Versatile Andretti driven to compete

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John Andretti says he’s classified as a "racing mutt" for the variety of race cars he has driven.

With the blood of father Aldo and uncle Mario coursing through his veins, it’s more accurate to call Andretti a pure-bred speedster and the sport’s most versatile racer ever.

He has competed professionally in IndyCars, stock cars, trucks, sports cars and Top Fuel dragsters.

On Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Andretti will compete in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event of the year. He already has raced in the Daytona 500 in the Sprint Cup Series and the open-wheel Indianapolis 500.

Andretti, 45, owns one IndyCar title, has won twice in the Cup series, owns countless sport-car titles and nearly became the fourth Top Fuel driver to reach 300 mph.

"I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to drive all the types of cars I have," Andretti said in a telephone interview from his home near Charlotte, N.C. "It’s unfortunate that doesn’t happen anymore today because that’s when you get to see how much talent drivers have."

Andretti moved from IndyCars to NHRA in 1993, the same year he competed in his first four Cup races. The following year, he began to focus on NASCAR, where he raced full time until 2004.

He has competed in 31 Cup races with several teams over the past few years, including three races this season.

He said doesn’t expect a full-time return to Cup.

"Sprint Cup — who knows? — I love the series, but I’m well beyond 19 years old, so that changes things for me," he said.

Andretti doesn’t sound like he misses an 11-month season between testing and races.

"When I’ve raced the last few years it’s been a lot by my choice," he said. "As my kids have gotten older, I’ve ended up traveling alone (to races) a lot.

"The nice thing about where I am in life is I can pick from the opportunities I’m offered, and I couldn’t do that if I had a full contract."

Andretti said he has been quietly discussing full-time driving jobs in IndyCars and drag racing, each of which offers less demanding schedules than Cup.

"The bug has been striking hard that I’d like to take a pretty serious run at something full time. The Indy Racing League (IndyCars) is attractive, and NHRA is, too. We’ll see.

"But whatever I do next year it will include the Indianapolis 500," he said of the race in which he finished 16th this year.

The drag-racing bug bit deeper Friday when Andretti attended the inaugural NHRA national event at the new Lowe’s Motor Speedway dragstrip near Charlotte. He was at the dragstrip when he received a call from truck team owner Billy Ballew, who occasionally fields winning trucks for Las Vegas native Kyle Busch.

Andretti drove for Ballew four times in 2005 and posted two top-10 finishes.

"I’ve become best friends with a lot of the owners I’ve driven for, and Billy is one of them," Andretti said. "He asked if I wanted to head out to Vegas to drive one of his trucks and I said sure."

Andretti rarely says no.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.