Special Feature

Still the Champ

Pete Lyons
Mario Andretti, driving his Lotus 79, leads the pack into Turn 1 at the start of the 1978 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Andretti would retire after 27 laps with engine trouble. Photo: Pete Lyons

Anyone who saw the terrifying tape of Mario Andretti’s 200-mph “blowover” at Indi­anapolis on April 23rd will easily visualize the same guy booting Duncan Dayton’s Lotus 79 around Long Beach 11 days earlier. No, happily, the historic F1 car came back unscathed. But Mario, a racer of legendary stature, sure still loves to gas it.

Apparently he has trouble remembering he’s 63. And who among us doesn’t share that problem? Heck, I’m practically his age, and the very same day that Mario was executing his telegenic multiple backflip-cum-cartwheel at Indy, I was throwing karts around a track in Riverside – off the track, twice or thrice. So, I’m nobody to tell people they’re too old for anything they love to do.

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