Top 25 IndyCar drivers of all-time
By Asher Fair
Top IndyCar drivers of all-time: #2 – Mario Andretti
#2 is the absolute lowest that Mario Andretti should be ranked on any list when it comes to IndyCar. His 52 victories rank second all-time, and he was able to win four championships, which was tied for second on the all-time list until recently.
Despite the “Andretti Curse”, Mario was able to win the Indy 500 once back in 1969, although many will maintain that he is a two-time winner of the race as a result of what happened in 1981.
In fact, he still has the championship ring from his “win” that year, one that would ultimately be credited to Bobby Unser. With 556 laps led in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, he ranks fourth on the all-time list despite winning it just once.
One crown jewel event that Andretti had no problem winning was the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which he won four times, including three times in the four-year span from 1984 to 1987.
While this list is an IndyCar list, you also can’t ignore what Andretti was able to do elsewhere. To this day, he is the most recent American Formula 1 champion from back in 1978, and he also won the 1967 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, his lone NASCAR win.
You’d also be hard-pressed to find an 81-year-old who still drives an open-wheel car at nearly 200 miles per hour like Andretti does in the two-seater.
When it comes to greatest overall racers of all-time, Andretti deserves serious consideration for #1.