{"id":459956,"date":"2003-07-01T06:30:36","date_gmt":"2003-07-01T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=106796"},"modified":"2024-02-20T09:34:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:34:01","slug":"still-the-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/still-the-champ\/","title":{"rendered":"Still the Champ"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anyone who saw the terrifying tape of Mario Andretti\u2019s 200-mph \u201cblowover\u201d at Indi\u00adanapolis on April 23rd will easily visualize the same guy booting Duncan Dayton\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apparently he has trouble remembering he\u2019s 63. And who among us doesn\u2019t share that problem? Heck, I\u2019m 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 \u2013 off the track, twice or thrice. So, I\u2019m nobody to tell people they\u2019re too old for anything they love to do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who saw the terrifying tape of Mario Andretti\u2019s 200-mph \u201cblowover\u201d at Indi\u00adanapolis on April 23rd will easily visualize the same guy booting Duncan Dayton\u2019s 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\u2019s 63. And who among us doesn\u2019t share that problem? Heck, I\u2019m practically his age, and the very same day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":817965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11272,261,18207],"tags":[18322,17152,17140,548,11308,17143,17204],"class_list":["post-459956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-special-feature","tag-2000s-all","tag-car-culture","tag-members-only","tag-motorsport","tag-mario-andretti","tag-special-feature","tag-vrr-column-fast-lines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Still the Champ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pete Lyons takes part in Formula One\u2019s return to the Long Beach Grand Prix and rediscovers what made Mario a champion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/still-the-champ\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/still-the-champ\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still the Champ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pete Lyons takes part in Formula One\u2019s return to the Long Beach Grand Prix and rediscovers what made Mario a champion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/still-the-champ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-07-01T13:30:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-20T09:34:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/FL200307-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete Lyons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pete Lyons\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/still-the-champ\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/still-the-champ\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pete Lyons\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f\"},\"headline\":\"Still the Champ\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-07-01T13:30:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-20T09:34:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/still-the-champ\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1159,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/still-the-champ\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2003\\\/07\\\/FL200307-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2000s All\",\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; 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