LABOR OF INDY HISTORY LOVE
Signature quest seeks all drivers who raced in 500
John Andretti has devoted the last four years to getting people to sign a race car. That might sound like a simple task, but it’s laboriously complicated. He has driven tens of thousands of miles with a yellow Indy car in tow, seeking the signature of every living driver who participated in the Indianapolis 500.
“At times it gets a little stalkerish,” Andretti said.
His journey is almost complete. Andretti has one more year to get the remaining 21 autographs on the car before it’s auctioned for charity at the 100th Indianapolis 500. By then, with luck, determination and GPS on his side, he will have the full complement of 269 autographs.
The story of Andretti and the Stinger — an Indy car painted in honor of the Marmon Wasp, which Ray Harroun drove to victory in the first Indy 500 in 1911 and then covered with autographs — is one of history, charity and perseverance. But it’s also a story of a racer so passionate about his sport and fellow competitors that he’s doing almost anything to preserve it.
“There’s a significance to what these drivers have done and what they’ve accomplished,” Andretti said. “Nearly one-third of the drivers who have ever raced in the Indianapolis 500 have signed this car. That’s pretty impressive. When you look at it, that’s a lot of drivers, but it’s surely not a lot of people. Even if you didn’t win the race, you’re in a really elite group.”
The names on the car are an encyclopedia of racers from all genres and forms. Formula One greats such as Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi share space with sprint car legends including Steve Kinser and Jack Hewitt and sports car stars such as Hurley Haywood. The big names like four-time winners A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser Sr. are prominent, along with familiar NASCAR names such as Tony Stewart and Cale Yarborough.
John Andretti raced in the Indy 500 12 times. His uncle Mario has 29 500s to his credit. Cousin Michael has 16, and second cousin Marco will compete in the 99th running of the race May 24. But John Andretti also competed in 436 NASCAR races and 83 Indystyle races, as well as a handful of sprint car and sports car races.
That experience, to some, ex- plains his interest in preserving history.
“There’s never going to be a piece of racing memorabilia that’s going to be as important as this,” Stewart told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s because of all the people that are on that car. There are so many names, and there are some who have passed recently, and there are names of guys that won’t be around 10 years from now. It is such a oneof-a-kind piece of memorabilia. I don’t know of any single thing out there that could compare to it.”
Proceeds from its auction next year will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
When Andretti took the idea to Window World, the sponsor for three of his Indy 500s and his later years in NASCAR, it appeared straightforward: Get all 273 living people who drove in the Indianapolis 500 through 2011 to autograph the car.
Since then, the project has become more complicated. Four drivers died before they signed it. Four more died after they signed it. Twenty-one have yet to be found. Several are overseas, and Andretti is adamant that the car remain in one piece, so shipping a wing to a driver in Australia or Europe is out of the question.
Andretti said he expects it to sell for about $1 million, and he expects some heavy hitters to bid on it. Stewart, who has raced in the Indy 500 five times, wants the car, but he suspects Ganassi, IndyCar and NASCAR team owner Roger Penske and others in the racing community will bid on it.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how I can bid on this, how I can come up with a figure of what I think this car will go for,” Stewart said.
POWER’S NAMESAKE ALSO RECORD-SETTER Great grandfather’s motorcycle ride, at sports.usatoday.com.