Mario Andretti Quotes

I think it's counterproductive in many ways to pretend to know things you don't. You surround yourself with people who are the real experts.

- Mario Andretti

A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments.

- Mario Andretti

There's something special about racing in real streets. The 'artificial' circuits have a certain sameness to them. But every race conducted on real streets has a character of its own - Barcelona, Monaco, and now Long Beach.

- Mario Andretti

At Indy, we are the NASA of the production-car world, and that's clearly why manufacturers are involved - it's such a good testbed.

- Mario Andretti

If the Indy Racing League didn't have the Indianapolis 500, do you think it would have lasted more than six months? No chance.

- Mario Andretti

The banked oval tracks are obsolete tracks for Indy cars.

- Mario Andretti

You're safer in the race car than you are in cars going to and from the track.

- Mario Andretti

With tennis, you can go pick up a racket, take a lesson, and understand how much talent and skill it takes to be as good as the top pros. Same with golf: pick up a club. But not many can go out and get in a race car and experience a drive at over 200 miles an hour.

- Mario Andretti

The United States is the only country where a driver can have a successful career - either in stock cars or IndyCar - and he won't need a passport.

- Mario Andretti

Whatever the changes, from one era to the next, Pocono has maintained its character and significance to me, and it always will. My family shares this sentiment.

- Mario Andretti

The most important thing at Daytona is, are you going to have friends willing to work with you during the race as far as drafting? You've got to have friends out there. You can't do it alone. You form those relationships as the race moves along.

- Mario Andretti

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

- Mario Andretti

I look at myself as the luckiest man alive.

- Mario Andretti

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

- Mario Andretti

Do it no matter what. If you believe in it, it is something very honorable. If somebody around you or your family does not understand it, then that's their problem. But if you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it.

- Mario Andretti

I see all these old people who don't have anything to do but eat, drink and sleep. I will never say 'retired' because that's such a finality that I don't want to be part of my life. I'll work until they throw me in a box.

- Mario Andretti

Whenever you're aggressive, you're at the edge of mistakes.

- Mario Andretti

In NASCAR, you can do a lot of banging around and get pretty serious and even get yourself upside down. All of those things can happen - and then you give an interview two seconds later.

- Mario Andretti

I lived the true American dream, because I was able to pursue what I set as my goals at a very young age.

- Mario Andretti

I wanted to have a career that would last a hundred years if possible.

- Mario Andretti

Nobody had race savvy like Al Unser in his prime.

- Mario Andretti

Tom Carnegie will never be replaced.

- Mario Andretti

Al Unser Sr. was one of the smartest drivers I've ever raced against. And I often said, I wish I could've had some of his patience. I know it would have worked for me many times.

- Mario Andretti

Unfortunately, we don't educate drivers enough to be respectful on the road.

- Mario Andretti

There is so much more demand for Formula One than it can supply. You have governments investing in circuits all over the world, and the private sector sometimes has a tough time competing with that.

- Mario Andretti

From a prestige standpoint, the U.S. needs to host Formula 1. And I think Formula 1, they know they need the U.S. as well. So many companies that are global are based in the United States support Formula 1.

- Mario Andretti

In the U.S., we really have fallen short of road-racing facilities that have kept up with the times, unfortunately, but it's a fact.

- Mario Andretti

I love technology - yes, I have fallen in love with older cars, but I'm all for new technology.

- Mario Andretti

My wife loves football, but I think she's resigned to the fact that I'll never make it there.

- Mario Andretti

It makes great conversation to discuss what's wrong with open-wheel racing today.

- Mario Andretti

The day of parochialism in sports is over. The world is too small for what people like to call 'the good old days.' Fans want the best, wherever they come from.

- Mario Andretti

You do a period of go-karting until you're at the age of qualifying for a ride in a 'school-kart,' then you qualify for driving school. And several of the driving schools have a competition series for their own students.

- Mario Andretti

The man upstairs is pushing the buttons, and if your name happens to be on that button, well, thank you.

- Mario Andretti

If you weren't on Chris Economaki's radar screen, you probably weren't on anybody's.

- Mario Andretti

My last race was at Le Mans in 2000, my first race was in 1959, so I dodged a lot of bullets along the way, I can tell you that.

- Mario Andretti

Staging Formula One is incredibly expensive.

- Mario Andretti

Every NASCAR driver watches Formula One in the morning; they are well informed.

- Mario Andretti

You should never get away from where the real foundation of Formula One has been, which is Europe. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the expansion to countries like Asia, China, Malaysia.

- Mario Andretti

What I learned is that in business you must make decisions based on facts, not react with your heart.

- Mario Andretti

As far as I'm concerned, Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era. He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won with everything he put his hands on, including off-road.

- Mario Andretti

Foreign players is what makes golf so popular now.

- Mario Andretti

It seemed like whenever I got a bona fide offer from Ferrari, I couldn't do it. And vice versa - when I was ready, their seats were taken. We always had a relationship, but what's important is that I pretty much started my F1 career with them and ended it there, too.

- Mario Andretti

You see people in the left lane, and as long as they are on the speed limit, they stay there. Get in the right lane and let people pass you - let the police worry about somebody who wants to speed. Don't force them pass in the right lane and zig zag, which can create an accident, just because you think you're correct.

- Mario Andretti

If you're so afraid of failure, you will never succeed. You have to take chances.

- Mario Andretti

I don't have any feeling of accomplishment about anything unless there's a lot of risk to it.

- Mario Andretti

If a neighbor is killed in a car accident, do you sell your car and stop driving?

- Mario Andretti

When you start thinking you may get hurt, it's time to get out of racing.

- Mario Andretti

Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.

- Mario Andretti

All of the courses that run through real streets are very demanding. There is no room for error, no shoulders to lean on. If you go off the road, you're into somebody's shop-window or front porch.

- Mario Andretti

When a car's ahead of you, as long as you can see it, you get a tow, just like the draft in NASCAR. Even if it's a long ways down the track, it punches a hole in the air that has to help. When you're running alone, you can feel the difference, and it shows on the clock, too.

- Mario Andretti

A father-son relationship is strong, like no other teammates. You could be straightforward with one another.

- Mario Andretti

Not all teammates tell the truth.

- Mario Andretti

Motor racing is like one big family, ultimately, and when you come back to it, that's really what it feels like.

- Mario Andretti

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

- Mario Andretti

I like to think that the Grand Prix helped Long Beach to pretty much change its image.

- Mario Andretti

I've driven just about every kind of car there is.

- Mario Andretti

If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.

- Mario Andretti

I don't remember as a kid wanting to do or be anything else but drive something, be a race driver.

- Mario Andretti

Age doesn't affect driving - how do you like that?

- Mario Andretti

I count my blessings every day, quite honestly, because I take nothing for granted.

- Mario Andretti

You dream what you're supposed to do.

- Mario Andretti

Anybody who can drive and doesn't come out of it a rich man is a fool.

- Mario Andretti

Everything comes to those who wait... except a cat.

- Mario Andretti

You do the best you can with what's thrown at you, then you try again.

- Mario Andretti

I've always said, 'I didn't have a Plan B in life.' I was in pursuit of my dream from the very beginning. It's all about desire and passion. At all costs.

- Mario Andretti

I love all motor sports at the top level.

- Mario Andretti

I still have the competitive spirit, which is good.

- Mario Andretti

Can the U.S. support two Formula 1 races? I think so.

- Mario Andretti

Long Beach is the best. I tell everyone that.

- Mario Andretti

Quite honestly, I treat myself with cars I really want to drive, and I have some flexibility to do that.

- Mario Andretti

I wish we could be 100% shielded from danger, but nothing is in life.

- Mario Andretti

Nothing compares to the Indianapolis 500.

- Mario Andretti