Mario Andretti

Al Unser Sr. was one of the smartest drivers I've ever raced against. And I often said, I wish I could've had some of his patience. I know it would have worked for me many times.

What I learned is that in business you must make decisions based on facts, not react with your heart.

The banked oval tracks are obsolete tracks for Indy cars.

When you start thinking you may get hurt, it's time to get out of racing.

I think it's counterproductive in many ways to pretend to know things you don't. You surround yourself with people who are the real experts.

If it seems as though things are under control, you're not going fast enough.

With tennis, you can go pick up a racket, take a lesson, and understand how much talent and skill it takes to be as good as the top pros. Same with golf: pick up a club. But not many can go out and get in a race car and experience a drive at over 200 miles an hour.

I look at myself as the luckiest man alive.

Sometimes you have to bring back only the steering wheel so the car owner will know that you're giving it all you have.

A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments.

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

Anybody who can drive and doesn't come out of it a rich man is a fool.

I count my blessings every day, quite honestly, because I take nothing for granted.

The most important thing at Daytona is, are you going to have friends willing to work with you during the race as far as drafting? You've got to have friends out there. You can't do it alone. You form those relationships as the race moves along.

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

Do it no matter what. If you believe in it, it is something very honorable. If somebody around you or your family does not understand it, then that's their problem. But if you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it.

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

Tom Carnegie will never be replaced.

Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.

It makes great conversation to discuss what's wrong with open-wheel racing today.

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.

If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough.

You should never get away from where the real foundation of Formula One has been, which is Europe. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the expansion to countries like Asia, China, Malaysia.

Speed is relative. You have to live it. You can't just jump into it. You have to live it all the time.

My last race was at Le Mans in 2000, my first race was in 1959, so I dodged a lot of bullets along the way, I can tell you that.

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

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Desire is the key to motivation but its determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal a commitment to excellence that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

I see all these old people who don't have anything to do but eat, drink and sleep. I will never say 'retired' because that's such a finality that I don't want to be part of my life. I'll work until they throw me in a box.

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

It is amazing how may drivers even at the Formula One Level think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.

Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays but never lose sight of your goal.

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.

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

The day of parochialism in sports is over. The world is too small for what people like to call 'the good old days.' Fans want the best, wherever they come from.

You see people in the left lane, and as long as they are on the speed limit, they stay there. Get in the right lane and let people pass you - let the police worry about somebody who wants to speed. Don't force them pass in the right lane and zig zag, which can create an accident, just because you think you're correct.

I wanted to have a career that would last a hundred years if possible.

If everything seems under control youre not going fast enough.

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

Whenever youre aggressive youre at the edge of mistakes.

Long Beach is the best. I tell everyone that.

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

Every NASCAR driver watches Formula One in the morning; they are well informed.

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.

I love technology - yes, I have fallen in love with older cars, but I'm all for new technology.

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.

I don't want to go out there and do something 3,000 other people can do.

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

Not all teammates tell the truth.

The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses.

Staging Formula One is incredibly expensive.

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Everything comes to those who wait... except a cat.

A father-son relationship is strong, like no other teammates. You could be straightforward with one another.

Whenever you're aggressive, you're at the edge of mistakes.

As far as I'm concerned, Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era. He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won with everything he put his hands on, including off-road.

The man upstairs is pushing the buttons, and if your name happens to be on that button, well, thank you.

If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.

There is so much more demand for Formula One than it can supply. You have governments investing in circuits all over the world, and the private sector sometimes has a tough time competing with that.

Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.

Motor racing is like one big family, ultimately, and when you come back to it, that's really what it feels like.

You dream what you're supposed to do.

It seemed like whenever I got a bona fide offer from Ferrari, I couldn't do it. And vice versa - when I was ready, their seats were taken. We always had a relationship, but what's important is that I pretty much started my F1 career with them and ended it there, too.

If you're so afraid of failure, you will never succeed. You have to take chances.

I like to think that the Grand Prix helped Long Beach to pretty much change its image.