- Aldo Andretti
Aldo Andretti (born
February 28 ,1940 in Montona d'Istria,Italy (nowMotovun ,Croatia )) is the twin brother ofMario Andretti and the father ofJohn Andretti andAdam Andretti . He is the uncle ofMichael Andretti andJeff Andretti , and great-uncle toMarco Andretti .Background
Aldo and Mario were born in Italy, where they were inspired by watching the great
Alberto Ascari race at Monza. AfterWorld War II Istria (which is now part of Croatia) was occupied and annexed by Yugoslavia. His family, like many other ItalianIstrians , fled in 1948. They lived in arefugee camp from 1948 to 1955. The family settled inNazareth, Pennsylvania and the brothers discovered racing on an oval track in their home town.Racing career
Aldo and Mario rebuilt a 1948
Hudson Hornet into a stock car in 1959, and began racing it. They flipped a coin to see who would race in the first race. Aldo won the coin toss, the heat race and the feature. [ [http://www.c16mag.com/pacenote_item.aspx?cid=1410 "Mario Andretti: Living Legend"] ; Nick Stecher;May 22 2007 ; RetrievedJune 18 2007 ] They each had two wins after the first four weeks. Aldo fractured his skull in a serious crash near the end of the season. He recovered from his coma, and he returned the following season. [http://www.espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/andretti_mario.html Super Mario had speed to burn] ; Larry Schwartz;ESPN .com, RetrievedJuly 12 2007 ]Aldo continued racing on the USAC and IMCA circuits, but in 1969 Aldo suffered severe damage to his face after crashing into a fence and quit racing. His face had 14 fractures to his facial bones. Mario described the accident in his book "What's it like out there": "Aldo continued racing until August 17, 1969, when he had an accident, which was not his fault, in an IMCA sprint race at
Des Moines, Iowa . He was driving a sprint car that I had bought for him." [ [http://forums.atlasf1.com/printthread.php?threadid=88407] "What's it like out there"; 1970; page 46; RetrievedJanuary 18 2007 ] Mario went on to win theIndianapolis 500 , theDaytona 500 , and theFormula One World Championship.References
External links
* [http://www.andretti.com Andretti Family Official Web Site] .
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