The name Andretti is synonymous with Indianapolis. The two are married to one another, in a unique love-hate relationship.
The Indianapolis 500 has meant everything to this family. It has given them an extraordinary amount of pain and sorrow, yet it has also brought them joy and elation. The 1969 race was supposed to be the start of multiple victories and bottles of milk. Instead, the glass has remained empty, as the thirst increases each passing year.
Mario, Michael, and Marco have 61 combined Indy 500 starts. While they have just the lone win, there are plenty of other numbers worth mentioning. They have started on pole four times and have a total of 11 front-row starts. Their average starting positions (8.7 Mario, 10.6 Michael, 10.4 Marco) are all very similar with Michael having the slight edge over Marco in terms of the best average finish (11.8 to 12.4) in the race.
Michael made 16 starts in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, and Marco will make his 17th next Sunday, which makes 250 in his career. Marco has completed more laps than his father (3,000 to 2,653) but Michael has the overwhelming edge in laps led with 431 to Marco’s 141. In fact, Michael owns the record for the most laps led by a driver that has never won the race.
That is an accurate representation of the amount of heartbreak that Michael suffered during his career at Indianapolis. Mario managed to finish all 500 miles of the race five times in his 29 starts. By comparison, Michael did so just four times. That is an eye-opening statistic when you consider the reliability issues that drivers faced during Mario’s era.
We all know the story of how the 2006 race played out, and how it ended. Nobody knows that more than Marco, who is constantly reminded of that epic finish in his rookie year. Now 16 years later, Marco returns to his second home with the same appetite for victory, but an even greater hunger.
For the second consecutive year, Marco is not running the full season schedule….
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