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Andretti Official Online Store
As the holiday season approaches we thought you might like to see the great deals on Marco apparel, race gear and diecast models at the Andretti Store.

Click here to see gift ideas and one-of-a-kind race collectables, like the 2007 autographed helmet that you see here.

New 2008 Andretti Racing hats and polo shirts are just some of the array of goods you can pick up.

Marco - Podcast Interview "Just one of those years"
Bridgestone Motorsport's latest podcast features exclusive interviews with Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti about their 2007 season.

Click here to download and MP3 of the show, or go to the Bridgestone Motorsport website to subscribe to the podcast.Marco said "In any profession, to overcome adversity is the toughest part. We learn so much about staying focused and staying with it the whole year if a little bit of luck swings my way we should be right up there again."

Marco Honored
The National Italian American Hall of Fame honored Marco as its 2007 Athlete of the Year (for his outstanding rookie year achievments) on Saturday 3rd November. "This is really pretty special, as an athlete and a person of Italian heritage," Marco Andretti said. He is the great grandson of Italian immigrants, the late Alvice "Gigi" and Rhina Andretti, with all four of his grandparents Italian born.

For as long as he can remember he's had the "Italian feeling." "With my grandfather (Mario), how could you help it?" Marco said. "I can tell you I was going crazy when Ferrari won (the F-1 championship). It was just for that reason. You can ask a couple of buddies who were watching the race (on TV) with me. I was jumping up and down. I had goose bumps because of that feeling."

Teams prepare their driver lineups for the 2nd Annual All-Stars Karting Classic event at the PRI Show in Orlando, FL at the Orange County Convention Center. Topkart camme out as the first team to announce their driver lineup in the All-Star event announcing that it will field IndyCar Series star Marco Andretti, ALMS pilot Bryan Herta, and Grand-Am Daytona Prototype driver Joey Hand in the Masters Division of the event.

"I was really looking forward to racing last year," he said. "Of course, when the opportunity to test with Honda in Formula one came up, I had to jump on it. But it will be great to be teammates with Bryan and go for the win in Orlando this year.". READ MORE

October 11th/12th Birmingham, Alabama Marco Andretti had driven an open-wheel car on the Barber Motorsports Park before, but it didn't help him much upon his return in the No. 26 Andretti Green Racing Honda-powered Dallara.

"It was about five years ago when I was here in a Skip Barber car, so basically it just told me the direction of the circuit - which way it goes.

It's good fun. It's a very technical track. It's very hard to be consistent, hard to be flowing. It's hard to get in a rhythm because there are a lot of blind corners. It's very tough to get right - car placement and such. It's a challenging track for a driver, which is always good." Full Quote from Marco at the Skip Barber track Click here

October 4th: Marco's Iowa Test Three teams and five drivers concluded their two-day test session at Iowa Speedway on Thursday October 4th.

Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti joined Ganassi drivers Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon and Penske's Helio Castroneves in a private test designed to find a more suitable aerodynamic package for next year's race at the track.

"We thought it was a short track, but it's really a superspeedway," Andretti said. "We were as easily flat-out here as we are at Michigan or Chicago. We thought it was going to be Richmond, but it wasn't. That's what we're trying to achieve now. It's a very fine line. If you take downforce away, you can't get close to another car. We want to keep it close, but we want to be able to pass. That's very challenging."

Dario leaves Indy for NASCAR. It has been confirmed that Dario Franchitti, Marco's teammate for the last two years, is leaving Andretti Green Racing to enter the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup. After weeks of unconfirmed reports, Franchitti officially joined Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR team on 5th October and will drive the No. 40 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup next year.

"It does hurt the series, because you lose a name you've had forever," Marco Andretti said. "But it also hurts me because I was able to look at his data and learn from him. He's a very unique individual and a very talented individual and was very tough to beat."

Marco also relayed a conversation he had with Franchitti earlier this year. "He told me as a friend, 'You don't like being upside down.' Especially in the later part in your career. If you don't have to take those chances, why are you gonna? He's won everything there is to win in the series, so it's his decision. I didn't see it coming. I didn't believe it until I heard it."


The final race of the 2007 Indycar Series is completed. Dario Franchitti is champ. Marco wasn't so lucky - Marco's last race of the season ended once again with some cruel luck and another DNF. The #26 car suddenly swapped ends on turn four on the 35th lap, spinning and sending the car hard into the wall. It appeared that his suspension failed. The car was badly damaged in the incident but Marco emerged unhurt but for a sore neck. He was taken to a nearby Medical Center for precautionary CT scans (which were negative) and missed the beginning of celebrations in the AGR paddock.



Marco started from the 5th row alongside Championship points rival Tomas Scheckter after posting a best time of 25.7031 and a top speed of 212.893 mph.

After Qualifying Marco said: "I'm not very happy at all with our result. I am not a huge fan of this kind of qualifying. It's frustrating as a driver because you just sit there and try to get as low as you can. The only good thing is that I feel like I got everything I could out of the NYSE car. Our race car is pretty good so I think we'll be competitive tomorrow." MARCO ANDRETTI

In Saturday's practice Marco ran well at this fast high-banked speedway. In Practice One Marco ran 6th fastest, just 0.219 seconds off the fastest time. In session two Marco cut that gap to just 0.118, as fifth fastest overall.

In advance of the last race of the season Marco reflected on a tough sophomore year:

"This season has not gone anything like we thought or hoped it would. We've had some unfortunate luck but, on a positive note, we've been in contention at several races and had some solid finishes when we've been able to finish the race.

Chicago is a track that I've got very little experience on but we've done pretty well on the last few ovals so I'm sure my engineer, Eddie Jones, and I will find a setup that works for us. Hopefully we can end the year on a positive note with a win for the NYSE car and an AGR championship for Dario (Franchitti) or Tony (Kanaan)."

The race goes green at 4pm on Sunday September 9th. Marco's final challenge is to catch Tomas Scheckter in the point standings to secure 9th place in the 2007 championships. To do this he needs to finish at least 4 places ahead of TS (keeping Buddy Rice behind too!)


Sunday September 2nd - Belle Isle, Detroit MI:
DNF at Detroit: After a strong showing in the early stages of Sunday's Detroit Indy Grand Prix Marco parked the #26 car on lap 29 very soon after pitting from 5th position. Early reports blame a broken shifter cable..

It turned out to be a great - and eventful - day for Marco's teammates: Tony won the race, Danica achieved her best ever position - 2nd - and Dario collided with his rival for the championship Scott Dixon.

Interview with Dario, Danica and Tony

Soon after the retirement Marco said "NYSE boys unfortunate again. You know it's just one of those years. The car was alright, but I was struggling - the cable started to go right away. So I was fighting it the whole race. It's not fun..." When asked about the uneven road surface at Belle Isle: "It's physical but once you settle in and start making your marks it's no big deal. On the car though it has to be tough and I think that had something to do with it. The tires are never all on the ground so you're correcting the whole lap. It's very tough."

At Saturday afternoon's qualifying session Marco put up a great time of 1.13.384 which starts him 6th at tomorrow's Grand Prix."I don’t think I did the best job I could have in qualifying. Besides Ryan (Hunter-Reay), I’m the quickest of the guys who hasn’t driven here before but to me, that doesn’t matter too much. I want to be quicker than the guys who have been here before.

There’s still a lot of work to do on the NYSE car. It’s a very abrasive and bumpy track so it’s tough to get right but we’ve got a warmup tomorrow and we’re starting near the front so I think we’ll have a good day."

AGR's Championship-chasing Dario Franchitti took victory at Belle Isle in 1999, and TK's first win in the United States came on this track 11 years ago. Closer to home, Michael won there in '96 and grandfather Mario placed 3rd in '93.

Practice went well on Friday - Marco was fourth fastest - and things are looking good for Saturday. Marco said afterwards ""I think we had a pretty good day today.  I think there's still a little more speed in the NYSE car and we've still got a bit of time to find it.  We'll spend some time debriefing tonight and be ready for qualifying tomorrow."

"I was at Belle Isle before (witnessing his father's '96 win as a youngster) I can't wait to get back. I like the sound of the place -- heavy braking, creating chances to pass. It would be the answer to our problems this year if we could win on Sunday. We have to make it happen."

Sunday August 26th - Sonoma, California:
Marco takes the race lead then dramatically crashes out: Marco had worked his way into a great position prior to the last pit stop by saving fuel and running long on his middle stint. He put in a series of fast laps and was the last to make a final fuel stop, pitting from first position. With the help of his superfast pit crew he emerged to retain the race lead and go for a win.

As Marco worked to get up to speed, championship-chasing team mate Dario Franchitti collided with the back of the #26 car sending MA spinning off the track. Marco's race was over and Dario's car was damaged enough for him to lose position to eventual winner Scott Dixon, DF's rival for the Championship. DF would finish third and fall to second place in the championship with two races to go.

"I feel like I left racing room so I don't know what else to say.  It's tough when you bust your tail for 70 laps straight, finally get some track position and then that happens.  I can't explain how hard it is to make that happen, especially in places where you can't pass.  I was able to catch up to the leaders, while saving fuel, and then I caught them in the pits.  It was a great day for the NYSE boys in the pits and our strategy was awesome.  It's just unfortunate."

Photos from the Sonoma weekend.  

Photos of last year's Infineon win.

Read more on Marco's 2007 indy 500 and previous races this year.

Wallpapers! 2007 wallpapers for your computer desktop brought to you exclusively by marcoandretti.com View Downloads

Saturday 11th August - Kentucky Raceway: Marco finished strongly in fourth place as Teammate Tony Kanaan led the field home at the Meijer Indy 300. This moves Marco up to nineth in the driver standings with three races to go. There was unexpected drama at the close of the race as The Flying Scotsman (Championship leader Dario Franchitti) went airborn once again right after finishing in 8th place. Luckily he emerged unscathed.

At the race start the #26 car was lacking pace, however a 38th lap yellow flag saw Marco gain three places with a fast pit stop. One of Marco's trademark fast re-starts saw further improvement and Marco gradually found speed as the race progressed. After a second yellow flag hold-up the Prince of Restarts did it again and gained even more position.

"The balance of the NYSE car was good, but it might have been too good, which took away from our speed. It's a balancing act for sure. We've got to find a faster car that we can hold onto. We weren't too far off of the setup of Tony's (Kanaan) car. The car was good; it just wasn't quick enough to challenge Tony or Dario (Franchitti)." Marco Andretti after the race.

Homepage Archive: for more on this season's races.