NEW YORK - Mario Andretti just grins when reminded that police officers all
over America, and maybe the world still invoke his name after they pull over a
speeder: "Who do you think you are, Mario Andretti?"
Race car driver Mario Andretti waves
from the winner's circle after winning the Indianapolis 500 at the
Indianapolis Motorspeedway, in this May 30, 1969 file photo. On Monday
night Oct. 23, 2006, at the Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York,
Andretti received an honor that only a handful of Italian Americans, and
only one other racing personality, have been given.
[AP] |
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 New York.
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 Great Britain. Only a
handful of Italian Americans have been given the honor, and it took a while for
the folks who give out these things to get around to Andretti.
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
Indianapolis 500, where the phrase "Mario is slowing on the backstretch" became
something of a refrain - Andretti's overall record likely will never be
duplicated or even approached.
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 U.S. national champion and became
only the second American to win the Formula One title, joining Phil Hill.
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 Montana in an
area called Istria, formerly part of Italy, ceded to Yugoslavia after World War
II and now divided between Slovenia and Croatia. Andretti spent seven years in
displaced persons camps after the war before emigrating with his family to
Nazareth, Pa., where he still makes his home.
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, Italy's Consul General to
New York, on behalf of Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.
"Fantastic achievements in sport are not the only reason we honor him with
the most important distinction of the Italian Republic," Bandini said. "Indeed,
Mario Andretti has always been a prominent member of the Italian American
community (and) extremely proud of his Italian heritage."
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?"
