If you're a praying person, John Andretti could use your prayers. He is currently having an operation for stage 3 cancer in Charlotte NC. In my opinion, he is the nicest person in the Andretti family.
This is the first I’ve heard of this & I’m pretty untuned with Indy car & F1. Where is the cancer located?
He was operated on about a year ago, now it's back and it has spread. https://www.wthr.com/article/john-andretti-undergoes-cancer-surgery-charlotte-wednesday
I always knew him as the guy who brought 2 of racings greatest names together. He drove for Richard Petty in NASCAR for a few years.
Andretti Racing so far has 5 Americans planned to race in the Indy 500. ABC lost their TV contract, it will be on NBC this year. ABC had it since 1954. https://www.indycar.com/News/2019/0...LDe7lDA9NTRN5wEusj4yayED2ijV4LCo64M6xaTgmXUb8
Back in the day I got to meet John and see him race midget, Sprint, and dirt champ cars all in one weekend. Have followed his career ever sense. He has always been a class act.
My wife grew up with all of them. Her mom dated Aldo in the late 50's. Wife says that Jeff and John were the nicest of the bunch, Michael was shy and only cared about going to shop class, and Mario yelled at them once because they were playing on his 69 Indy winning car that he had in the house. She said in those years they were the most normal family living down the street you could ever imagine. I went to Nazareth with her back in the early 90's after Michael was big time and he had built this huge mansion...totally out of character from how Mario lived in the day.
I think he has more class than the other Andrettis, just a nice guy, not arrogant. He also finished 2nd in a top fuel dragster at a NHRA event once.
Aldo and a buddy of his flew into the Municipal airport in New Holstein when I worked there as a teen for a summer job, mowing lawn for Tecumseh to put hours on their mowers for testing purposes. Aldo flew in for the IMSA Road America round when John was racing for BMW (1986??) when they had Redman and Watson (IIRC) in one car and young guns in the second car. Boss man came out to get me from the field to meet Aldo, as he knew I was a race fan. Aldo asked if I could drive those two to the track. Boss said he couldn't let me go. To this day I still rue the fact I didn't either up and quit or say I was sick and had to leave, since I lived only 10 mins from Road America. Very nice guy and I am sure he raised a very good son.
Robert Wickens today posted on his Twitter account a video of him riding a stationary cycle. His progress is staggering.
His determination is amazing. My brother went to visit him around Christmas, he had a bunch of goals he wanted to accomplish, and he's knocking them all down. That cycle ride was without any motorized exoskeleton. He claims he will race again, and I believe him.
Anybody watch IndyCar practice 1 and 2 today? They streamed a press conference with Wickens on FB as well, as he is at the track. It was pretty cool seeing him there, and he said the support from the fans has been more than he imagined.
Josef Newgarden, American, Team Penske, Chevy. I was at a 200 lap go kart race for charity about 10 years ago. Dixon and Weldon in their Target uniforms, John Andretti, Sarah Fisher, Ricky Rudd, Mark Dismore Jr, about a dozen other pro racers were there racing. An unknown 15 year old kid from Tennessee won the race.....Newgarden!
I watched practice on NBC Gold. Not thrilled to be paying extra, but the coverage with full NBCSN crew was miles better than previous years on YouTube. It seemed more professional and "big time" .
