they saw the bright lights of Nazareth Speedway, where a modified race was being held. They were World War II children who had grown up sharing a bed, whispering in the dark about Ferrari, Nino Farina and Alberto Ascari, wondering if the Andretti boys might someday have their own chance to be famous race car drivers.įour days after arriving in the U.S. In a nearly hourlong interview at Barber Motorsports Park with The Associated Press, Andretti talked about emigrating from Italy to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in 1955 on a Thursday night.

7 for physicals and visited with Aldo, found him “jovial, same as ever,” and 23 days later he was dead. I’m shaken to my core,” Andretti tweeted.Īndretti said he and grandson Marco had traveled together to Indianapolis on Dec. “Aldo Andretti, my loving twin brother, my partner in crime and my faithful best friend every day of my life was called to heaven last night. Both Aldo Andretti and his wife had contracted the virus she recovered and went home but he remained hospitalized, refused to be placed on a ventilator and died. 30 when his twin brother died of complications from COVID-19. The call Andretti never prepared himself for came Dec. He needs something to do at the racetrack to feel alive,” said Michael Andretti, gesturing across the Andretti Autosport hospitality center to his 81-year-old masked father mingling with guests at Ind圜ar's season-opening race. “Before COVID, at least he was getting out, doing stuff he liked, and then he lost all his endorsements and he was just sitting at home and he’s there by himself. And when all the racetracks were closed, his world became very, very small. There is no bigger star at a racetrack than Mario Andretti, the only driver to win the Formula One championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. It came about six weeks before the pandemic brought the world to a standstill and Andretti suddenly had nowhere to go.

His beloved nephew John Andretti lost his three-year fight with colon cancer in early 2020, a death that shook the family.

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