Mario Andretti synonymous with racing
By Larry Schwartz
Special to ESPN.com
[HR][/HR] Vroom! That sound you hear is Mario Andretti speeding around the track. Whether it was Indy, Formula One, Formula 5000 or Sprint cars, he proved himself a winner at all levels of competition in his 36-year career. Let's look at Andretti's record:

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[TD] Mario Andretti rounds the corner during the 1994 IndyCar grand prix of Long Beach.[HR][/HR][/TD]
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Only person to be named Driver of the Year in three decades -- 1967, 1978 and 1984.

Only driver to win the Daytona 500, Indy 500 and Formula One world title.

Four-time Indy car national champion.

One of only three drivers to win races on paved ovals, road courses and dirt tracks in one season -- a feat he accomplished four times.

At the age of 53, he set the then-world closed-course speed record of 234.275 mph in qualifying at the Michigan International Speedway in 1993.

With his 52nd (and final) Indy car victory (also his 100th major career victory) at the Phoenix 200 in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win Indy car races in four decades and the first to win races in five decades. Mario and his twin brother Aldo were born Feb. 28, 1940, in Montona, Italy, about the time World War II broke out. When the war ended, the borders were in dispute and the peninsula of Istria, where the town of Montona was located, fell under Communist rule. From 1948 to 1955, the family lived in a refugee camp. Finally granted a United States visa after waiting several years, the Andrettis began their new lives in the U.S. in June 1955. Settling in Nazareth, Pa., the family of five had $125 and didn't speak English.
The twins worked in an uncle's garage and in 1959 began racing a 1948 Hudson Hornet Sportsman Stock Car. They took turns behind the wheel, and in their first four races, each won twice. In the last race of the season, Aldo crashed, fracturing his skull. But he returned to competition a year later and raced another 10 years. He retired in 1969 after another major accident caused substantial facial injuries.
Meanwhile, Mario's career flourished from the start, as he won 20 races in the modified stock class in his first two seasons. His first Indy car appearance was on April 19, 1964 in Trenton, N.J., where he finished 11th after starting 16th. A year later, he won his first Indy car race (the Hoosier Grand Prix), earned Rookie of the Year honors at the Indianapolis 500 (he finished third) and won the first of his four Indy car championships.