Mario Andretti has a twin brother

1969 saw the 53rd International 500 Mile Sweepstakes race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  It was #6 AJ Foyt who set the fastest lap in qualifying ahead of #2 Mario Andretti who eventually went on to win the race in a time of 3 hours, 11mins 14.71 seconds.  It was the fastest 500 to date breaking the previous record by almost five minutes.

Joining Foyt and Andretti on the front row was #1 Bobby Unser.

Andretti crashed heavily in practice suffering burns to his face and body but was able to qualify his back up car.

Conscious of his facial burns, albeit minor, Andretti got his twin brother Aldo to pose in the photo above of the front row for the race!

Another note of interest was that for 1969, not a single front-engined car managed to qualify for the race.  The entire field were rear-engined powered.

Benjamin Carrell is a freelance motorsport writer and currently edits talkmotorsport.co.nz. He writes for a number of Kiwi drivers and motorsport clubs. That's when he's not working in his horticultural day-job or training for the next road or mtb cycle race!

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz

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