Following a successful career racing karts, winning fifty of his 75 races over eight years, Andretti moved into racing cars. He obtained his
SCCA National License in 1980, then won six races to claim the SCCA's Northeast Division Formula Ford championship in 1981. He also drove in a number of
Formula Vee races in regional SCCA events. In 1982, Andretti won six of the eleven races on his way to winning the
Robert Bosch US Formula Super Vee Championship. He also won the opening race of the 1983 Super Vee season before he moved up to drive in
Formula Atlantic, and won his second title by winning the
FIA Formula Mondial North American Cup the following season. Although he made his international sports car debut at the
1982 24 Hours of Le Mans, he was denied the opportunity to race, as the Mirage M12 he had chosen to race with his father was disqualified eighty minutes before the race was due to start. The father and son partnership returned to the
Circuit de la Sarthe the following year, and were joined by
Philippe Alliot in the
Porsche Kremer Racing's
Porsche 956, taking third place. Andretti also raced alongside his father in the Riverside 6 Hours where they were joined by
A. J. Foyt and
Preston Henn, but the
Porsche 935 failed to finish. The father and son duo paired up again the
1984 24 Hours of Daytona, this time in a full-works
Porsche 962, which made its race debut. They took pole position, but during the race, the engine broke.
CART , now on display at
National Motor Museum in
Beaulieu, Hampshire, England Andretti made his
CART debut in
1983, racing for the
Kraco Enterprises team. He re-signed for Kraco for the 1984 season, where he managed five third-place finishes and ended his rookie season in seventh overall. In the
Indianapolis 500, he finished fifth and shared the
Rookie of the Year award with
Roberto Guerrero. He went on to win his first
IndyCar race in
1986 in the
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The season became a two-man battle for the championship title, between Andretti and
Bobby Rahal. Andretti would take the points lead with his victory on the
Milwaukee Mile. A week later, on
Father's Day, Andretti was leading on the final lap at
Portland, when his
March-Cosworth 86C ran out of fuel, allowing his father Mario to beat him by just 0.07 seconds. It was one of the most shocking finishes in the history of IndyCar, and the closest finish until 1997. With Rahal continuing to win races, Andretti's consistent finishing only allowed Rahal a nine-point lead in the standing with two races remaining. Andretti won a key victory in at
Phoenix. Going into the season finale at
Tamiami Park, Andretti was just three points behind Rahal, but neither driver were a factor in the race, with Andretti retiring with a broken halfshaft. in 1988 In a one-off race with
Alfa Corse, Andretti took part in the inaugural World Touring Car race,
500 km di Monza. Paired with
Alessandro Nannini, they finished sixteenth overall, second in class. Back in CART, he continued with Kraco in 1987, and like 1986, the championship was between Andretti and Rahal. Andretti would win the
1987 Marlboro 500, drawing within nine points of Rahal. With him winning in dominating fashion at
Nazareth Speedway, his championship hopes remained alive, although Rahal clinched the championship at the next race. Andretti would also win the season finale,
Tamiami Park. He would finish runner-up for the second season in a row. Back in June 1987, Andretti joined Hendrick Motorsport to race a
Chevrolet Corvette GTP in the Mid-Ohio 500 km, this time joined by his cousin,
John Andretti, where they finished eleventh. Following Porsche's defeat in the
1988 Daytona 24 Hours, Porsche entered a
962C at
Le Mans for Michael, Mario, and John. They were competitive in the first half of the race until the Andretti family's car needed minor repairs before lapsing on to five cylinders, finishing sixth overall. Michael and Mario join Busby Racing for
1989 Daytona 24 Hours, only for their 962 to retire with brakes problems. 's 1989
Porsche 962, driven in the
24 Hours of Daytona The 1988 CART season was a lean year for Andretti. He remained with Kraco and won only a single race, the
Marlboro Challenge, for which no championship points were awarded. For the 1989 season, Andretti signed with
Newman/Haas Racing, partnering him with his father. He won two races that season,
Molson Indy Toronto and the
1989 Marlboro 500 at the
Michigan International Speedway, placing third in points. For 1990,
Al Unser Jr. would become champion, Andretti was his nearest competitor, winning five races and four poles. In the second-to-last race of the season at Nazareth, Unser crashed out, giving Andretti a huge opportunity to close the gap. Andretti managed only a sixth-place finish, and could not capitalize on Unser's misfortune. Unser left Nazareth with a 27-point lead, enough to clinch the championship. Andretti would finish runner-up once again. in October 1991 Andretti was the drivers' champion of the
1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. He won a total eight of seventeen races, eight poles and led more than half of the laps during the season, but Rahal still took the championship battle down to the final race of the season. Andretti's season started slowly, recording
DNFs in the opening two events, then the heartbreaking second place at the Indy 500. He recovered from this, winning four of the last five races of the season and with Rahal retiring during the title decider at
Laguna Seca, he cruised to the title. The day before, he won the non-championship,
Marlboro Challenge for a second time. Remaining with Newman/Haas for 1992, Andretti's season started slowly, but then won three races out of four during the mid-season. Despite taking two more wins later in the year, including the season finale at Laguna Seca, Rahal beat him again to the title by just four points. He would leave for Formula One at the end of the year, with his seat going to the reigning Formula One World Champion
Nigel Mansell, who would win the 1993 CART title in his rookie season. For four seasons between 1989 and 1992, Andretti had his father as his teammate at Newman/Haas. Together, they established a number of firsts, including the first father-son front row, for the 1986 Dana 200 for Special Olympics at
Phoenix, and the first of 15 father-son podiums in the 1984 Cribari Wines 300K at
Laguna Seca, with the last coming nearly a decade later in the
1992 Daikyo IndyCar Grand Prix, around the street of
Surfers Paradise.
Racing record at Indianapolis Andretti holds the record for
most laps led in the Indy 500 without having achieved a victory. There were practical factors that mitigated against Andretti being able to show competitive form in his debut season in Formula One. The rule changes introduced that season destroyed his hopes of unrestricted laps in free practice during which he could learn the tracks, as most were unfamiliar to him. From the start of 1993, just 23 laps were allowed in the morning's untimed session and only twelve in the qualifying session. In the
1993 Spanish Grand Prix, Andretti finally completed a race, finishing fifth amongst the established front runners. At the time, McLaren's Special Projects Manager and long-time Andretti family friend Tyler Alexander, who had been involved in Formula One since the mid-1960s, had urged him to relocate to England as he knew times had changed from when his father had raced to the 1978 World Championship. He finished third at
Monza, which would prove to be his last Formula One race; with three races remaining, he left the team and the championship by mutual agreement after the race. According to Andretti's son
Marco, the McLaren team "sabotaged" his father's chances at being competitive in order to replace him with the team's test driver
Mika Häkkinen, who would require a smaller salary. In 2008, Marco said: "The reality of it was, they had Mika Häkkinen ready to come in for a lot less than what my dad was getting paid, and that's all it was. Right then and there, they had to make him look [bad]. They would make the car do weird things in the corner electronically, stuff out of his control." Andretti still had problems in practice for the
Italian Grand Prix, and both he and Senna spun off with
brake balance problems early in the race. Andretti was able to continue and fought back up to third, holding off Wendlinger. Throughout the season, Senna experienced similar reliability problems to Andretti, mainly electronic gremlins, particularly in San Marino,
Canada,
Hungary, and
Belgium, although Häkkinen equalled Andretti's third place Monza finish in
Japan, while Senna won both the Japanese Grand Prix and the season ending
Australian Grand Prix, his final race for McLaren. According to Häkkinen in a much later interview, Andretti's commuting to Europe from the United States meant he was not in Europe enough when testing needed to be done, allowing Häkkinen to consistently show his speed and build a relationship with the team. Häkkinen had also said that Andretti's mental approach was wrong, and he did not realize the kind of sacrifices one needed to make in order to succeed in Formula One. It has also been reported that at the start of the 1993 season, Dennis signed Häkkinen as a backup to Senna, who was initially reluctant to commit to the team for the whole season; Senna's move to
Williams had to wait until the next season because his rival
Alain Prost was having his retirement season there and had it written into his contract that they could not sign Senna as his teammate. This created a difficult atmosphere for Andretti, who would be in the shadow of Senna, and also faced the threat of being replaced by Häkkinen. Some commentators have suggested that if Andretti had remained with McLaren for the season, when most electronic driver aids were banned except semi-automatic transmissions, the cars would have been closer in specification to those used in CART. They argue that, combined with his growing familiarity with most Formula One circuits, he might have been able to demonstrate the form that initially brought him into Formula One. Mario Andretti has also expressed regret that his son pursued opportunities in the United States rather than continuing his Formula One career for a longer period.
Return to CART Andretti returned to the IndyCar racing after his unsuccessful season in Formula One with
Target Chip Ganassi Racing, where he once again proved successful. He went on to win in his very first race back in the series at the
1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix, around the
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in
Queensland,
Australia, having led every lap along the way. That win also got
Reynard's first win in CART in their debut. He also won again in the
Molson Indy Toronto, taking a record fourth win. By the time he retired, he had won seven times at
Exhibition Place. In
1995, Andretti returned to
Newman/Haas Racing. Taking only one win in Toronto, he had a consistent season, scoring points in every round which resulted in Andretti claiming fourth overall in the points standing. The following season, he would finish as runner-up to
Jimmy Vasser, in a season marred by the death of
Jeff Krosnoff and split with
Indy Racing League, visiting victory lane on five occasions. Newman/Haas began a new relationship with
Swift which did not prove to be very successful in 1997–1999. In 2000 the team used
Lola chassis and Andretti won the
Firestone Firehawk 300 held at
Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, and again in Toronto. Andretti tried again to win Le Mans in 1997, again alongside his father, but joined on this occasion by
Olivier Grouillard. Following an accident during the night, the trio were forced to retire their
Courage C36. He would not return to la Sarthe as a driver. For 2001, Andretti made the decision to move to Team Green as he wanted to try to win the Indianapolis 500 and Newman/Haas refused to enter the Indy Racing League event. Andretti ran in a third Team Green car with Motorola sponsorship and ran at Indianapolis. He led 16 laps, and was leading the race during a rain delay just beyond the halfway point. Had the race been halted due to the rain, he could have been declared the winner. The red flag, however, did not come out at the time and the race resumed. A punctured tyre, and a minor collision in the pits with eventual winner
Hélio Castroneves, driving for car owner
Roger Penske, slowed him down, and at the end of the day, Andretti settled for 3rd place. In July, it was announced that he had bought the team and intended to shift the entire operation (which was renamed Andretti Green Racing) to the IRL. Andretti's career in CART ended in
2002, in which he took his 42nd and final career victory at the
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. placing him in third place for all-time victories in championship car racing behind his father (52 wins) and
A. J. Foyt (67 wins). Andretti is also tied with
Al Unser Jr. for the most wins in a CART/IndyCar season with eight victories. He achieved this during his championship-winning season of
1991. Throughout his time in IndyCar, he retained a consistent and impressive record, finishing in the top ten of the championship on seventeen occasions. ==Semi-retirement and team owner==