Vukovich Got Mario Andretti Interested in Auto Racing

    1969 Indianapolis 500 Winner Winner Mario Andretti became fascinated in auto racing and the Indy 500 listening to Bill Vukovich win his two Indy 500s on the radio.

     When asked at the 2006 Indy 500 Victory Celebration if he became interested in Indy because of Vukovich as rumored he said that it was "absolutely true."

    At the celebration, in which his son and grandson received second and third place prizes, Mario said he was completely captivated hearing Vukovich drive to victory and particularly by his winning average speed in 1953 which was above 200 kilometers per hour.

     "That was a real milestone. It was just incredible to me that a car could average that kind of speed for 500 miles", the legend commented.

     He then wanted to be a race driver but Andretti said that after Vukovich was killed in 1955 as well as renowned Italian driver Alberto Ascari three weeks later, his father was adamant that he not take up the occupation.

     "My father told me not to be a race driver, that it was too dangerous. But I decided to continue on anyway", Andretti said.

     Ascari drove at Indianapolis himself in 1952, the only Ferrari ever in an Indy race, and was a hero in Italy. When he died at Monza the event was a huge national loss in Italy.

     But Andretti said he could not resist the urge. And the rest is history – a whole lot of history.