Even at this grainy remove, it’s still startling, though, how quickly it happens: the car hitting the turn 4 wall and erupting into a fireball, shedding wheels and bodywork as it slides across the track toward the infield, not yet fully stopped when a figure in white improbably leaps from the wreckage and runs to the fence. Later McGee discovered that the gearbox inside the car was totally dry and the ball bearings 'were ready to fall out.' Memorial day in 1969 was Mario’s day.You can find the footage on YouTube, a faded Kodachrome snippet recalling the Zapruder film.

Andretti later said that because he was running 270-degree oil temperatures throughout the entire race his whole back was burned.Īndretti won the race in three hours, 11 minutes and 14.71 seconds, nearly two minutes ahead of second place Dan Gurney. The car was so hot inside the cockpit he got blisters on his back.

The only thing he had left to fight was distraction and discomfort. Ruby fell out on lap 105 and from there on, as long as the car didn't overheat, the race was Andretti's. Andretti's lone concern then became Lloyd Ruby. Slowly Foyt and McCluskey dropped out due to mechanical problems. Slowing down dropped the temperatures into a more comfortable range but he was going to have to bide his time. Then he looked down and all the temperature gauges showed hot so he had to back off. Andretti shot into the lead, beating Foyt to the corner. He had no idea whether the Hawk was going to survive 500 miles without overheating. Embarrassed, Andretti enlisted the help of an impostor to fill in for him at the traditional front-row photo shoot - his twin brother, Aldo.Īndretti later said he didn't even think Foyt noticed.Īndretti's problem wasn't pace. Foyt and Bobby Unser.Īndretti suffered burns on his face from the crash.

Despite getting only a day-and-a-half of practice, Andretti qualified on the front row between pole-sitter A.J. McGee questioned the running gear, Colin Chapman used Formula One hubs and uprights.Ī post-mortem showed an overall structural weakness in the hubs, so Chapman withdrew the Lotus cars he’d built for not only Andretti but Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill.Īndretti and Company pivoted to the Hawk.

Andretti dominated the speed charts in the Lotus during practice, then two days before the time trials, he suffered a horrific crash. It was very fast but Clint Brawner and Jim McGee - his co-chief mechanics - loathed it.

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