“Wait until it’s wet.” When Mario Andretti joined Formula 1, his competitors couldn’t believe that this former oval racer would be able to transfer his skillset to a wet race track — after all, oval racing is too dangerous under wet conditions. But the Italian-American racer had a trick up his sleeve, one that practically guaranteed him success on a wet track. That’s because Mario Andretti was a master on the dirt.

Mario Andretti: From dirt ovals to Formula 1
By the time the Andretti family emigrated from a conflict-torn Italy to the United States, teenaged twins Mario and Aldo had already fallen in love with motorsport. They’d witnessed the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and the stunning Mille Miglia, and when they settled in Pennsylvania, they wanted nothing more than to get behind the wheel.