JOHN ANDRETTI, USAC MIDGET WINNER AND REGIONAL CHAMP, PASSES AT 56
Speedway, Indiana (January 30, 2020)………John Andretti, whose racing career took him to a vast variety of disciplines from USAC to Indy Car to NASCAR, Sports Cars and even Top Fuel Dragsters, passed away January 30, 2020, at the age of 56 following a courageous battle with colon cancer.
John, son of Aldo, nephew of Mario Andretti and first cousin to Michael and Jeff Andretti, had early success by capturing the 1983 USAC Regional Midget championship at the Indianapolis Speedrome on the strength of three victories. He collected another score at the Speedrome the following year in 1984.
In 1985, he broke through for a USAC National victory in a midget at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway for car owner Rollie Helmling and ended the season third in the final standings behind only Mel Kenyon and Rich Vogler.
John, out of Bethlehem, Pa., made 21 USAC National Sprint Car starts in his career, finishing 24th in points in 1983, a career-best 8th in 1984 and 18th in 1985. He also tried his hand at the USAC Silver Crown Series, making seven career starts and finishing 11th in the 1985 final standings.
On Independence Day 1987, John tallied a win with the CRA Sprint Cars at California’s Santa Maria Speedway. From there, he made the first of his 12 Indianapolis 500 starts the next year in 1988. He started 7th and finished a career-best 5th at Indy in 1991, the same year he notched his first Indy Car victory, in the season opener, at Surfer’s Paradise in Australia.
In 1993, John reached the semi-finals in his first NHRA Top Fuel national event at Atlanta, timing in with a personal best speed of 299 mph. The racing trailblazer became only one of three drivers to have competed in both an NHRA Top Fuel national event and the Indianapolis 500 along with Art Malone and Danny Ongais.
John became the first driver to ever do “The Double” in 1994 by competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day, finishing 10th at Indy and 36th at Charlotte following mechanical troubles. John won twice with the NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona, Fla. in 1997 and at Martinsville, Va. in 1999. In 1989, he posted a victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona alongside co-drivers Bob Wollek and Derek Bell.
In recent years, John could be found in the pit area on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car and Silver Crown trail with his son, Jarett Andretti, as the driver.
