Quotes from Mario Andretti

You're safer in the race car than you are in cars going to and from the track.

When a car's ahead of you, as long as you can see it, you get a tow, just like the draft in NASCAR. Even if it's a long ways down the track, it punches a hole in the air that has to help. When you're running alone, you can feel the difference, and it shows on the clock, too.

The banked oval tracks are obsolete tracks for Indy cars.

My wife loves football, but I think she's resigned to the fact that I'll never make it there.

Whatever the changes, from one era to the next, Pocono has maintained its character and significance to me, and it always will. My family shares this sentiment.

I lived the true American dream, because I was able to pursue what I set as my goals at a very young age.

Quite honestly, I treat myself with cars I really want to drive, and I have some flexibility to do that.

I love all motor sports at the top level.

If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.

I always say that every win has something that is special.

I still have the competitive spirit, which is good.

At Indy, we are the NASA of the production-car world, and that's clearly why manufacturers are involved - it's such a good testbed.

Unfortunately, we don't educate drivers enough to be respectful on the road.

In the U.S., we really have fallen short of road-racing facilities that have kept up with the times, unfortunately, but it's a fact.

Staging Formula One is incredibly expensive.

From a prestige standpoint, the U.S. needs to host Formula 1. And I think Formula 1, they know they need the U.S. as well. So many companies that are global are based in the United States support Formula 1.

If a neighbor is killed in a car accident, do you sell your car and stop driving?

I don't have any feeling of accomplishment about anything unless there's a lot of risk to it.

In NASCAR, you can do a lot of banging around and get pretty serious and even get yourself upside down. All of those things can happen - and then you give an interview two seconds later.

The United States is the only country where a driver can have a successful career - either in stock cars or IndyCar - and he won't need a passport.

There's something special about racing in real streets. The 'artificial' circuits have a certain sameness to them. But every race conducted on real streets has a character of its own - Barcelona, Monaco, and now Long Beach.

All of the courses that run through real streets are very demanding. There is no room for error, no shoulders to lean on. If you go off the road, you're into somebody's shop-window or front porch.

You do a period of go-karting until you're at the age of qualifying for a ride in a 'school-kart,' then you qualify for driving school. And several of the driving schools have a competition series for their own students.

You do the best you can with what's thrown at you, then you try again.