Protest was well-meaning, but it faced long odds
ROSEMONT, Ill. — In the long shadow of Chicago’s skyline, they gathered to act out their own version of “The Last Dance.” Call it the Last Chance.
Within a stone’s throw of Big Ten headquarters, parents and other family members of conference football players from Ohio State, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin — and a mother of an Illini women’s soccer player — showed up to peacefully protest against how the conference handled its decision to cancel fall sports. It was one last chance to try to change minds.
I counted 26 moms and dads, many wearing replica jerseys with the same number worn by their sons.
I did not see St. Jude, the patron of lost causes.
The protesters could have used him, given that Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren released a letter on Wednesday that made it clear the decision by the conference’s presidents to cancel would not be revisited.
The letter took air out of the protest balloon.
The assembly became more about holding the conference accountable going forward — not that everyone stayed on message.
“The car was sliding, the wind was blowing, but I hit a big gust down the backstretch exactly in my favor.”
Before Marco’s run, his father, Michael, had reminded him of an old family racing adage: “The wind may scare you. But it won’t crash you.”
Still, watching from the pits, Michael Andretti said: “I thought there was no way. After his first lap, I’m thinking, ‘Hmm, pretty good.’ After the second lap, I started freaking out. After the third lap, I was sweating. For the fourth lap, I couldn’t tell you — maybe sweating blood.”
He added: “We could see the in-car telemetry during the run, and the car was so loose, sliding around, about to crash, but he never let up on the throttle.”
The last two laps, Michael Andretti said, were pure talent and guts at work. “Marco was 100% the difference — not the car, not the engine,” he said.
The unusual qualifying process for the Indy 500, four laps around the 2.5mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is said by competitors to be the most nerve-wracking in the sport.
“I was never able to win the pole,” said Michael, who raced at Indianapolis 16 times. Mario started the race 29 times and won three poles, the last in 1987. So it has been a long drought for Indycar’s royal family.
Even longer is the span since one of them won the race. The only Andretti victory in a total of 60 starts beginning in 1965 was Mario’s in 1969.
Marco nearly won it in his rookie year of 2006, losing by an agonizing six-hundredths of a second as Sam Hornish Jr. overtook him at the finish line. Despite that sparkling debut, and great expectations, his career hasn’t panned out the way he had hoped.
“Marco has been blasted because his record doesn’t speak for his talent,” Mario said.
He has won only two Indycar races, no championships, and has little treasure to show for 15 years of digging. Mario and Michael won 94 Indycar races between them.
“I’m sure he feels the pressure times three that I felt as Mario Andretti’s son,” Michael said. “But you can only do what you can do, you know? That was how I handled it.
“I know some people say he is on this team because he is my son. But he has tons of talent. He’s finally starting to show it. He should have won at least 10 races in this series by now and probably two 500s.”
Although Marco is said to be brutally hard on himself when things go awry on the track, his father said many of the disappointments could be laid at the team’s feet.
“Now we have to stay focused on Sunday’s race and getting him to Victory Circle,” Michael Andretti said. “Minimize mistakes — no mistakes at all, actually — perfect pit stops, every time. We have the car; we have the speed; we have the driver.”
Honda is credited with improving the power output of its engine so significantly this year that it occupies eight of the field’s top nine starting positions. “All credit to Honda,” Michael said. “Last year, we were sitting where Chevy is this year.”
Chevrolet is the series’ only other engine supplier.
For his car’s setup, Marco Andretti has been paired again with an old friend, Garrett Mothersead, who was with Marco in 2013, when he had his best overall year in the sport. Mothersead also was the engineer for Takuma Sato when he won in 2017.
“I always had faith in Marco’s talent,” Mario Andretti said. “He’s always had those moments of brilliance. Something is going to pop now. He’s got the composure. He is calm and collected and has confidence with a capital C. …
“I hope he enjoys this week, being on the pole at Indy. It’s the next best thing to winning.”
Marco Andretti agreed: “It feels like a win,” he said.