(born
October 5 ,
1962 in
Bethlehem ,
Pennsylvania ) is a former professional racing driver who now runs a team in the
Indy Racing League . He is the son of
Mario Andretti , one of the most recognizable autoracing drivers of all time.
Michael Andretti started his racing career at the wheel of a 1980
Formula Ford . In
1981 , he won six of the 11 Super Vee races and went on to win the championship. After that, he went into
Formula Atlantic , where he won the Formula Atlantic Championship. During that same year, he made his
Champ Car debut and also finished third in the
Le Mans 24 Hours . In
1985 , he won the Indianapolis
Rookie Of The Year award. He went on to win his first Indy race in
1986 , finishing as championship runner-up that year and the next year He took his sole Champ Car championship in 1991.
As a driver, he is remembered for being unlucky at the
Indianapolis 500 . At the
1991 Indianapolis 500 , he finished 2nd to winner
Rick Mears . The next year, he dominated the race but with less than 10 laps to go, his engine blew up on turn 2, and he finished the
1992 Indianapolis 500 in 13th place.
He joined the
McLaren Formula 1 team for 1993, alongside the great
Ayrton Senna , but was not a success. A string of collisions meant that he only completed three laps in his first three races, and he never fully got up to speed in Formula 1 cars. He commuted to races and test sessions from the U.S., which many feel contributed to his downfall. His third place at
Monza was perceived as too little, too late, and he mutually agreed to leave the team and the championship.
After being replaced from the
McLaren team by Finnish ace
Mika Häkkinen , Andretti returned to the
Champ Car series, where he proved very successful, finishing as runner-up in 1996. In
2003 , he began running his own Indy Racing League team, known as Andretti Green Racing, having bought into the "Team Green" squad Kim Green ran with his brother Barry Green, and moved it from the
Champ Car series.
An Andretti Green Racing driver,
Dan Wheldon , won the
2005 Indianapolis 500 . Andretti has announced that he will return to the driver's seat for the
2006 Indianapolis 500 in a one-off effort to assist the development of his son,
Marco , an IRL rookie in
2006 .
(Note: grands prix in denote '''points scoring''' races.)
