Top 55 Mario Andretti Quotes

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

I love all motor sports at the top level.

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

Staging Formula One is incredibly expensive.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Long Beach is the best. I tell everyone that.

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.

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.

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.

Nothing compares to the Indianapolis 500.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

At Andretti Winery, I’m not the winemaker.

I still have the competitive spirit, which is good.

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.

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

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

I always say that every win has something that is special.

I don’t want to go out there and do something 3,000 other people can do.

Nobody had race savvy like Al Unser in his prime.

Foreign players is what makes golf so popular now.

Tom Carnegie will never be replaced.

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.

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.

Everything comes to those who wait… except a cat.

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.

I look at myself as the luckiest man alive.

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

A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments.

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.

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