Michael_Andretti

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Michael Andretti

Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is an American retired CART and Formula One driver with Italian heritage. He now co-owns the Andretti Green Racing team in the Indy Racing League. He qualified eleventh for the 2007 Indianapolis 500 after finishing third in the 2006 Indianapolis 500. He is the son of Mario Andretti who is one of the most successful auto racing drivers of all time.

Racing career

Early career

Despite the fact he came from a racing family he started racing in 1984 driving a Formula Vee car in Local SCCA events, he won six of the 11 Super Vee races and went on to win the championship. After that, he went into Formula Atlantic, where he won the Formula Atlantic Championship.

CART

During that same year, he made his CART debut and also finished third in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1984, he won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award. He went on to win his first IndyCar race in 1986 at Long Beach, finishing that year as championship runner-up after collecting other wins at Milwaukee and Phoenix.

Andretti achieved major title success by winning the 1991 CART/PPG IndyCar World Series for Newman/Haas Racing. He won 8 of 17 races; Milwaukee, Toronto, Vancouver, the Marlboro Challenge, and all 5 permament road course events (Portland, Cleveland, Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Laguna Seca).

Futility at Indianapolis

The Andretti family's bad luck at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known as the Andretti Curse. As a driver, he is largely remembered for being unlucky at the Indianapolis 500. In 1991, he led with twelve laps remaining, but finished second to Rick Mears after battling the multiple Indy 500 winner. In 1992, he dominated the race, leading a full four-fifths of the laps, but, with eleven laps remaining, his fuel pump failed, and his car coasted to a stop. He finished in 13th place. He also dropped out while leading the Indy 500 in 1989, 1995 and 2003. Michael holds the record for most laps led in the Indy 500 without having achieved a victory.

Formula One

After his 1991 CART title win, Andretti joined the McLaren Formula One team for 1993, alongside the triple World Champion Ayrton Senna. Unfortunately, the season was not a success. A string of collisions meant that he only completed three laps in his first three races, and he never fully got to grips with Formula One cars. Highly technical aspects which he was not used to in the technologically simpler IndyCars such as active suspension and traction control hampered Andretti's chances for the 1993 F1 season. This combined with the fact that he commuted to races and test sessions from the USA, rather than re-locating full-time to Europe were also contributing factors to his lack of success in Formula One. Three points-scoring finishes, including a third place at Monza, were perceived as too little, too late, and he left the team and the series by mutual agreement after that race.

However, according to son Marco, the McLaren team Andretti drove for "sabotaged" his chances at being competitive in order to replace him with Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen, who would require a smaller salary. "The reality of it was, they had Mika Häkkinen ready to come in for a lot less than what my dad was getting paid, and that's all it was. Right then and there, they had to make him look [bad]," claimed Marco in 2008. "They would make the car do weird things in the corner electronically, stuff out of his control. I think my dad's biggest supporter over there was Ayrton Senna. Because he was one of the few who knew what was really happening in the team, and I think he believed in my father. It was Monza that he really said, 'Give him my car. Give him exactly what I had.' However, Andretti still had problems in practice at Monza, and both he and Senna spun off with brake balance problems early in the race. Andretti was able to continue and fought back up to third, holding off Karl Wendlinger. Throughout the season, Senna experienced similar reliability problems to Andretti, mainly eletronic gremlins, particularly in San Marino, Canada, Hungary and Belgium. After Andretti's departure, both Senna and Häkkinen continued to have reliability issues, although Häkkinen equalled Andretti's third place Monza finish in Japan.

At the start of the 1993 season, Ron Dennis signed Häkkinen as a backup to Senna, who was initially reluctant to commit to the team for the whole season. F1 Rejects states that this created a difficult atmosphere for Andretti, who would be in the shadow of the three-time F1 champion Senna, and also faced the threat of being replaced by Häkkinen.

Regardless of the true nature of Andretti's unsuccessful Formula 1 season, however, he never returned to the cockpit in that series.

Return to CART

After McLaren replaced Andretti with Häkkinen, Michael returned to the CART series for 1994 and drove for Chip Ganassi, where he once again proved very successful. He went on to win in his very first race back in the series at the Surfers Paradise event in Australia, having led every lap along the way. That win also got Reynard's first win in CART in their debut. In 1995 he retunrned to Newman/Haas Racing. He finished as runner-up to Jimmy Vasser in 1996 and more race wins followed in the years to come, but his 1991 championship success remained his only title in CART/IndyCar racing.

His career in CART ended in 2002, in which he took his 42nd and final career victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix - placing him in third place for all-time victories in championship car racing behind his father, Mario Andretti (52 wins) and A.J. Foyt (67 wins).

Michael Andretti is also tied with Al Unser, Jr. for the most wins in a CART/IndyCar season with eight victories. He achieved this during his championship-winning season of 1991.

Sports cars

Michael has driven in numerous sports car races at different times in his career. Many were Andretti family efforts, especially with his father Mario.

Semi-retirement and team owner

After competing in the 2003 Indianapolis 500, Andretti retired from full-time IndyCar racing. He led the race for 28 of the opening 94 laps before a throttle linkage failure put him out of contention once again. That year he bought into the "Team Green" squad run by brothers Kim and Barry Green in CART. It became Andretti Green Racing and for 2003 the team moved to the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series.

That year, Tony Kanaan won the 2004 IndyCar Series Championship for Andretti Green Racing. In 2005, Britain's Dan Wheldon won the Indy 500, and the Championship for the team. In 2007 Scotland's Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series title for AGR.

Return to racing at Indy

Andretti returned to the driver's seat for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in an one-time effort to assist the development of his son, Marco, an IndyCar rookie for the '06 season. Michael led the race with four laps to go, before falling to second behind his son a lap later. He went on to finish third, while Marco only just missed out on the 500 victory after he was passed just before the start/finish line on the last lap by three-time Indycar champion Sam Hornish, Jr.

After qualifying his car in 11th place for the 2007 Indianapolis 500, Andretti went on to finish 13th. He then announced that this would be his last Indy 500 as a driver.

Andretti leaves driving competition at Indy with a frustrating distinction - the driver who's led the most laps (431) without winning the race. He competed in 16 Indy 500s, with a top finish of second in 1991, but led the race nine times.

As a car owner, however, he has far more success. In 2005, only three years after Andretti acquired primary ownership of the team, Andretti-Green Racing (AGR) saw its first 500 triumph come from Dan Wheldon in the #26 Klein Tools Special entry, and in 2007 an even stronger second victory, from Scottish driver Dario Franchitti in the #27 Canadian Club-sponsored car, who won the rain-shortened event at the completion of 166 of the scheduled 200 laps, but after another AGR team driver, Tony Kanaan, had himself led half of the eventual laps, and showed potential of renewing his challenge for supremacy after a fourth turn late-race incident.

Personal life

Andretti was married to Sandra Spinozzi from November 1985 to 1996 and they had two children, son Marco (born March 13, 1987) and daughter Marissa (born October 31, 1990). He remarried on December 24, 1997, to Leslie Wood. They had a child, Luca, born September 16, 1999. On September 7 2004, Andretti filed for divorce. Two years later on July 15 2006, Andretti announced his engagement to model, actress, and 2000 Playboy Playmate of the Year Jodi Ann Paterson. The couple were married on October 7, 2006 at the Andretti Winery in Napa Valley, California.

Andretti family

Michael is from the famous Andretti racing family. His brother Jeff Andretti competed in IndyCar. Michael's uncle Aldo Andretti was an open wheel racer until an accident ended his racing career. Aldo's son John Andretti (Michael's cousin) raced in IndyCar before he became a NASCAR regular. He returned to IndyCar in 2007 to race the Indy 500, and will race in the 2008 edition too. Aldo's other son, Adam also is a racecar driver. The Andretti family became the first family to have four relatives (Michael, Mario, Jeff, and John) compete in the same series (CART).

Michael Andretti has an estate upon an adjacent tract of land to his father's mansion of "Montona" in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. However that property was listed for sale in January 2008 for $3.4 million. His sister Barbara is the listing agent and said Michael has several other homes and will always have a Nazareth connection. Michael's other homes include a property in downtown Indianapolis where his son lives(near his championship race team headquarters) , a residence in Miami Beach, and several other properties for investment purposes.

Motorsports Career Results

American Open Wheel (1983-1992)

(WikiProject American Open Wheel Racing/Driver results legend) (Races in bold indicates pole position)

Series	Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
CART	1983	Kraco	ATL	INDY	MIL	CLE	MIS1	ROA	POC	RIV	MDO	MIS2	LVG Ret	LS Ret	PHX 9						T-26th	4
CART	1984	Kraco	LBH 10	PHX1 3	INDY 5	MIL 4	POR 12	MEA Ret	CLE 3	MIS1 Ret	ROA 16	POC Ret	MDO Ret	SAN 3	MIS2 7	PHX2 3	LS 3	LVG Ret			7th	102
CART	1985	Kraco	LBH Ret	INDY 8	MIL Ret	POR Ret	MEA 4	CLE 7	MIS1 Ret	ROA 2	POC Ret	MDO Ret	SAN Ret	MIS2 Ret	LS 9	PHX 5	MIA Ret				9th	53
CART	1986	Kraco	PHX1 Ret	LBH 1	INDY 6	MIL 1	POR 2	MEA Ret	CLE 2	TOR Ret	MIS1 Ret	POC Ret	MDO 10	SAN 6	MIS2 2	ROA 2	LS 3	PHX2 1	MIA Ret		2nd	171
CART	1987	Kraco	LBH 4	PHX 4	INDY Ret	MIL 1	POR 2	MEA 5	CLE 6	TOR 5	MIS 1	POC 8	ROA Ret	MDO Ret	NAZ 1	LS Ret	MIA¹ Ret	MIA 1			2nd	158
CART	1988	Kraco	PHX 3	LBH 7	INDY 4	MIL 7	POR 11	CLE Ret	TOR 3	MEA 6	MIS 3	POC Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 5	NAZ 2	LS 2	MIA¹ 1	MIA Ret			6th	119
CART	1989	Newman/Haas	PHX 4	LBH 2	INDY Ret	MIL 2	DET Ret	POR 6	CLE Ret	MEA Ret	TOR 1	MIS 1	POC 3	MDO 3	ROA Ret	NAZ 5	LS¹ 7	LS 7			3rd	150
CART	1990	Newman/Haas	PHX Ret	LBH 4	INDY Ret	MIL 5	DET 1	POR 1	CLE Ret	MEA 1	TOR 2	MIS Ret	DEN 5	VAN Ret	MDO 1	ROA 1	NAZ¹ 6	NAZ 5	LS 3		2nd	181
CART	1991	Newman/Haas	SRF Ret	LBH Ret	PHX 4	INDY 2	MIL 1	DET Ret	POR 1	CLE 1	MEA Ret	TOR 1	MIS Ret	DEN 3	VAN 1	MDO 1	ROA 1	NAZ 3	LS¹ 1	LS 1	1st	234
CART	1992	Newman/Haas	SRF Ret	PHX 10	LBH Ret	INDY Ret	DET 4	POR 1	MIL 1	NHM 2	TOR 1	MIS Ret	CLE 2	ROA 4	VAN 1	MDO Ret	NAZ¹ 2	NAZ 2	LS 1		2nd	192

(Event)¹ : non-championship, exhibition race held day preceding next championship race.

Formula One

(F1 driver results legend 2)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1993	Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/8	Ford V8	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 5	MON 8	CAN 14	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA 3	POR	JPN	AUS	11th	7

American Open Wheel (1994-2007)

(American Open Wheel driver results legend) (Races in bold indicates pole position)

Series	Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
CART	1994	Ganassi	SRF 1	PHX Ret	LBH 6	INDY 6	MIL 4	DET 5	POR Ret	CLE Ret	TOR 1	MIS Ret	MDO 5	NHM 5	VAN 3	ROA Ret	NAZ 9	LS Ret						4th	118
CART	1995	Newman/Haas	MIA Ret	SRF Ret	PHX 2	LBH 9	NAZ Ret	INDY Ret	MIL 3	DET 4	POR 4	ROA Ret	TOR 1	CLE 7	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	NHM 2	VAN Ret	LS 4					4th	123
CART	1996	Newman/Haas	HMS 9	RIO Ret	SRF Ret	LBH 7	NAZ 1	MIS1 Ret	MIL 1	DET 1	POR 11	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS2 Ret	MDO 3	ROA 1	VAN 1	LS 9						2nd	132
CART	1997	Newman/Haas	HMS 1	SRF 2	LBH Ret	NAZ 2	RIO Ret	STL 11	MIL 2	DET 2	POR 8	CLE Ret	TOR 4	MIS Ret	MDO 8	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LS Ret	FON Ret					8th	108
CART	1998	Newman/Haas	HMS 1	MOT 14	LBH Ret	NAZ Ret	RIO 5	STL 2	MIL Ret	DET 10	POR 17	CLE 2	TOR 2	MIS 6	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 2	LS 10	HOU Ret	SRF Ret	FON Ret			8th	108
CART	1999	Newman/Haas	HMS 2	MOT 5	LBH 7	NAZ 6	RIO Ret	STL 1	MIL 15	POR 10	CLE 3	ROA 2	TOR Ret	MIS 4	DET 4	MDO 8	CHI Ret	VAN 14	LS 10	HOU 3	SRF 5	FON Ret		4th	151
CART	2000	Newman/Haas	HMS Ret	LBH Ret	RIO 9	MOT 1	NAZ 6	MIL 2	DET Ret	POR 4	CLE 4	TOR 1	MIS 2	CHI 2	MDO 8	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LS 14	STL Ret	HOU 13	SRF Ret	FON Ret		8th	127
CART	2001	Team Motorola	MTY 4	LBH Ret	TXS Canc	NAZ 6	MOT Ret	MIL 2	DET 4	POR 8	CLE 15	TOR 1	MIS Ret	CHI Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 2	VAN 3	LAU 4	ROC 5	HOU Ret	LS 14	SRF 2	FON 7	3rd	147
IRL	2001	Team Motorola	PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY 3	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2									34th	35
CART	2002	Team Motorola	MTY 12	LBH 1	MOT Ret	MIL 7	LS 11	POR 9	CHI Ret	TOR 11	CLE 2	VAN 6	MDO 3	ROA 10	MTL 8	DEN 13	ROC 10	MIA Ret	SRF 9	FON 2	MEX Ret			9th	110
IRL	2002	Team Motorola	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY 7	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2							38th	26
IRL	2003	Andretti Green	HMS 6	PHX Ret	MOT 4	INDY Ret	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	STL	KTY	NZR	CHI	FON	TX2						24th	80
IRL	2006	Andretti Green	HMS	STP	MOT	INDY 3	WGL	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	SNM	CHI								24th	35
IRL	2007	Andretti Green	HMS	STP	MOT	KAN	INDY 13	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	MIS	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI					27th	17

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1984	March	Cosworth	4th	5th
1985	Lola	Cosworth	15th	8th
1986	March	Cosworth	3rd	6th
1987	March	Cosworth	9th	29th
1988	March	Cosworth	10th	4th
1989	Lola	Chevrolet	21st	17th
1990	Lola	Chevrolet	5th	20th
1991	Lola	Chevrolet	5th	2nd
1992	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	6th	13th
1994	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	5th	6th
1995	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	4th	25th
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	21st	3rd
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	25th	7th
2003	Dallara	Honda	13th	27th
2006	Dallara	Honda	13th	3rd
2007	Dallara	Honda	11th	13th