Happy Birthday Mario Andretti!

Happy Birthday to Mario Andretti, 1978 F1 World Champion, who's 70 today! Mario was born in Montana, Italy on 28th February 1940. He later emigrated to America with his family in 1955, and raced pretty much everything -dirt track cars, stock cars, midgets, dragsters, sprint cars, sports cars, IndyCars, and eventually Formula 1 cars in 1968 for Lotus, putting the car on pole brilliantly for his debut race. His first F1 Grand Prix victory followed three years later for Ferrari, before a return to Colin Chapman's JPS Lotus team brought him the crown in 1978. Mario tried his luck in a variety of other teams including, STP March, Parnelli, Alfa Romeo, and Williams before rounding off his F1 career at Ferrari again.

After Formula 1, Mario returned full-time to Indycar, achieving a fourth title in 1984 before hanging up his gloves in 1994 at the ripe old age of 54, as one of the most successful American racing drivers ever! Mario's incredible pedigree -F1 World Champion, four times IndyCar Champion, Indy 500 Winner, Daytona 500 Winner, and... the list goes on... has paved the way for his sons, grandsons and nephews to follow in his wheel tracks, though they'll have to go some to match his success!

Our birthday boy is pictured at Fuji, Japan in 1976, after possibly his best victory in F1. Despite the treacherous wet and misty conditions, which caused the start to be heavily delayed (hence the floodlights!), Mario drove superbly in his Lotus, battling with second and third placed drivers Patrick Depailler (right) and James Hunt (left), to win by a lap!

Mario continues to live life at a fairly good pace, and when not watching over his kid's racing endeavours, he keeps busy running a racing school, a winery, a chain of petrol stations and doing various media appearances including his voice being used in the animated feature film Cars, where he "plays" a 1967 Ford Fairlane!

Long may Mario's "retirement" continue! Happy Birthday!