“I was just the new boy on the block”: When Mario Andretti looked back on his complex Daytona 500 win

Mario Andretti, the 1978 Formula 1 world champion, is a huge name in the world of motorsports. He has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Cadillac's 2026 F1 entry, but there was a time (1967), when Andretti wasn't supposed to win NASCAR's Daytona 500.

The 84-year-old has had an illustrious career as a racing driver. From winning the F1 world championship to amassing four IndyCar National Championships, Mario Andretti is hugely respected.

In 1967, he was participating in the Daytona 500 for the Holman Moody racing team. His teammate was Fred Lorenzen, who was coming into the race as one of the favorites. However, it's believed that Lorenzen wasn't pleased with getting paired with an inexperienced teammate.

Despite the odds and a suspected scent of sabotage, Andretti won the race. He reminisced about the moment in 2017:

"I just turned out to be the experimental boy there, being able to be alongside Fred Lorenzen, even though he wasn't volunteering any help at all, which was fine. I was just the new boy on the block there," Andretti said. (via: Road Track)

Other than the Daytona 500, IndyCar National Championships and F1 Championship, Mario Andretti is also a three-time winner of the 12 hours of Sebring race (1967, 1970 and 1972).

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Mario Andretti on extracting some speed in Daytona 500 qualifying

While Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 under tricky circumstances, in 2017, he shed light on his qualifying outing, where he was running with a motor that was down 400 revs.

Andretti recollected:

"I had to qualify with the motor that was down 400 revs, and that was based on the gear I was running. The only guy that gave me the right tip was Donnie Allison, believe it or not. I befriended the Allison brothers quickly.

"Nobody was really too open about things. I said, what sort of revs should I be pulling with 370 gear? (Allison said) '7200, for sure,' and I was pulling like 6800. When I qualified, I qualified with a really low spoiler to try to get some speed out of it. But lo and behold, I had to race with it. And that is what really, that was a little bit of an issue," Andretti added.

Mario Andretti is a bonafide a motorsports legend. While his racing days are long over (last race - 1994 Monterey Grand Prix in Champ Car), his immediate focus is on helping the American brand Cadillac find its feet in the pinnacle of motorsport from 2026 onwards.