By Annie Walker
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only three drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR. He has also won races in midget car racing and sprint car racing.
Andretti won the Formula One World Championship in 1978, four IndyCar titles, including three under USAC sanctioning, and one in CART. He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. As of 2023, Andretti’s victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix is the most recent Formula One win by an American driver. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.
Andretti had a long career in motorsports. He is the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times. With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.
In American popular culture, Andretti’s name has become synonymous with speed (“You think you’re Mario Andretti?”), similar to Barney Oldfield in the early 20th century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Vincente Minnelli (film director) –
- Gavin MacLeod (actor) –
- Tommy Tune (choreographer) –
- Mario Andretti (race car driver) –
- Kelly Bishop (actress) –
- Bernadette Peters (actress & singer) –
- John Turturro (actor) –
- Robert Sean Leonard (actor) –
- Smarty Jones (Kentucky Derby winning horse) –
Died
- Henry James (writer) –
- Ruby Keeler (actress, singer, & dancer) –
- Daniel Boorstin (Pulitzer Prize-winning author and social historian who served as the librarian of Congress for 12 years) –
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Pulitzer Prize-winning historian) –
- Mike Smith (lead singer of Dave Clark Five) –
- Paul Harvey (radio broadcaster) –
Events
- Baltimore and Ohio railroad incorporated–
- Congress created the Territory of Colorado–
- Vincent Massey became the first Canadian born Governor General of Canada–
- James D. Watson and Francis H. C. Crick announced discovery of DNA’s chemical structure–
- Parliament created VIA Rail Canada Inc.–
- The last episode of M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, aired on television–
- The last episode of M*A*S*H aired on TV –
- Performer Natasha Veruschka swallowed 22.83-inch sword–
- Pope Benedict XVI stepped down as leader of the Roman Catholic church, becoming the first pope in about 600 years to retire–
Weather
- A record snowstorm brought 43 inches of snow to Rochester, New York–
- An area from Kansas to New York experienced record snowfalls–
- A sandstorm with hurricane-force winds derailed a train in western China–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
