Marco Andretti to surpass father with 17th start at Indianapolis 500

Marco Andretti doesn’t wish to be on the observe if he’s not racing. He’ll watch on tv, although, and provide recommendation from 650 miles away.

Andretti was at residence in Nazareth, watching Andretti Autosport race the highway course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway final week when he had an concept: Colton Herta may pit early and possibly win the race.

So Andretti texted the thought — in the course of the race — to Herta’s father, Bryan. As strategist for his son, the elder Herta referred to as Colton in two laps earlier than deliberate and ended the day in victory lane.

“I used to be actually on the horn with Bryan. That’s enjoyable to me,” Andretti mentioned.

It validated Andretti’s expertise as a strategist, however the third-generation racer doesn’t envision himself sitting atop a pit field and calling one other driver’s race. As an alternative he’s transitioning into semi-retirement and discovering his method as one thing apart from an IndyCar driver from considered one of motorsports’ famed households.

Andretti walked away from his full-time trip after the 2020 season and solely returned for final yr’s Indianapolis 500. He’s again once more this month for a seventeenth try at profitable the race that has tormented his household; Mario Andretti, his grandfather, has the one victory amongst 5 totally different Andrettis there.

When Marco begins the Could 29 race, he’ll move his father in profession begins. Dad Michael Andretti went 0 for 16, whereas Mario Andretti’s 1969 victory was his solely win in 29 begins.

“I feel I’m extra like my grandfather, I simply take pleasure in driving,” Marco Andretti mentioned. “This yr I’m going to have extra begins than Dad, which is loopy to me. When he tries to inform me one thing, I can say he doesn’t know what he’s speaking about now.”

Michael Andretti is the Indy 500 strategist for his 35-year-old son, who got here to his personal determination to shift away from the household enterprise.

Andretti Autosport struggled to search out sponsorship for Marco forward of 2021 and he’d had sufficient, anyway. Racing wasn’t all that enjoyable anymore, and 9 straight seasons with no victory had taken its toll.

The Andretti’s have invested a lot into the Indy 500, and when Marco lastly had his personal second within the highlight, it solely resulted in one other disappointment. Marco received the pole in 2020 — when the race was run in August with out spectators due to the pandemic — however he didn’t even lead the primary lap and completed a crushing thirteenth.

His finest end over the remaining seven races of that 2020 season was fifteenth and he fell out of eligibility for the IndyCar prize fund that helps financially assist full-time groups. It was then that Marco determined he’d had sufficient.

“What I put into it, I felt like I wasn’t getting that out for numerous causes,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, the Andrettis can’t avoid the five hundred. Marco completed an unremarkable nineteenth final season, and this yr’s Indy 500 will likely be his first IndyCar occasion in a yr.

“That is the one which I stay my life round,” he mentioned. “I get jealous right here and there. I’m like, ‘Ah man, I want I used to be there.’ However a whole lot of occasions I don’t. Plenty of occasions when it’s 100 levels on the market, I’m good watching.”

He lives his life the way in which he chooses now. He’ll return to Tony Stewart’s six-race summer season exhibition collection for a second season when it resumes June 18. He’d prefer to run in IMSA sports activities automobiles, however solely within the prime class as a result of he’s solely curious about operating for wins.

Apart from that, he has enterprise pursuits outdoors of racing and doesn’t envision a job for himself ought to his father ultimately land the Components One workforce he’s pursuing.

Stepping away from racing has been liberating in all points of his life, he mentioned, even fan interactions.

“You signal 100 autographs and the one hundred and first individual goes to hate you, however you attempt to spend extra time, attempt to put extra of a smile in your face, which I feel is coming pure with my determination,” he mentioned. “I’ve been capable of mildew my life the way in which I wish to do it now, and even go have enjoyable on SRX and do enjoyable stuff. It nonetheless retains me within the recreation. I’m not absolutely retired. It retains me working, and I put all my vitality into this race. I’m good with out the grind of a full season.”