Andretti Curse - John Andretti

John Andretti

John is the son of Aldo (Mario's twin brother) so he is Michael and Jeff's cousin. He has had a long and successful career in several forms of motorsport, including wins in NASCAR, CART, and the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has also competed in NHRA drag racing. The majority of his career has been spent in NASCAR.

John has 12 starts at the Indianapolis 500, with a best finish of 5th in the 1991 event. This includes a gap of thirteen years between the 1994 race and the 2007 race. Though his misfortunes have not been as pronounced as his fellow family members, his success has been notably mediocre.

• 1988: In his rookie year at Indy, John drops out after 114 laps due to engine trouble. He would suffer a serious crash later in the year at the Pocono 500, but he recovered.

• 1989: Driving for Vince Granatelli, John spun out exiting the pits on his second pit stop. Shortly after, he had an ignition failure in his Buick, and dropped out after 61 laps.

• 1990: John switched the Porsche Indy Car team. On lap 136, after battling a loose condition, John brushed the wall in turn four. He proceeded down the front stretch, and spun lazily in turn one. He did not hit the wall, but the suspension was damaged, and he had to drop out.

• 1991: John switched to the Hall VDS team, and won the CART season opener at Surfer's Paradise (his first career victory). It would be his best finish at Indy, 5th place, three laps down.

• 1992: John was not a factor during the race, but avoided the numerous accidents to finish 8th.

• 1993: John switched to A. J. Foyt Enterprises, and finished 10th, the first time on the lead lap.

• 1994: John attempted an unprecedented racing feat, driving in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. Driving for Foyt once again, John balanced his time well between both tracks, and qualified for both races. He came home 10th at Indy, then flew immediately to Charlotte Motor Speedway. He dropped out, however at Charlotte.

From 1994-2006, John primarily raced in NASCAR, and did not compete in the Indy 500. He drove in the Brickyard 400 from 1994–2003, with only one top ten (7th in 1998), and he finished last in 2003.

• 2007: John returned to Indy for the 2007 race. He lost a mirror early on, then crashed near the halfway point.

• 2008: Running at the finish, John was never a factor. He finished a lap down in 16th place.

• 2009: John entered in a joint-effort with Richard Petty. On the second day of qualifying, he badly crashed his primary car, and the team was forced to make repairs, since he had no backup. On Bump Day, John's first attempt was bumped, and his second attempt was too slow. He finally made the field on his third attempt with 5 minutes remaining in the day. On race day, he was the last car on the lead lap, finishing a mediocre 19th.

• 2010: John entered in a joint-effort with Richard Petty and Andretti Autosport. Though the entire Andretti team had trouble getting their machines up to speed during qualifying, John put in a safe speed on bump day without incident. On race day, John wrecked on the backstretch on lap 62 and finished 30th.

• 2011: John finished three laps down.

• 2012: John was unable to secure a ride for the 2012 race.