Mario Andretti has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.
The auto racing legend remains the patriarch of his family, remains one of the most popular figures in international racing and enjoys tremendous health at 79.
He is also thankful for still getting to drive a race car. It’s the famed Honda Indy “Two-Seater” that gives celebrities, VIPs and paying guests a chance to experience the thrills of an Indy car from the cockpit with the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winning driver at the wheel.
Andretti is also thankful for something else: For having the opportunity to have known Tony Hulman, the man who saved Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. Hulman purchased the decaying facility on November 14, 1945 from previous owner Eddie Rickenbacker and turned the modern-day Indianapolis 500 into the Goliath of all sporting events.
Hulman died on October 27, 1977. By then, Andretti knew all the members of Hulman’s family, including his grandson, Anton “Tony” George.
Over the years, Andretti and the Hulman-George family enjoyed a long relationship and friendship, although they may not have agreed with each other on certain topics.
So, as the Hulman-George family is in the final stages of closing a deal to sell Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR and IMS Productions to Roger Penske and the Penske Corporation, Andretti remembers the positive impact the family has had on the sport.
“We all know the tradition and we all know what Tony Hulman started and the family has continued,” Andretti told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “As Tony George said when he announced the sale, ‘The family took it as far as we could.’ All of the heritage and everything that it stands for is going to be preserved.
“If anybody understands that, it’s Roger Penske. He has been there since he was a young teenager. The Speedway is what made Roger Penske fall in love with the sport, like with many of us.
“With everything Roger has accomplished, he is probably going to put this at the very top of his businesses because of what it means to him overall. I guarantee you, for many, many years he probably dreamed the impossible dream of doing this.”
Andretti thinks Hulman is looking down right now smiling because Penske is the best person to move the Indy 500 and INDYCAR to even greater heights.
“I think Tony Hulman is approving this, no question about it,” Andretti said. “He is smiling down from the heavens because it is a continuation of what he started, what the family continued, and it is in good hands.
“I don’t think you could have handed the baton to a better person than Roger Penske. It’s all good. It’s a chance to really look forward to some big things. This adds to the momentum in INDYCAR that is real.
“This adds to it in a big positive way.”