The bravest Andretti

Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images for NASCAR
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emailBy: Robin Miller | 10 hours ago
John’s racing career was as fly-by-night as it was diverse. Yes his last name was Andretti but father Aldo didn’t have the money necessary to send him up the ladder so he went from midgets to sprints to Indy cars the old fashioned way – he earned it.
“John drove my midget for two years, then he ran part-time and we were in Belleville, Kansas one night, just the two of us, and we were struggling,” recalled Rollie Helmling, whose Harold’s Super Markets funded his racing before he became president of USAC.
John aboard one of Rollie Helmling’s midgets. Image by Ken Hopkins

“He got a call from Cary Agajanian who told him that Mike Curb had just fired Tom Sneva and they wanted him to run the Skoal Bandit Indy car at Road America,” Helmling added. “They sent a contract and John was reading it and said he wasn’t sure about a couple of things and I screamed at him: ‘John, we’re in the middle of Kansas, you need a job and it’s Dan Gurney’s car – now sign that thing.’ He did, I was the witness and that got him going.”

Andretti finished sixth in that 1987 IndyCar debut, then drove for Curb full-time in 1988 before going with Vince Granatelli and then Derrick Walker in 1990.

“John drove our Porsche (pictured below) with Teo Fabi and he was such a good guy and put a lot of effort into his racing,” said Walker. “He had a great sense of humor and not a malicious bone in his body and I never saw him use the Andretti name to get him anything. He was not a silver spoon driver — he worked hard to find sponsors and was always focused on his career.”



His lone IndyCar victory came in 1991 for Jim Hall at Surfers Paradise and following a couple of Indy 500 drives for A.J. Foyt, Andretti headed south. He became a NASCAR full-timer in 1993 and had a good decade in stock cars – winning for Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

His 12th and final Indy 500 start came in 2011 yet he never severed his ties with the charity he started in 1997 – The Race for Riley – a go-kart race with proceeds for Riley Children’s Hospital which has raised over $4 million. Even in his weakened condition last October he was in Indianapolis to present a check to the kids.

“John was so caring and sharing and it amazed me how he could endure what he did and still smile through the pain and be so thoughtful,” said Helmling. “These last few months have been so tough and Michael (Andretti) flew him up here in November and I spent an hour with him and he knew he was headed for hospice but he still had such a spirit. That’s the ultimate courage.”

There have been better racers than John Andretti but I never met anybody who faced death with as much grit, heart, benevolence and dignity. In this fast, famous family he should always be remembered as the bravest.



John Andretti, IndyCar, Insights & Analysis, NASCAR