Marco Andretti Futility Thread

[DBell]

What racing has Marco done? I remember his Dad racing either FF or FF2000 with SCCA.

That is a good guestion and, to me, the answer is part of the problem. Marco came up through Karting, but after he raced a mixed schedule. He would race some pro Mazda races, some Atlantic races, and some IPS races. He never put in a full season in any of these series. He jumped around the ladder system like a hired gun, so to speak. I feel he would've been better served to commit to a season with a team and learn how to work within that team. He also should've had a full year in Atlantics before moving to the IRL, IMO.

PS. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he did run any Atlantic races.

[CCFanatic]

That is a good guestion and, to me, the answer is part of the problem. Marco came up through Karting, but after he raced a mixed schedule. He would race some pro Mazda races, some Atlantic races, and some IPS races. He never put in a full season in any of these series. He jumped around the ladder system like a hired gun, so to speak. I feel he would've been better served to commit to a season with a team and learn how to work within that team. He also should've had a full year in Atlantics before moving to the IRL, IMO.

PS. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he did run any Atlantic races.

Actually Marco did race full scheldules of some of those series.
Marco's fast rise through open wheel.
2003- age 16 First season in cars in the Fran Am 1600 Series.
2004- age 17 Skip Barber National Championships. He won the championship and I got to drive in one of the cars he raced in at VIR this season
2005- age 18Star Mazda Pro Series. finished in points behind James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal.
Indy Pro Series. Won races at St. Petersburg, and the Indy road race. Also ran at Kentucky.
2006- age 19 first year of the IRL. Won the contreversial race at Sonoma.

Marco will be agreat driver, but if he ever wants to race F1 in a competitive car(Honda is light years from that), he should be in GP2 or CCAtlantics or CCWS or something with a strong road racing based shedule.

[Jonesi]

Mikey did SCCA National FF's, then Atlantic and, I think, some CanAm2.

He did a year of Super Vee before moving up to CART, and I didn't think he did Atlantics.

[CCFanatic]

Michael Andretti was the 1983 Toyota Atlantics Champion.

[Jonesi]

Michael Andretti was the 1983 Toyota Atlantics Champion.

Anyone got a good source of records on the web for SV & Atlantics? I'd like to look some 70s era stuff up. BTW Was Toyota in Atlantics then or were they still using the Cosworth BDA motors?

[CCFanatic]

champcarstats.com

Have everthing. Champ Car stuff, IRL stuff, CCAtlantics stuff, Indy Lights stuff, and IPS stuff. Great site with almost every race since around 1900.

[DBell]

Actually Marco did race full scheldules of some of those series.
Marco's fast rise through open wheel.
2003- age 16 First season in cars in the Fran Am 1600 Series.
2004- age 17 Skip Barber National Championships. He won the championship and I got to drive in one of the cars he raced in at VIR this season
2005- age 18Star Mazda Pro Series. finished in points behind James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal.
Indy Pro Series. Won races at St. Petersburg, and the Indy road race. Also ran at Kentucky.
2006- age 19 first year of the IRL. Won the contreversial race at Sonoma.

Marco will be agreat driver, but if he ever wants to race F1 in a competitive car(Honda is light years from that), he should be in GP2 or CCAtlantics or CCWS or something with a strong road racing based shedule.

Thanks for correcting my post. At the end I realized I wasn't sure of some of my facts, but posted anyway, figuring someone would correct me. I just remember he seemed to be jumping around a lot when he would've been better served to do CCAtlantics full time. With his family's connections and money, I also think a year in British F3 would've been great. Thats as competitive as junior formulas come. Though he won the Sonoma race, he's looked lost at many other IRL races. I'm not sure he likes ovals outside of Indy much. I completely agree with the end of your post. Any of those series would be better preparation for F1.

[CCFanatic]

Thanks for correcting my post. At the end I realized I wasn't sure of some of my facts, but posted anyway, figuring someone would correct me. I just remember he seemed to be jumping around a lot when he would've been better served to do CCAtlantics full time. With his family's connections and money, I also think a year in British F3 would've been great. Thats as competitive as junior formulas come. Though he won the Sonoma race, he's looked lost at many other IRL races. I'm not sure he likes ovals outside of Indy much. I completely agree with the end of your post. Any of those series would be better preparation for F1.

And all of this is from a CCFanatic. Some one who does not like anything Indy Car. But I have to live with it as my step- father a truckie at AGR. Marco, I think is just stuck in a spot were he can not get out b/c of his father. Marco probably wants to run in the British F3 or GP2 or CC, but b/c Michael is a over proctective father, he does not want his son more than 50 feet away from him.

[Colsanders]

I imagine that Marco is under tremendous pressure with a name like Andretti. He isn't the first driver to have a serious wreck at Indy. A guy named harnish hasn't had such a great IRL season, either.

[Jonesi]

I imagine that Marco is under tremendous pressure with a name like Andretti. He isn't the first driver to have a serious wreck at Indy. A guy named harnish hasn't had such a great IRL season, either.

I think you mean Hornish. He's currently tied for 5th place only 33 points out of first, and his worst finish is 7th, that's a mediocre season that many drivers would love to have.