By Mike Kerchner

HARRISBURG, N.C.
Not long before the Indianapolis 500, we enjoyed an interesting phone conversation with legendary racing car driver Mario Andretti.
Now retired, the 67-year-old 1978 World Driving Champion sits back and watches his grandson, Marco, race in the IndyCar Series on a four-car team fielded by Mario’s son, Michael.
Watching is different for Mario than driving was, but when asked if racing is better today or when he was driving, the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner doesn’t hesitate.
“I’d say it is better,” he says. “As a purist, I can go back and say in the days where the sport was not as commercial. We had more freedom to move around and be more versatile. We hadn’t reached a point of maximum performance where the performance than the human element. Now we are backing things down and getting into a spec series situation. But the safety is a plus. It is safer than ever.”
And it’s that safety record that lets Mario rest easy while his 20-year-old namesake is racing at more than 200 miles per hour.
“The fact we finally got smart from the middle 80s on and started really addressing safety vigorously both on the driver and the track side, the modern sport has benefited from that so much,” Andretti explained. “I don’t think the sport could have continued to prosper if we had had a mortality rate the way it was — and we were almost accepting it in the 60s and 70s.
“It was dangerous, and the chances were you were going to die before your career is over. All of that has changed so dramatically.”
Andretti acknowledged he didn’t think he’d still be around to watch his grandson race.
“I lost some of my best friends early on, and I saw many others injured very badly,” Andretti remembered. “Jimmy McGuire, we were traveling together when he was killed. Billy Foster, we were rooming together when he was killed and things like that. Ronnie Peterson and on and on. Those things hit really close to home.”
Andretti said he was never fixated on death, but he was prepared for it.
“I never dwelled on it. Because if you dwelled on it you just would not do it (race). You always had that feeling that ‘It is not going to be me,’ and that had to prevail,” he explained. “But deep down, did I think I would be able to retire and see my life through? No.
“I thought somewhere along the way, it might be me. There were a couple incidents where I thought this could be it. You just accepted it,” he continued. “If you were going to do it, the love and the passion for it just superceded all the other reasoning, and that’s how I dealt with it. I could not picture myself doing anything else, so I took the calculated risk and hoped for the best.”
Andretti and his family were prepared just in case.
“I always went to confession,” Andretti said laughing loudly, “so that I was ready and I wouldn’t go straight to hell.
“But you always had that inner feeling that you try to do the things to make sure you have everything in place to take care of your family, and I did. Fortunately, I had the time to reflect on this and it didn’t catch me off guard. Deep down I was pretty much prepared that it could happen to me, or was very likely to happen to me.”
Andretti acknowledges that auto racing was built on danger.
“Danger is part of the allure, but it is all a calculated risk,” he said. “So many elements are in place today to protect from serious injuries. I’d say 99 percent of today’s drivers will enjoy a decision to retire on their own terms. That’s huge…. As a grandfather and a father, that gives me much more of a sense of peace.
“The good days are here today in my opinion.”