But, because it wasn’t on the car in qualifying, the U.S. He qualified it in the middle of the front row and then ran into a problem.īecause “The Hawk” was prone to overheating, Brawner and McGee installed an external cooler for the race. That car was a copy of a Brabham chassis that Brawner had tweaked and had carried Mario to victory at Hanford the month before. “It was probably a blessing because that Lotus was so light and fragile, I don’t think it would have made it to the first pit stop,” said Andretti. The car disintegrated and Mario walked away with burns on his lip.Īn examination showed a structural weakness in the hubs, so Chapman withdrew the cars of Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill and Andretti. It handled the bumps real well and I was warming up to it.Īfter the first weekend of qualifying was rained out, Andretti was practicing when a hub broke entering Turn 4 and he pounded the wall. I damn near was able to run flat in turn two and four. Said Andretti: “That car was a slug down the straightaway because of the aerodynamic drag, but I could use so much throttle in the corners. “I’ll guarantee you he would have won the pole by a ton.” “That car had wings and ground effects plus four-wheel-drive, and was 3-4 mph quicker than the second fastest car during the first week of practice,” said McGee, who would be with Andretti for 17 of his 29 years in champ cars. The month opened with the two-time pole sitter in a four-wheel drive Lotus 64/Ford designed by Chapman, owned by Granatelli, sponsored by STP and worked on by mechanics Clint Brawner and Jim McGee. “It started off so smooth, then it seemed like we were scrambling to the checkered flag.” “It was a crazy month, but I had several of those at Indy,” said Andretti, the only man to win Indy, the Formula One championship and the Daytona 500. In between, he went through a nasty accident and several mood swings before putting his name on the Borg-Warner trophy. That month began with Andretti driving for Colin Chapman, whom he would team with to capture the 1978 Formula One title, and it ended with a memorable kiss from Andy Granatelli. It’s about the only time the luckless Andretti received a break at the Speedway. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years, but what’s even more incredible is that Mario Andretti’s lone drive into victory lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came in 1969. This story was originally published May 28, 1999
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