So, I am going to Indianapolis on Monday night and while walking through first class to steerage I see Mario Andretti sitting inthe second row on the isle.

I could see him from my seat in the second row of steerage. I thought I would get an autograph when we got into the air. Foiled by the "first class curtain" I asked the Flight Attendant if she would ask him to sign something for me, explaining to her it was my first race win on Sunday ever. She oblidged me and took my final results sheet up to him and then she walked away. A couple minutes later she came back with it signed. "Erik, Great Job!" signed Mario Andretti. It was pretty cool. Although I have been around racers during my travels (Bob Wollek,Hans Stuck,Al Holbert....) I had never met Andretti.

After the flight I saw him walking in the terminal and introduced myself and thanked him for the kind words. I am the type that feels celebs deserve some privacy, so I tried to end our conversation and walk, But he asked if I wanted to talk racing for a few minutes. Which we did. He asked about my race and the car and what I was doing in Indy. It was nice of him to take the time, and you can see the fire still burns bright with him.
He asked about the Runoffs and we discussed qualifying for the race. See the Picture !


Erik Madsen

Sweet!

Thats cool

Damn Curtain!

If only you had a lighter with you and it wasn't flameproof!

Erik,
That's really neat. I hope you frame it. Autograph is cool, but your race results + kudos from Mario =

-Ben M.

Why doesn't he use Micheal's private jet?

Nice to hear he treated you right.

Paul

Ya gott love that. It's great to meet the legends!

very cool
one of the all time greats, and a class act to boot.

Double cool! The win and the autograph!

Definately one of the all time greatest drivers but more than that he is a class act. I've seen many a driver take a fit (AJ Foyt is the worst) but Mario has always had a coolness about him no matter what he does.
Great for you, I am jealous.

That is awesome, it's nice to see people like that are polite and humble. My biggest customer is NAPA and I attend a lot of their race events and company functions and I have had the chance to meet their NASCAR driver a few times. You know him, right? Michael Waltrip? Horrible win record of late? What a d*ck! I am talking about a fuction with less than 200 people on a Friday night, not at the track or anything. Just stands there and takes pictures doesn't talk to anyone for more than a "hi, how are ya." Now Dale Ernhardt JR. super friendly guy for sure. I am not a fan of NASCAR so I wasn't all that impressed by Waltrip, but Dale JR seemed to just love driving fast which I think anyone of us can respect!

I would have at least asked him if he needed anything... a Coke... a back rub... shoe shine...


M

Echo your comment about Mario. Back in the 70s I was in a Formula Ford race at Milwaukee that was a preliminary for a pro race and saw Mario sitting on the pit wall. Got up the nerve to ask him to sign the race program and he told me to join him. Talked to him for about a half an hour about pro vs. amateur racing, how to analyze corners and how to drive an oval. He actually apologized when one of his wrenches told him it was time to get ready for practice. Totally first class guy!

I never liked Mario until I read an interview with him about the Lotus 79 (I believe) being restored. I always thought his on-screen persona was kinda pre-maddonaish. After that article, I came to realize how much the guy knows about not only driving, but engineering. I guess that should have been obvious by his list of accomplishments (other than LeMans ) I guess when he's interviewed on TV he has to dumb down the conversation and give a kick to the sponsors....

double cool!
when ya gonna give us a race report (or did I miss it already)?

that is awesome!!!

congratulations on your win!

and how cool is that!!

i am very jealous

Jeroen,

The race report is on the thread that says Chris at NHIS. We are all included ED, Chris,Me, STeve, and Tom.

Chris, Erik (me) and Ed are contributors to this board. Tom is a customer of Rabys, and Steve Limbert owns AirCooled racing of PA. Hopefully we are all going to the Runoffs and others will be able to join. We are trying to find someone that will put up a tent for the Runoffs in the main paddock and assist the 914 competitors with hospitality and general track duties. Most will be FP competitors. With Kevin Groot and I in EP.Foley, Handly,Givler,Burdge in FP. Limbert in GT2. It is very costly to go to Runoffs and many of us are paying the bills ourselves. Brad has discussed the club helping. It's kind of presumptuous for the competitors to ask. I will tell you this. At the track this weekend we had 5 914's "represent". During 1 race there were 4 on the track at one time. We had almost as many 914's as RX7's. Now thats an accomplishment. And I was very proud to be a 914 driver this weekend. 3 out of 4 914's were on the box.Thats some of the report. See the other thread for more details.

Erik Madsen

Just found the thread...
Excellent!!!

I'm just really proud that you didn't ask him to like sign you ass or something crude, like Miles would have done.

(Its very cool, I hope to meet him someday, now)

I got the opportunity to meet Mario a few years back at a motorsports convention in Columbus, OH. He was signing posters for Bell Helmets of him driving an Indy car . Because it was a "closed to the public" motorsports convention for people in the business, there wasn't a huge line around the block for an autograph. In fact, there was only about 3-4 people in line ahead of me when I joined the line. I asked him if he would please write "thanks for the tip on turn one". Without batting an eye, he wrote"To Tom, Thanks for the tip on turn one. Mario Andretti" Rest assurred the poster is framed and hanging in a prominent spot in the Roadlover home.

Mario

Fantastic job Erik on your nailing 1st and on landing Mario's autograph. Got to frame that! I too had a chance to meet and talk(very quickly) to Mario while being a corner worker with the SCCA at Nazareth,when he was still running in cart. He was looking for a place to park his Vette in the paddock at the time we met. Very cool guy. One of the greatest. Again congrads on your finish