed him. And I won both of those races. Oh, man. And then that was, and they, and Mr. Ferrari called me to the factory. And he offered me, he offered me a Formula One full-time job as the number one. and I couldn't take it. I just again, like I said, the earning power just wasn't there in Formula One.

I had to think of that because I had a young family and financially, I was quite honestly, I was doing really well here, and I had to be thinking those terms because something happens to me, you know, and there's too much of that going on. And I felt that responsibility. and so I figured my day will come, you know, to do Formula One.

And I still did a few off, you know, jobs. And then in 1970, once I joined the Pinelli team, I started thinking of Formula One. And I talked them into actually fielding or entertaining, entering Formula One. And we did. You know, in 1975. And finally, because in 74, I had a really good run with them in Forma 5,000. I think we won almost every race that we finished. We didn't finish so many.

We were second in the championship both years, but Formula 5,000 was really, really, actually taught me a lot. It was basically as fast. they were as fast as a Formula One car, so that was a good thing for me. And, but we, we had the designer, which was one of the Lotus designer, and Morris Philippe that was actually hired, but put the Pinelli group, you know, to do the Indy cars. And so he was, his task was to design the Formula One car that we were going to race in 75, 1975 and that that's the first time that I went full-time except racing at

Indy but full-time Formula One and you know the car that was designed actually was actually not it was like a two-year-old design basically that's what Morris Philippe had and with the car was okay but it was not going to be able to win. I think we might have won, if the car, if we were in a broken link, a tow link, we might have won the street race in Barcelona, because I got into the lead. I actually passed James Hunt for the lead. And I was leading that race very nicely. But I had a, it didn't, you know, started about six or seventh, I think. And at the start, I had a contact with Clay Ragazzoni with my right rear.

And somehow I must have compromised the tolling because during the race, finally that snapped and then I was out of the race. And that was probably, it would have been the best performance. I know if we could have won that race if it would have been. But nevertheless, time goes on and at the beginning of the 76th season,

here we are at the Long Beach and I'm sitting in a car for the start and Chris Konomacki puts a mic to me and said Mario it says what's your response that Val Parnelli Jones decided to withdraw from Formula One after this race? I said oh my goodness I said I don't know what to say I never you know they never discussed that with me So that was the news. That's how you found out? That's how I found out. And how was, how is, I mean, you obviously said what you said to Chris Oconomacki.

You said, that's the first I've heard of it. But what internally are you thinking in that moment? I mean, it was devastated. Yeah. I was devastated because at that point, like you said, at that point I had decided I wanted to devote. You know, time in my career, you know, to really, to do Formula One full time. unfortunately all the seats that were offered to me were occupied right there was no chance for me to go with Ferrari or Lotus at the time they had their driver

lineup and so but with the Pinelli group but here again I go to a negative turning into a positive yeah because the next day I'm we're staying at Queensway Hilton in Long Beach and I'm having breakfast myself my wife didn't even want to join me I was so miserable and so I'm sitting there by myself and I'm looking across and there's Colin Chapman by himself and we're looking at each other so I joined him and one thing led to another said Colin I said I'm out of Formula One I said I said if you ever need a hand you know someone I said I'm there for you and he said Marry

I don't have a good car. I wish I had a good car for you, but you want to drive for me? He said, you can be, and I said, if you consider me number one on the team, because I know a number one, I always had the best engine and everything, he says, you got it. He said, but we don't have a good car. I said, we'll make it. We'll make it a good car. We'll work on it. That was the best day of my life again. I said, now we go, and with Lotus. And Colin Chapman, the reason that they were not so competitive, he had so many distractions. You know, he was a man with so many goals, you know. He was very ambitious.

And he started a boat company, the car company at the time. And so Formula One was not his priority. That's why they were not really as competitive as obviously they knew to be. And I said, Colin, I said, you've got to come back, racing full time. And his wife Hazel said, that's the best thing you could have said to him. You know, and he did, I said, just delegate responsibility. I said, to the car company and to somebody else. I said, come back racing.

And that's what he did. That was, you know, and we made the car better and better. We had a couple of podiums, and we won the very last race with the season, which was Japan, which he figured, okay, it was in the rain, you know. Yeah. No, I was on pole in the dry, so that's important. It was not just because it was a rain race. And so that was so encouraging, so encouraging for the team.

There's nothing better for any team than to win the last race of the season. You know, and he said the words to me that here again, I never forget. I said, Mario, he said, next year's car, he's going to make this one look like a London bus. That's what he said. Right, you know. And so that's where you always, you know, you have to look forward to. And there was a beginning of something good after that. Yeah, I've never heard the London bus phrase.

That's what he said. And was you right? He was right. He was right. Yeah, you said big things coming. F1 World Championship in 1978. What do you remember about that season? When you have, you know, the car that you know that can do it, if we can finish races, you know, I think 77 would have been even easier world championship than 78.

We couldn't finish a race. You know, what we finished was usually winning. But 78 was magic, obviously. We're able to put it all together. And, you know, can you imagine also clinching the world championship in Monza? you know where my dream started unfortunately under the worst circumstances by losing my teammate you know ronnie peterson and but you know that's the way it goes sometimes but um looking back at everything how things happen i come full circle so many things um you know felt so incredibly

blessed again again over and over i heard people describe describing what that race in the highs of winning and clinching the title and the lows of losing your teammate, I know what kind of toll that must have taken on you, how tough was that to navigate this thing that's supposed to be so great, and then losing a close teammate. Yeah, I mean, you can only imagine, you know, the agony. And then I'm looking, you know, my wonderful wife, you know, knowing this can, so real how it can happen, we lost so many of our closest friends, you know, all of that, you know, and then you try not to dwell on that negative. And you feel for the other family. And, you know, we were so close, you know, we were buddies, really buddies.

And yeah, yeah, I mean, that was a cruel part of the sport, obviously. question and and it's you know it's tough to continue but again if you're going to dwell on that then you know you don't belong in the business you know life must go on how much did the danger creep into your mind I never dwell on that negative you cannot do that I mean that's what we knew I mean we always knew that we could make things better you know but every performance every safety feature in a race car was a performance penalty. So unless it designated, it's in the rulebook mandatory. To do, you're not gonna have anybody volunteer.

So that's when a lot of this, and you talk about the Jackie Stewart and Nikki Laudez, and that's how we formed the GPDA. For what? To be able to just trying to get the sanction body to impose safety features not only on a car but on the tracks as well. I mean, some of the tracks, I mean, but today's standard, oh my goodness. Yeah.

So, and it took a long time, but I said this a million times. I don't think the sport would have survived as it became more and more commercial unless safety was dealt with vigorously. because always said that companies have spent millions of dollars to be part of the team, they don't want to go to funerals. They want to celebrate. There's a lot of pride that goes into that and everything. And it took a while, you know, but it was a work in progress, which it still is, by the way.

And things got better and better and better where, you know, the blessing is that today's drivers have the best chance. ever to retire on their own terms, which is a good thing for the sport. You're mentioning some of these tracks and some of the standards, especially today, versus then. I know this goes a little backwards in time, but Langhorne, what was that track like? Oh, my goodness. That track claimed more champions, lives, you know, than any other, you know, when it was dirt, especially.

And, you know, when they paved, it finally, I think it was a little safer because when it was dirt, turn one, they called Pukhole, they used to call it, and they used to dig up because there used to be a dumping site, I think, way back. God knows when, but it was soft, and, I mean, the ruts used to be like, you know, a six-inch dip. And if you, and I remember the first race that I drove there, my hands were like hamburger, you know, because, you know, You go through there and as you go through those ruts, you have to do it. And God forbid, you back off. I mean, you had to just stand on and just bust through it. You back off, you know, you just go.

Yeah. And that's what claimed a lot of the guy. That was a brutal place, but awesome to. A challenge. If you make it at the end, you know, it was a great challenge. Yeah. I want to touch on something that you said a few times. And I think it's so relevant to people trying to come up through the ranks and race today,

but the financial aspect of it. How tough was it to navigate that, especially early in your career? I know your wife even had to go back to work to help sustain income for a family. What was that time like in terms of having to pay for racing? Well, I've got to give you the story about my wife. You know, I had to put her to work because the way I got the TQ midget, I got her dad to invest to buy it. He and the partner that he had. And I said, the deal was, I said, you buy that car for me.

That was the only way I could get one. And I said that. And you will, I will share with you. I'll give you 50% of everything that car owns earns. And when I don't need it anymore, when you start. sell it, you know, it's all yours. Deal, nobody could refuse. But

there was a maintenance aspect of a car. I was driving that indoors. So the car, if you had just a puff of smoke coming out of the exhaust, you were done for the evening. They park you. And so, I had to have

fresh heads and it was a triumph, 800 engine, motorcycle engine. in it. And I had had fresh heads every single weekend, you know, because I had new valve guides and all that stuff, but that's where the smoke would come from. So, and that was costing me like a 150 bucks. And then we used to pick up the heads at the motorcycle shop, you know, on a way to the races, you know, in New Jersey. And like I said, I had to have that 150 bucks all the time. So

And my wife and she worked at the blouse factory, that was really her paycheck, you know. And then she was pregnant with Michael, our first child. And so on the way over to the track, you know, I mean, yeah, we were going to stop at Bob's cycle shop. And she's going, she said, what's the matter? Oh, nothing? You know, she's going like this. I says, all right, tell me. She says, I quit my job.

I said, you quit your job. How am I going to pay for these heads? Oh, poor, the end. She said, I'm sorry, I want. So, anyway, that was one of it, one of those things. But the other one was that basically, I always said, you know, I, you know, I loved this so much.

I mean, this was my rodeo. this is my dream and I said I'm not driving for the money you know but I had to you had to be reasonably I lost my closest friends and I look at we young families you know Billy Foster and so on and so forth and and I see just I mean what their wives you know what they were going through and and and so I figure at least you know one thing I can do is can provide if this, God forbid, happens to me, that they will be cared for. So I had to, you know, believe it or not, I mean, I went for the best contracts and I, you know, I wanted to earn. And it was, you know, for all the reasons, but primarily I had that in my mind. I was justifying my selfishness

to obviously do what I did, even though it was dangerous, by, said I'm earning enough then you know that you will be taking care of you'll be cared for you know for for the rest of your life that's what you do you know without me and and that was another objective too you know just man go for it you know what i mean and i was driving everything i could not because like but it was it was working good for me because you know i said i had a great excuse for diane too right in diane was so wonderful i mean she was true i mean I mean, what was, you know, you never really realized until later on in life, when we reflect on things, how good she was for me, Manning.

Never, ever, ever, does she make me feel guilty, you know, for being selfish and, you know, to do this? I mean, I get reminded sometimes by my daughter, Barbie, said, you were not at my graduation. I know I had to race I tell you there's another story I gotta tell you Michael the oldest one

when he was still young you know he was just in school I think it was second or third grade and the teacher said he was asking all the kids what their dads

did for a living and it comes to Michael he says my dad goes to the airport and makes bread and says what

because every time you know I have my you know luggage and everything else dad where you going now I said well I gotta go to the airport make the bread and that's what you thought you did that's what you thought I did oh my gosh good old Mike bring on the dough now he's making the bread when did he find out what you actually did a little bit later my dad my dad goes to the airport, makes the bread. Oh my gosh. That had to be funny to hear. And the other other kids probably like, yeah. Gosh, that is funny. I didn't know that. You mentioned, you know, losing people that

were close to you, and you brought up Billy Foster. I know you had a conversation with him, you know, before he passed. What was that conversation like? Well, here's Billy Foster. responsible in every way. And, you know, he's coming from the far west. I'm coming from the far east. We blend here, right here in the Midwest, and both have the same ambitions and so on and so forth. And we have young families,

and I'm still driving sprint cars. And he said, Mario, you're crazy. You know, I said, this stage of your career, you don't need to be driving sprint cars, you know, and because I think by any stretch, And he stretched in my daughter the most dangerous of the, you know, racing cars to drive at that time. And he was driving stock cars. They used sex stock cars and then also did some NASCAR.

And his fate would have it, you know, we're in Riverside for the Riverside 5, and I'm actually, we're rooming together, you know, even. And happy, you know, both driving a stock car. And so I'm ready to qualify right after him. He's out to qualify. Front break explodes going in turn nine, and he just pancaked into the wall. It was killed him instantly. And that's because of him, I think, ultimately the net

was mandated in NASCAR. And anyway, yeah. Yeah, tragic. Here it is, you know, a family that we were as close as you could be, you know, like his wife Beverly and the kids, you know, and then to see this. And the agony that my wife was experiencing at the time. You see what I mean? That's, it was so close, you know, to us. And these are all the things that, you know, let's face it. I felt the responsibility, no question. But at the same time, I always felt, you know, he wouldn't give up. He wouldn't, if that would have happened to me, you know, he'd keep going.

So I always use that excuse, true or not, you know. But it, you know, it happened. I mean, I think in one, two accidents, I think in 64, two spring car accidents. And one we lost Joe Larson and Red Regal in Reddy, Pennsylvania. And later on at Ascot, we lost Dun Branson and Dick Atkins. Dick Hagen was my teammate with Wally Moskowski.

I mean, two accidents and four guys gone. You know, and let's face it, I mean, I'd never like to talk about that side of it, but realistically, At the beginning of the season, at the first driver's meeting, you look around and you said, I wonder who's not going to be here at the end. I mean, that was the reality. You know, and that's, the sport was cruel in those years, you know, no question about it. But, you know, you had to overcome that with just passion, passion, and love for doing what you're doing.

true true passion otherwise there's no way you could exist so there you have it that was part two of our conversation with Mario and Jretti I'm bringing in our social media coordinator Dalton Greco Dalton welcome hi how's it going yeah super super cool super super happy to be on here I was excited to

share this interview with you obviously like you being that in charge of social media man you you've got a tough job of like having to know everything that goes out and, you know, hopefully we've given you some good stuff to work with so far. You know, it's funny before I started working here, I digested like everything DirtyMo Media did and now I have to do that for work. And so it's kind of like, it's almost like bittersweet because it's like I still want to be a fan and I still am. But there's definitely a part of me that's

like, wow, I really have to lay eyes on every. I can't just pick and choose. And it's open my eyes to the whole world of what Dirty Mo Media is. And I'm happy to be able to experience things exactly like this exactly like next level with Mario Andretti. So yeah, it's it's been a wild ride, but a lot of fun. We were literally just 10 minutes ago going over what we think the second and third and fourth YouTube video should be and like, oh man, what are the what are the killer moments right from those? And like it was hard to pick and choose. We're like, well, maybe we just like cut four social videos out of this one YouTube video because, you know, there's so much good stuff there. like what from what you've heard has has stood out to you from what mario's had to say you know it's funny

you you bring up like i was trying to figure out the youtube video going over all that content i was like i don't want to cut any of it it's also good so um man just listening to him uh you know first of all like just to preface how i feel about mario and trety uh if if he's if he's not on your mountain rush more of motorsports drivers or just personalities then um i'd like to know who is because he is just a phenomenal, you know, obviously entity in the sport and storyteller and the things that this man has experienced is, you know, just it's so engaging. And so from this exact episode, my favorite parts definitely have to be him talking about his family. You know, he gets very deep into what it's like to be a driver in a dangerous time of motorsport and how that affects not only his wife, but his kids. himself. So he talks about, you know, the highs and lows of it. And that's something that I think

anyone can relate to being, you know, life gives you highs and lows, but at such an extreme that he was experiencing it. And so, you know, he talks about losing a teammate and then how his wife reacted to that afterwards, you know, being that she was having, you know, they were having kids and he wanted to provide for his family. I think, you know, any man would want to do that. And but no every week that you're strapping yourself into a car and that you might not make it out. But your passion just takes you to keep going. It takes a lot of mental fortitude for someone to do that. And that's what makes Mario Andretti special is, you know, not the average man could not. And so, you know, he goes into those deep moments and then he gets to like the funny moments of,

you know, the story about Michael where he goes, it's so good, you know, where he says, you know, but he had us, you know, sharing show and tell or whatever it was at school, where they ask him, you know, what does your dad do for a living? He says, my dad goes to the airport and makes bread. Yeah. And that's just so funny. Like, and the funny thing is that like the word bread for money now is like, you know, it's used in like, yeah, it's like it's used in like pop culture and whatever. And for like Mario And Dreddy to say that, I was like, that's so cool. He's such a gangster. I can't believe like, you know, I think he said he was in second or third grade. Like, that's genuinely what he thought his dad did.

My dad goes to the airport and he makes bread. That is so wholesome. I think that's awesome. I know. It was really, really cute to hear that story. And man, he's got a mind like a steel trap. I mean, he remembers everything. It's very, very wild to hear how accurate he is about those details.

I mean, I think I pointed a clip out to you. I asked him, you know, when he was racing in the F-1 World Championship, and he was also racing in another race in the United States that same weekend. And that was, I mean, his F1 debut, that is. And I'm like, how did you deal with the jet lag? He's like, well, you know, it was fine. You know, I remember we had to catch flight to Boston. Then there was an 8 o'clock to, you know, Italy.

I'm like, what? Yeah. You remember the times? Man. That was very impressive. Like, I don't think I would be able to recall that about a flight. I took, you know, two weeks ago, let alone, you know, however long, what was it back in 1970, something, early 70s? Whatever it was, two, three?

Yeah. I don't know. That is impressive. And you see that throughout the entire conversation, which I think is cool. Yeah. And, you know, he rounds it out in such a, you know, somber way or at least gets to a part where he starts to talk about how, you know, being a race car driver, one of the things that you take with you into that career is that, you know, you look around and you think,

you know, which one of these guys is not going to be here anymore? And it's such a somber. Like, you feel his emotion when he says it. he like almost gets emotional. I don't know if he does or not like in his eyes. Right. But he like you can feel it. If he didn't he would you could you could.

It was definitely transferred to you. I mean, during that moment. And, you know, it was that that's, that's what that's the beauty of sports and that's the beauty of what we get to do here is tell this story and the story that goes from such a high of having

kids and funny moments to a low of, you know, I don't know what tomorrow's going to look like. don't know if there will be a tomorrow. I'm so glad that there was because now we have this wonderful opportunity to share Mario's story with all of our Dirtymo fans. Yeah, I'm excited about that. Well, we've got more Mario And Reddy coming our way. He talks about winning the Daytona 500, which I think amazingly, winning the Daytona 500, it's kind of an underrated stat for Mario Andretti, but he goes completely into the story. He walks me through the entire weekend. We talk

innovation stories. You know, we love hearing those on the download. Mario had one. that was fascinating without giving too much away. It's a term that engineers and NASCAR and, you know, IndyCar, it's a concept they use now. Well, Mario talks about discovering it because it was unknown at the time. And that was fascinating. And you will have to tune in next week to hear what that is exactly. But there's a lot of more, as I use the word gold,

there's a lot more gold coming with more of this conversation with Mario. So, Don't, thanks for taking a little bit of time to share your thoughts about Mario. And we're looking forward to the next couple of batches. Yeah, I'm so excited. Like, I'm on the edge of my seat. You are. Literally, I am right now on the edge of my seat. Being able to put this out to all of our fans, I don't know how all of them are just like,

I'm fully entranced in this series. And I hope that, you know, for the fans who follow it, that you are getting as much out of it as I am. Yeah, well, this is what I love about the podcast. You know, the YouTube, it's like, man, we got to find the highlights to put on YouTube. But this is where the interview lives in full, unedited. And, yeah, I'm excited to share some more.

So tune in. Stay tuned for next week. We're going to bring him back some more Mario Andredeon. It's kind of little mini residency here, Dirty Mo Media. Thanks for tuning in. It's been Andrew Curlin, Don't Gretco. We'll see you next time. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube.

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