They have a great name but seem to have to trouble winning the Indianapolis 500. After sixty-five attempts the Andretti’s have won only once – Mario Andretti in 1969.
Compare this to the Unsers who have won nine times. A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears Al Unser snr all won four times. Bobby Unsers has three victories and we may see Helio Castroneves go on to win maybe 5-6 times.
Of course Penske Racing has won it 15 times with many drivers including Mears, Emo, Sullivan, Bobby & Al Unsers along with Castroneves, de Ferran; going back to Donahue in 1972.
That is why I am surprised that if Danica Patrick was serious about winning the Indy 500, she would leave Andretti's and go with a team that can win Indy. Same with Tony Kanaan.... that is why they still mention "the Andretti curse."
Mario Andretti led one year right up until the end when his fuel pump failed,again struck down by the "Andretti curse"!
Michael and Marco have both been close to winning it but they never did... well so far anyway.... Mario was 2nd in 1981 (to Bobby Unser) and 1985 (to D.Sullivan) and 3rd in 1965 (to Jim Clark & Parnelli Jones) while Michael was 2nd in 1991 (to Rick Mears) & 3rd in 2001 (to Helio & de Ferran).
Then of course Sam Hornish beat Marco recently: Notice how many times a PENSKE driver beat them!
"You have to know how to win this race"
I went there three times with Centerline cars and we had trouble making the race! One year we were fast enough to make the middle of the field with a "V8 stock block" when Steve Krisiloff lost control in turn one when a gust of wind caught him out, on the morning of qualifying - stuffed the car, broke his legs etc. I think it was his last attempt in 11-12 tries, he was even 4th one year (1978) behind Al Unser, Tom Sneva & Gordon Johncock (all Indy 500 winners!)
Even when Sammy Swindell made the field for C-line, he got bumped out! The only time we made the race and finished was 1982 when we sold the car and all equipment to Hall Bros. & Grant King (HBK). Tom Bigelow drove the car, qual. 31st on the last day of qualifying and finished 18th four laps down after fixing an oil leak in the rocker cover during the race ( we never worked on it, just collected the cash for Ray and watched the race!)
That was the year Kevin Cogan took out Mario Andretti and Foyt at the start along with Roger Mears and Dale Whittington etc. Gordy Johncock beat Rick Mears that year by 0.16 of a second in one of the closest ever finishes... (a Penske never won that one). Pat Patrick won... which turned into Target Ganassi, another winning team!!
Some teams win... others just race and fill up the field and that includes the Andretti team!!
The Indy 500, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" and it all began in 1911, Tuesday the 30th of May!! won by Ray Harroun, the first car ever to have a 'rear view mirror'
