Motor racing-Andretti curse lifts at Indy 500

Reuters

By Lewis Franck INDIANAPOLIS, May 29 (Reuters) - Indy 500 fans have long talked about a curse around Mario Andretti and his family. But the curse took another time out on Sunday when Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi timed his fuel use perfectly to claim a shocking victory in his rookie appearance. "To win this as a team has given back what was taken away several times as a driver," 76-year-old Mario told Reuters, referring to his son's winning team on Sunday. "He's done it in a grand style." The purported Andretti curse refers to the statistic that three generations of family members racing at the legendary Brickyard have led for more than 1,000 laps, but only Mario (in 1969) has driven into Victory Lane. Mario's son, Michael, has the dubious distinction of leading the most laps, 431, at the 2.5-mile (4km) oval circuit without a victory here. "My driving career, just wasn't meant to be," Michael told reporters. "We led a lot of laps here, but we never led the right one." But Michael, 53, with his Andretti Autosport team, has prepared two winners in the past three years, beating the mighty Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing team at their own game. While Rossi's team gambled on fuel, Andretti Autosport played their own numbers game with five entries to four apeice by their rivals. "When you have five horses in the race it increases your chances and it did," 1978 Formula One world champion Mario told Reuters. "I'm happy and proud that Michael put his name in the 100th running of the race. I could not be more proud." The younger Andretti explained the team's strategy: "It's one thing we've been able to do, is use the five cars to our advantage. You have that much more information throughout the month. "We do a really good effort on that fifth car." As for the curse, Mario thinks it is time to retire the term. "How can you have a curse when you have events happen to you and you're still talking about it?" said the elder statesman of the family. "There's no curse there. You can't have everything. You can try for it. I don't condone anyone saying or agree with anyone saying we have a curse". (Editing by Andrew Both)