Andretti curse

According to Robin Miller, the curse started in 1970 when Mario Andretti, Andy Granatelli, and Clint Brawner were involved in feud over the team.

Mario became one of the most successful drivers of all time, winning four Indy car titles, the 1978 Formula One World Championship, and IROC VI.

A prevailing opinion in racing circles began to grow that a perceived bad luck "curse" had overcome him (and his family) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Andretti's perceived curse became such a popular "watercooler topic" during the month of May that some fans were known to have betting pools to guess which lap he would drop out of the race.

It has been suggested that this ugly divorce within the team was the impetus of the curse, as allegedly, Brawner's wife Kay subsequently put a hex on Andretti.

The weather cooperated on pole day, allowing Mario to qualify as scheduled, but engine issues prevented him from having a chance at the front row.

Unser and his car owner Roger Penske protested the decision, and a lengthy and contentious appeals process dragged out through the summer.

At the start, Mario was tangled up in the infamous crash triggered by Kevin Cogan replacing the then retired de facto defending champion Bobby Unser for car owner Roger Penske.

[58] On race day, Mario was in contention to win most of the afternoon, but a broken exhaust pipe was causing his engine to lose rpms.

Danny Sullivan, driving for car owner Roger Penske, passed Mario for the lead in turn one on the 120th lap, but immediately spun into a 360.

Mario charged through the field, and found himself running 4th at the finish, albeit 7 laps down, which is considered an unusually large deficit for fourth place in the modern era.

On lap 188, Mario's son Michael Andretti took the lead in dramatic fashion on a restart, passing Rick Mears who was driving for car owner Roger Penske, on the outside of turn one.

In the final 50 laps, he began developing handling problems because of his tires, and slid down the standings to finish 5th behind eventual winner Emerson Fittipaldi who was driving for car owner Roger Penske.

One of the team's regular drivers, Tony Kanaan, suffered a radial fracture of his arm on April 15 a crash a week earlier at Motegi.

During the test session, it was noted by many observers that despite his lack of experience in modern Indy cars (which had changed substantially since his retirement) and his advanced age (63), he quickly reached competitive speed.

Mario Andretti's run of bad luck also extends to his many attempts at Le Mans, which began with his 1966 debut, sharing a Holman & Moody Ford MKII with Lucien Bianchi, as they had been at the top 10, their car dropped a valve at 10:30 pm, causing them to retire.

[77][78] Mario would not return to the French classic until the end of his F1 career in 1982 with an enormous fanfare, partnering with son Michael in a Mirage M12 Ford.

Despite a formal complaint, team owner Harley Cluxton, who took over the Mirage name from original founder John Wyer, would never return to the race again.

A bad set of tires caused handling problems in the second half of the race and he is forced to pit early, slightly out-of-sequence with the other leaders.

Driving the now-aging Cosworth DFX proved to be a horsepower disadvantage, as Michael was unable to keep up with the Chevrolet Indy V-8's as well as the Buicks, particularly down the long straights.

I was ready to put Rick a lap down and his day would have been over, and I get a flat tire, so I had to come into the pits right away, and that's the thing that changed the race.

Michael settled for second, later saying in 2011, "I really thought that we had it cause we had dominated the race and I still til this day don't understand where Rick got that speed.

A punctured tire, and a minor collision in the pits with eventual winner Hélio Castroneves, driving for car owner Roger Penske, slow him down, and at the end of the day, Michael settles for 3rd place.

Many consider this to be the saddest event in Michael Andretti's racing history, with a father-son 1st-2nd finish being spoiled by Hornish, driving for long-time rival car owner Roger Penske.

2008: Returning for his third Indy 500, Marco posted the fastest practice speed of the month, 228.318 mph, the morning of pole day time trials.

During the last lap, Marco was passed by Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick under yellow resulting in him finishing in an unofficial 6th place.

He drove the #98 Honda for Andretti Autosport/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, the first time in Marco's career that he was listed as a team owner entrant, co-owning it with the Curb-Agajanian entry.

Just after the halfway point, the right rear wheel hub broke from his car at turn 2 and he crashed violently head-on into the wall, severely injuring both his legs.

Like the Andretti family, Newman's team experienced tremendous success in Indy car racing, with the notable exception of victory at Indianapolis.

With Mario and Michael at the helm, as well as other championship drivers over the years, such as Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, and Sébastien Bourdais, the team has failed to achieve victory of any sort at Indianapolis.