The Story of Mario Andretti: A Refugee from Communism to the Heights of Auto Racing

00:00:10
Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. If you’re an auto racing fan, and even if you’re not, Mario Andretti is a name you know, and for good reason. Aside from his dashing good looks and charisma, he was one of the most successful drivers in motorsports history, only one of three drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, and the World’s Sports Car Championship. Andretti remains the only driver who has won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship. Even more remarkably, he’s the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades. But it is his story, and his unlikely run in a sport generally accessible only to the rich and the privileged, it is most remarkable of all. Here is Mario Andretti to tell his story.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: Well, I was born in Italy, and the region is Istria. However, now it’s Croatia, and there’s the story. Obviously, it’s one of the reasons why the family immigrated

00:01:27
Speaker 3: to the States, because I.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: Was born in 1940 at the beginning of World War II, and that region was under

00:01:37
Speaker 3: Italy, as it had been. But after the war, Italy lost the war, so they lost territory.

00:01:44
Speaker 2: And that’s the territory they lost. And Yugoslavia occupied the region under hardline Communism under Marshal Tito. And there was a

00:01:55
Speaker 3: choice for all of

00:01:58
Speaker 2: the inhabitants of the area here to, uh, succumb to Communism or to maintain the Italian citizenship, to leave home and become refugees basically back in mainland Italy. And my family chose, you know, the latter part, to maintain the Italian citizenship. And we were refugees in the city of Lucca, in Tuscany, for seven and a half years before my dad had the opportunity to come to America. We had relatives on my mother’s side living in America here, in fact, in Nazareth, where I live now. And it was suggested that, “Why don’t you come here?” “We would guarantee that to have a home,” you know. And that’s what they had to do too, in order to obtain visas. There’s nothing normal about what happened to us. But, credit to my father, first of all, Dad was an administrator of land holdings from the family on his mother’s side, because he lost his parents at age two and four, respectively. And he was raised by a priest, the uncle priest. But the family on that side owned two thousand acres of land—about twenty-one hundred acres—and seven tenants. And my dad was the administrator of that of those holdings. Then, basically, he was a farmer, so he had no other skills when he moved on. And that was a difficult part, obviously, to be able to obtain a professional job of some kind. And when we were, while we were in the camp, conditions were very, very basic, but my dad always provided for us.

00:03:56
Speaker 3: We were always dressed properly.

00:03:59
Speaker 2: And went to school, and never cold and never hungry, you know. He always took care of the family. Very proud man. And that’s something that I’ve always looked up to him because of that. He had maintained that responsibility in the best possible

00:04:18
Speaker 1: way. And he never quit. Mario, it sounds like he never quit on you, his family, despite the toughest circumstances. So you’re living in Italy, and you see an auto race, and there’s one particular man that moves you to think about, or at least dream about, automobiles and car racing. Who is that man? What was that race in Italy?

00:04:41
Speaker 2: Well, the race was the Italian Grand Prix in 1954, and the man was my idol. He became my idol, Alberto Scatti, who was, at the time, current World Champion for Ferrari. And, as you can imagine, as an Italian driver in Ferrari and being so strong, you know, I was very impressed by that, and taken in all the way. And, as an idol, he just actually helped shape my future, to be honest, in my own mind, because between my twin brother Aldo and myself, from then on, we did not have a Plan B. I always say that, and that’s a fact. You know, this is something that we wanted to pursue no matter what. We had no idea how, when, you know, things were going to happen, because there was, you know, a lot of uncertainties in our lives. And even as kids, you could obviously understand that. But the dream, it never faded, you know. The dream stayed strong, and at first opportunity, you know, we pursued it. You know, when we came to the States two years later, Aldo and I started building a car to race locally. First of all, the car that we built was a 1948 Hudson Hornet, which was actually, Brandon, was very successful in NASCAR racing, and there was not popular that car here at this local level. But we chose that, you know, with the help of some other, you know, a couple other friends, which he always had the scientist somewhere that does the thinking. Then we followed that advice, and we built that car, but we didn’t dare tell my dad.

00:06:36
Speaker 1: And you’ve been listening to Mario Andretti share his story and his father’s story. And after World War II, the part of Italy he lived in, the part where his father administered to 2,100 acres, was seized by Yugoslavia. And Marshal Tito offered up two options for the Italians living in that part of what used to be Italy: Join the Communists and renounce your Italian roots, or become a refugee. And Andretti’s father chose the latter. But it was that Italian Grand Prix race in 1954 that planted the seeds in Mario and his twin brother Aldo’s mind, and when they would come to America. Well, as they say, the rest is history. When we come back, more of Andretti’s story here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we’re bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories from our big cities and small towns. But we truly can’t do the show without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they’re not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to OurAmericanStories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Go to OurAmericanStories.com and give. And we continue with Our American Stories and the story of Mario Andretti. In his own words, we had last heard about the trip Mario took with his brother to see Alberto Ascari, the great Italian racer and the Italian Grand Prix in 1954. And Mario had last left off with him and his brother doing what they were going to do the rest of their lives, and not wanting to tell their dad. Let’s pick up where Mario last left off.

00:08:40
Speaker 2: We didn’t dare tell my dad, because there were so many things here. You know, he knew that we were following motor racing, and we were all in. And this, he figured, “Okay, all right, the kids are impressed by something.” And then Alberto Scatti is killed. And the following year, 1955, on a way over on the ship, Conte Biancamano, during the time that the 24 Hours of Le Mans was running, that’s the time when Mercedes went into the crowd and killed 85 people. So, so many negatives about the sport always, you know, the fatalities here and there. Well, you know, my dad was certainly not a race fan of any kind.

00:09:24
Speaker 3: He never pursued.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: But the only news he was ever, you know, it was ever coming his

00:09:30
Speaker 3: way was negative.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: So, for us kids, you know, even when we would hint about racing, he said, “Oh, kids are crazy! Don’t even think about it,” type of thing. So he certainly did not in any way understand how strong we believed in it, and how strong, you know, how the passion that we already had developed. So, anyway, we started building this car, and we didn’t dare tell him, you know, anything about it. This was 1957, two years after we arrived here. In 1959, we figured, “We’ll take us four years to build this car,” you know, to get all the money together and everything, because you had to be 21 to race legally in those days, race professionally. And so we figured we got time. But the car was finished two years later, in 1959. We were only nineteen. We figured, “You know what? We’re not going to look at this car for two years before we race him.” So we had, we fudged the birth date on the licenses and keep saying, you know, which is a fact in those days, obviously there was no computer. So we started racing at age nineteen without my dad knowing. And the only defense that we had on that, or the buffer that we had there, was the language barrier, you know, because my dad obviously did not learn the language as quickly as we did. So, because we were winning, his boss at work, you know, tried to tell him, “All your kids are redoing.” Well, he just—he didn’t understand. He thought that the boss was telling him how good he was at his job. So, again, it wasn’t until the end of the season, at the very last race, an invitational race, that Aldo, you know, was almost killed in that race. He had a bad accident, which, you know, he had, actually, a fractious call and all that. So he was in a coma for, you know, for a long time. And he was even given his last rites that time. And my dad didn’t even know it, but that’s how he found out. He almost felt vindicated.

00:11:43
Speaker 1: You know.

00:11:43
Speaker 2: “See, I told you guys,” you know, type of thing. When all the funny came around two weeks later, he, uh, you know, took him a while. After he opened his eyes and so forth, you know, it took him a while to actually speak. The first sentence that he said, he says to me, he says, “I’m sure, I’m sure glad you had to be the one to face the old man.” “Okay, all right, we got him back.”

00:12:07
Speaker 1: Who were key people in your life, Mario, who allowed you to think you could do what you did?

00:12:13
Speaker 3: Your team. There were several people that believed, could see the burning passion that I had, and, uh…

00:12:23
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, after this, uh, stock, I didn’t want to make a career out of, you know, local stock cars. I wanted to get into single-seaters. And, uh, one of the first ones that actually helped was my, now, my wife’s father, uh, and, uh, and his partner.

00:12:50
Speaker 2: They, you know, I needed to buy a midget, a midget car, a single-seater, to to run a three-quarter midget, to run indoor races in the winter. And that’s where a lot of the owners will scout drivers, you know, for the full-size midgets for the regular season.

00:13:00
Speaker 3: And I was.

00:13:00
Speaker 2: I bought a famous car, and I made a deal with Earl Hoak. It was, you know, Hoak is my, uh, my wife’s maiden name, and they invested in that car. And that’s what got me going, was another plateau—a launching pad, if you will. Because I won some races. I was competitive, and I got noticed. And

00:13:26
Speaker 3: I got a really a good ride with the.

00:13:29
Speaker 2: Matika brothers in the midget, which were running the ARDC (American Race Drivers Club), which was a very prominent midget series with all the icons of midget racing, you know, like Len Duncan, Tony Bonadies, some of the icons of midget racing of the era. And, uh, and that, you know. Then I started winning there. And this is a team that I never won any races, but I started winning for them. And then, uh, the team out of Indianapolis, Rufus Gray Team—but Rufus Grady, individual, actually, he owned the sprint car. And he had a sprint car where he had some of the top names like Jud Larson driving for him and USAC sprint cars. He took notice, and they, obviously, they all knew that I was interested in progressing. He gave me a ride, and he became sort of the mentor at the time, which brought me into, I would say, mainstream of IndyCar racing. Because, even though it was not the top category, sprint cars is a step below the Championship Cars.

00:14:40
Speaker 3: The top drivers, because they were.

00:14:43
Speaker 2: Migrated into sprint cars, like A.J. Foyt, Roger McCluskey.

00:14:47
Speaker 3: All the top.

00:14:48
Speaker 2: Drivers would be driving, his Parnelli Jones driving in these sprint cars, and I would be driving against them. And all of a sudden, I started winning there. And so, but it was always, you know, like I said, certain individuals that just made the difference, and I seized the opportunity at the time. And, quite honestly, sometimes you get a ride because the main driver is hurt, and that’s how it was really happening. A lot of it was happening with me, but once I took over, you know, it seemed like I held my own and earned my way, you know, into a solid ride. So, again, it was just everything was by chance. You know, there was no guarantees anywhere he had. You could have all the plans in the world, but he had no way of trying to predict what was going to happen anywhere. He just had to be there and seize the opportunity. And that’s really the way it worked

00:15:49
Speaker 3: out for me.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: I want to talk about your wife. How does a guy do this without a strong family?

00:15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I’ll tell you what. You have no idea the important role that she played, you know, in my career, and indirectly encouraging me and backing me up. Because, you know, we got—I got married young, and then the career was going, I had kids, and I didn’t have a steady job. I was relying on, uh, you know, just what I could earn racing, which, you know, it can be, it can be pretty scheduled sometimes. But, but I work and she worked, you know. Like, even give you an idea: When, when I was driving, you know, when I was maintaining the three-quarter midget that her dad had financed, she was working, and she was pregnant. And on her way to one of the races, uh, she’s, she’s just like sobbing a little bit, you know. So, “What’s what’s matter?” And

00:18:56
Speaker 3: she said, “I just quit my job.” I said, “You did? What are you—”

00:19:00
Speaker 2: She was seven months pregnant. So, “You did what?!”

00:19:04
Speaker 3: “How dare you?!”

00:19:05
Speaker 2: I said, “How am I going to pay for the engine?” I said, you know, “To keep forgetting freshen it up?” She said. So, you could see, she was paying for me freshening up the engines from week to week, you know, at Bob’s Motorcycle Shop and things like that. But, uh, you know, we laugh about it, obviously, you know. But she was a rock behind me throughout, you know. And, again, you know, she—she was never a race fan. She’s not a race fan today. But, what the heck? I mean, she—she had no choice, I guess, you know. And she knew that this was our path, and even with the kids. And she just always made the best of it, you know. But she carried the burden, you know, the family, make sure everything is running smoothly in and h. And, at the same time, supporting me by, well, what I’ll like.

00:20:00
Speaker 3: There was the ability that she created because.

00:20:04
Speaker 2: She always, very in check with her emotions, you know. And, and it was never like, uh, you know, a ticker-tape parade if I brought home a trophy, or, you know, like a black stripe on her arm if I didn’t. You know, the hug when I came home with trophy, now, was always the same. The danger aspect, you know, was looming, was always there. Because, uh, obviously the sport, you know, in the sixties and seventies, you know, it was certainly not as—especially in the sixties—uh, not as safe as it is today. And, uh, and yes, we—we lost a lot of friends. I mean, obviously, she made—uh, she was friendly with many of the wives of my buddies. And, and then, uh, you know, my best friend, Billy Foster, when he—when he was killed. And Jud Larson. And on and on. I mean, we lost so many. Ronnie Peters. I mean, she was obviously always the one that, thinking, “When is he going to come home?” You know, this.

00:21:11
Speaker 3: After this race.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: So, the spectrum of that was always there, and it was real. Uh, we were losing way too many, you know. And, unfortunately, and then, I’m sure, that there was always, you know, anxious moments for her as well. Me as a driver, I never well on that side, obviously. Uh, so I was p—