Aldo Andretti

Aldo and Mario were born in Montona d'Istria, Italy, where their father, Gigi, managed a 2,300-acre (930 ha) farm. After World War II Istria (which is now part of Croatia) was occupied and annexed by Yugoslavia.[1] His family, like many other Italian Istrians, fled in 1948. They lived in a refugee camp from 1948 to 1955 until they were able to move to a two-room flat with the help of their uncle Quirino, who was a priest.[2] Quirino would use a motorbike to visit his parishioners and Aldo and Mario would occasionally ride their bike with his tacit approval. In 1954 Aldo and Mario befriended Sergio Seggiolini and Beppe Biagini, who ran an auto-repair shop across the street. The boys would soon perform menial jobs for them, including parking customer cars although they were both underage and did not have a driving license. In 1954 Seggiolini and Biagini expressed their gratitude by taking Aldo and Mario to a trip to the Monza, where they saw Alberto Ascari racing.[3]

In 1956, the family settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and the brothers were able to rekindle their interest in motorsport when they discovered an oval track in their home town.[3]

Aldo and Mario rebuilt a 1948 Hudson Commodore into a stock car in 1959, and began racing it without telling their parents. They flipped a coin to see who would race in the first race. Aldo won the coin toss, the heat race and the feature.[4] They each had two wins after the first four weeks. Aldo fractured his skull in a serious crash near the end of the season. He recovered from his coma, and he returned the following season.[5] Aldo continued racing on the USAC and IMCA circuits;[5] in 1967, a race at Oswego Speedway saw the only occasion where Mario and Aldo raced head to head. Mario won; Aldo, suffering brake failure, finished tenth.[3] Aldo competed in 16 USAC national sprint car races between 1967 and 1969, finishing 51st in points in 1967.[6]

In 1969 Aldo suffered severe damage to his face after crashing during a sprint car race in Des Moines.[3] Flipping end over end and striking the fence, Aldo suffered 14 fractures to his facial bones,[5] and his right eye socket had been shattered. Following his recovery and extensive reconstructive surgery, Aldo quit racing at the request of Mario.[3]

In 1973, Andretti opened a retail business, Andretti Firestone, in Speedway, Indiana. In 1986 he established a precision machine shop for hospital beds and tool manufacturers called Aldo Andretti Machine & Engineering.[3]

Andretti was married and had five children.[3] He died in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 30, 2020, from COVID-19.[7][8][9]

• Andretti Family Official Web Site.
• Aldo Andretti career summary at DriverDB.com