He was the nephew of Mario Andretti, and he had raced for NASCAR legends Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty.Īndretti's life was celebrated on Feburary 6th during a public church service in Indianapolis before a hearse took him for one last lap of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on its way to a private family burial service. John went on to finish eighth in the championship, a position he achieved again the following year thanks to a cluster of top-five finishes.ĭespite a couple of top-10 finishes for AJ Foyt Racing in the Indianapolis 500, Andretti spent the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s focused on NASCAR competition, scoring wins in the 1997 Pepsi 400 at Daytona and at Martinsville in 1999.Andretti's funeral procession took him for one last lap around the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway.įormer racecar driver John Andretti died at the age of 56 on January 30th after a three-year battle with colon cancer. Two months later at Milwaukee, John lost to his cousin Michael but beat Mario to complete an all-Andretti sweep of the podium. In Indycars, Andretti won the inaugural CART Indycar race at Surfers Paradise in 1991 driving for Jim Hall's team. He also won USAC sprint car races on dirt, and even made the semi-finals in an NHRA Top Fuel event. Andretti won the IMSA sportscar race at Watkins Glen in 1986 driving a March-BMW M12 with Davy Jones, and clinched victory at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1989, sharing a Porsche 962 with Bob Wollek and Derek Bell. The son of Mario Andretti's twin brother Aldo, John initially followed the family's path in open-wheel racing, while retaining his uncle Mario's penchant for diversity.
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