Andretti solves city's traffic woes - fast

By THERESA GARNER

Is a Maserati the solution to Auckland's transport problems?

Certainly when Mario Andretti is at the wheel, the relentless creep of the Southern Motorway traffic dissolves quickly into the rear-view mirror.

Until, that is, you are brought up short by workaday drivers "hogging the fast lane".

In New Zealand to unveil a Caltex Havoline V8 touring car at the Pukekohe racetrack, the Italian-born American motor racing legend is reported to have once said "that if everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough".

The young woman in the Nissan Cefiro in front possibly thought she had everything under control, but didn't glance in her rear-vision mirror to spot the man often referred to as "the greatest racing driver of all time" suffer a little spot of road rage at her expense.

Europe, Andretti says, has the best disciplined drivers in the world. "Like, I'm behind this car right here, and all I have to do is put my blinker on like this, and they'll move right over.

"In the States, just like that," he gesticulates at the Cefiro, "they just fall asleep. They are just oblivious."

It is kind of fun that the peeves about our drivers afflict Andretti as much if not more so than the average motorist.

And like many of us, his frustrations are soundly reasoned. "Things move much more smoothly because it prevents you from doing all the weaving and passing on the wrong side and all of that, and you can drive fast and be so much safer. Like I say, the States, they are the worst, the absolute worst!"

What about drivers who are slow away from the lights? "Go! Go!" Andretti waves his gold-jewelled fingers in the air. "You're like, in traffic, and it's like, 'What are you doing? Having lunch there?' "

It would probably have been polite to let Andretti know the local speed limit before he had flown halfway to Pukekohe, but its telling proved of little significance. The needle sat on a steady 120km/h and was pushed to 150km/h in passing.

"I think in the States they've increased the speed limits; it's somewhere around 120 [km/h] in most states," Andretti remarks casually. "They don't really pull you over until you do much over 140 or something."

For 40 years racing aficionados have tried to entice Andretti to New Zealand, but his family always came first, and his schedule was too busy. "So when this opportunity came to come down here, I said this time I'm coming down with bells."

Andretti's childhood in Italy was disrupted by World War II and his family spent seven years in a refugee camp before settling in the US.

He made his name winning the Indianapolis 500 and Formula One Championship, in a driving career that stretched across five decades.

In the space of half an hour, two fans break an unwritten rule to get autographs in their dog-eared sun-faded racing annuals featuring a big-haired, jumpsuited grinning Andretti on the cover.

The motor racing legend's hair is now a slate grey, the smile still wide. Andretti is a fit and tanned 63.

A charming and entertaining man, his Silver Fox persona owes more to Fonzy than Clooney, and his fan-base is undoubtedly immense.

Eight years after officially hanging up his jumpsuit, he fills his days with his business interests, which range from being spokesman for ChevronTexaco, grape growing and wine making to running a collection of petrol stations and car washes.

The Maserati is on loan from "some crazy dealer" but Andretti's own fleet of cars includes a BMW760Li, Lamborghini Diablo VT, Corvette C506, Toyota Rav 4 and a Yamaha motorcycle. "I'm not the type to sit back and go fishing."

The father of three and granddad to five also has a bunch of "toys" at his family estate in Nazareth, Philadelphia, such as boats, horses and an ultralight aircraft.

He loves adrenalin highs and has bungy-jumped, but not in New Zealand. "I was going to do it here and my team owner really had a problem with it. I really had to sneak it. Here it would have been publicised."

A safety advocate in his sport, he seems astounded that he survived racing in the 60s and 70s.

"They were two of the most dangerous decades in the history of our sport. We had a tremendous increase in speed and technology but the safety was not being addressed.

"Some of the champions of the era never finished potentially fabulous careers. Because of that I consider myself so fortunate. I am one of the few who made it through unscathed, and that gave me the opportunity to do a 36-year career with only two races that I missed because of injury.

"Which is something I can only thank the man upstairs for."

Mario Andretti

Born February 28, 1940 in Montona, Italy.

The only driver to win the Daytona 500 (1967), Indy 500 (1969) and Formula One world title (1978).

Won the Indy car national championship four times.

Set a world closed-course speed record of 376.5 km/h in 1993 at the age of 53.