"Was the biggest event of my career" - When Mario Andretti fondly recalled his historic Daytona 500 victory

Mario Andretti is well known for his triumphs in the IndyCar series and F1. However, the American also raced in NASCAR as a part-time entry and won the 1967 Daytona 500. The Daytona win happened to be his one and only win in NASCAR, and it came before his Indy 500 wins.

Mario Andretti sat down with IndyCar for an interview in 2015 as he detailed the ins and outs of the 1967 drive and recalled his historic victory at the Daytona 500. Andretti said:

“At that point I had not won Indy yet. I was competitive with a couple of poles but had not won at Indy. So arguably the Daytona 500 win at that time was the biggest event of my career at that time and particularly satisfying to do it somewhere where it wasn’t my specialty.”

“Can you imagine the same thing as if one of their drivers – Richard Petty or David Pearson -- had come to Indy and won the Indy 500? It had a special sound to it and it still does, actually,” he added.

Mario Andretti made his Daytona 500 debut in 1966 racing with Smokey Yunick in the Chevrolet. However, the former IndyCar driver explained how Yunick had a knack for experimental setups, and given the fact that Andretti was a newcomer, he gave the IndyCar driver the same which unsettled the car in the corners.

Nonetheless, Andretti learned what he could and entered the 1967 Daytona with Ford’s factory-run team Holman Moody with Fred Lorenzen as his teammate. He further detailed how he had a poor engine for the 1967 Daytona, had to run a low spoiler for the qualifying, and complained about the same.

Mario Andretti started the race P12 and had a loose rear end given the low spoiler he ran in the qualifying. The IndyCar driver strategized his race around the disadvantage and preferred to stay in the lead to avoid dirty air through the corners while others drafted behind him.

During the final pitstop, Holman Moody tried to sabotage Andretti’s race to let their golden boy Fred Lorenzen win the race by stopping him in the pitstop for an extra nine seconds. However, Andretti passed his teammate on track to win the race.

Mario Andretti detailed his struggles with the engine at the 1967 Daytona 500

Mario Andretti waves to the fans as he takes a ride around the track in the back of a pickup truck before the start of the 108th Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Mario Andretti ran an engine at the 1967 Daytona 500 which mustered 400 revs less than what a competitive engine at that time could manage. Donnie Allison was the driver who suggested to Andretti that he was down on power, and that is what led to the IndyCar driver running a lower spoiler to compensate for the same. Explaining the engine struggles, Andretti said:

“We got the car working pretty darn good, but we did not have the engines that some of the other guys had. That was a bit of a struggle for me to finally get what I deserved, I think.” [via Road and Track]

"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,” he added.

Allison told Andretti that his car should be revving up to 7200 instead of 6800 with a 370 gear. Despite the car having a loose rear end, Andretti used it to his advantage and won the race.