Mario Andretti took the pole position on his debut at the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in his Lotus 49.
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Mario Gabriele Andretti is an Italian-born American former racing driver. Andrettti was born on February 28, 1940. One of the most successful Americans in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR. Andretti became a naturalized United States citizen in 1964. He competed in United States Automobile Club stock car events in 1965, and finished twelfth in the season points. He won a USAC Stock Car race in 1967, and finished seventh in the season points.
Mario took the pole position on his debut at the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in his Lotus 49. Andretti drove sporadically in Formula One over the next four years for Lotus, March, and Ferrari, while continuing to focus on his racing career in America. At the 1971 South African Grand Prix, on his debut for Ferrari, he won his first Grand Prix. It wasn’t until 1975 that Andretti drove a full Formula One season, for the American Parnelli team. The team was new to Formula One.
Mario Andretti met Dee Ann when they were very young. Mario and his family had emigrated from Montana, Italy, in 1955, making their home in Nazareth. The couple married in 1961 and moved into a house her parents owned because they couldn’t afford to rent an apartment. Dee Ann’s salary went toward paying for engine jobs on Mario’s overhauled race car. The couple’s first child Michael was born in 1962. They had two more children, Jeff and Barbie.
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Dee Ann Andretti, formerly Dee Ann Hoch, was born July 10, 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in Allentown and graduated from Nazareth Area High School in 1960. Andretti met Dee Ann when she was just 15. She was teaching English to the Italy-born Andretti in Nazareth. They were married a few months later, in November 1961. Dee Ann Andretti mostly stayed in the background and raised their three children. She died on 2 July 2018 at the age of 76.
