Mario Andretti

Italian-American auto racer along with his twin brother Aldo. He began racing when he was 13, driving in the Formula Junior class in Italy, 1953. The boys came to America in 1955 and began racing the following year.

He achieved his goal of winning in every category of auto racing from dirt-road drag races in rural Pennsylvania to the Indy-500, which he won four times. He was Indy 500 Rookie of the year in 1965 when he finished third. His 1993 Phoenix victory made him the oldest winner in recorded Indy history. He spent the early '60s traveling East and Midwest racing circuits with his family, eating fast food, occasionally sleeping in his car and sometimes showering his sons with garden hose in infield of dirt tracks.

He was injured in an accident in 1966 with six broken ribs, and in 1969 when his face was scorched in a flame-out. In 1997 he retired from racing, becoming a vintner with a 53-acre vineyard in the Napa Valley.

Andretti met Dee Ann when she tutored him in correspondence courses and they married in 1961; two sons and a daughter. His son Michael followed the family tradition, making the Long Beach race the first victory of his Indy-car career in 1986.

He owns a Lamborghini Diablo and Countach, Mercedes 600 SEL, a Chevy Corvette, Ford Bronco and van, and enjoys water skiing, power-boating, snowmobiling, motorcycles, golf and flying ultra-lights. His Indy 500 earning have amounted to $2,628,419.