GRAND MARSHAL

2019 GRAND MARSHAL MARIO ANDRETTI

PUBLIC AUTOGRAPH SESSION • SATURDAY, APRIL 6 • 12:30-2PM • INDYCAR FAN VILLAGE

Mario Andretti is a racing icon, considered by many to be the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport.

He was born in Italy and didn’t emigrate to the United States until age fifteen.  At 19, he began racing stock cars in Pennsylvania and that was the start of an illustrious career that saw the versatile driver compete and win in every discipline he entered – midgets, sprint cars, dirt track cars, stock cars, IndyCars, Formula One, Formula 5000 and sports cars.

His achievements became legendary:  The world watched as he won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and ultimately the Formula One World Championship, an unprecedented trifecta.  No other race car driver has ever won all three titles.  Mario took the checkered flag 111 times during his career – a career that stretched five decades and across six continents.

Today he is a successful businessman off the track, serving as spokesman, associate and friend to top executives around the world.

He has received hundreds of awards and recognitions.  Among the most prestigious, he was named Driver of the Century, he was knighted by his native Italy, and the Library of Congress in Washington DC added him to its Living Legends list.  And on the lighter side, but undoubtedly affirmation of his charisma and popularity, he was in the first Pixar Cars movie voicing himself and GQ Magazine named him one of “The 25 Coolest Athletes of All Time”.

2018 – CHANNING TATUM

2017 – ASIMO

2016 – SARA EVANS

2015 – DEONTAY WILDER