Mario Andretti: A Champion's Mindset

Charge Forward Coaching - Mario Andretti, A Champions Mindset - Transcript

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[00:00:06] Mario Andretti: Well, you just don't dwell on the failure. That's all to, you know, it, uh, it's part of life, no question. But you just pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and go on. I mean, definitely. And you look at the, the positive side of failure is that you learn.

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[00:00:39] Narrator: Welcome to Charge Forward Coaching, the podcast for committed athletes and individuals who want to achieve more on and off the field.

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[00:01:09] James Blasco: Hi, and welcome to the Charge Forward Coaching podcast. I'm your host, James Blasco, and today is a super special day for me because I get to have a nice discussion with one of the most iconic, not just race car drivers, but sports folks in the world, Mario Andretti. So Mario, welcome to the show. Thank you, James.

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[00:01:54] And one of the quotes, you made a quote one time about why you were so motivated to race [00:02:00] and you said it was all about love and passion for racing. What made you fall in love with racing as a kid in Italy and then coming over to the United States?

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[00:02:29] And, uh, and then of course, uh, you know, that's, uh, uh, you know. Before I became a teenager, I knew of nothing but war and, uh, so there were a lot of uncertainties. But why did my brother, my twin brother, Aldo and I gravitated to, uh, motor racing? I don't know. But we did. And that's because, uh, uh, the beginning of, uh, formula One was in 1950 at age.[00:03:00]

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[00:03:26] So that's it. I mean, uh, somehow we, uh, and after witnessing that the, the telling Grand Prix 1954 at age 14, uh. The mold was cast. There was no plan B to go after anymore. And, uh, Alder and I, even though at the time was absolutely the impossible dream because of the situation. Uh, but uh, that's it. I mean, uh, uh, and to pursue the impossible dream, [00:04:00] obviously, um, you know, takes just tremendous amount of desire to overcome what.

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[00:04:33] A sample, some good buddies around. And, uh, we started building our own car to, to start racing here, even though we were underage, we had to, we had to fudge. There was, uh, Les Young was, uh, the editor of the Nazareth Key, the Nazareth paper, and we befriended him and, uh. Through, [00:05:00] uh, my uncle's gas station there at the Sunga station at the end of town.

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[00:05:39] James Blasco: Yeah, that's a, that's a long journey and that's one of the things I was thinking about as I was, um, you know, doing the reading and listening to your other interviews. From, from the beginning, it, it was your life. There was really no off season. And what really amazed me was you, you raced in so many different disciplines, so many different races around the [00:06:00] world, and it was pretty much year round and you had, you know, your successes and failures.

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[00:06:12] Mario Andretti: Uh, Jane. Desire. Desire, and desire. That's it. I mean, and, and the passion. I was just driven by that. Uh, and nothing stood in my way, obviously. Uh, I had a young family and, uh, thank goodness I had a wonderful wife that, uh, even though she was not really a race fan when I met her, you know, anyway, but, uh, she, uh, came into my life and, uh, and she.

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[00:07:04] I could never get enough. So the bottom line is, uh, I probably didn't get to spend as much quality time as I probably could have, even with my young. Kids and my young children. Uh, but I had the support, the, um, wavering support from the end. And, uh, looking back later on in life when, uh, you can, you can test to reflect on things I just didn't realize.

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[00:07:49] James Blasco: Yeah. I actually circled that in my notes. You, you brought that up in another interview about being able to focus and, you know, commit.

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[00:08:21] So what is the mindset when. You get into the race car every time, whether it's you're racing or testing or whatever, and you're trying to compete at the highest level, but something horrible like that could happen when you get in a race car, what are you thinking? How do you control that emotionally?

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[00:09:13] Seventies, you know, even 80, well, all along until really, uh, the two thousands. Um, the safety aspect, you know, was not what we're enjoying today. And the sport was cruel, you know, in so many ways. But, uh, you just don't, you just don't reflect, you don't, uh, on, on the negatives and, uh, dwell on the negative, I should say.

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[00:10:11] Overcame all of that. Uh, and it was bigger than all of it. And all those, again, potential negatives and definitely could have been distractions. Um, so, uh, you know, I don't know how you can actually totally explain that it's thing that only I experienced, but um. Again, just the love where I was doing. Uh, I didn't, couldn't have anything standing the way of me pursuing my goals.

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[00:10:45] James Blasco: And in pursuing your goals, clearly there was a lot of confidence. My question is, was the confidence there from the beginning or is that something that grew as you found success as you worked through, you know, [00:11:00] the challenges? Or were you just from the beginning? I. A very confident person.

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[00:11:32] I, I experienced, uh, to being refused, um, uh, twice, you know, on, on, on the grounds that, uh, I don't think you could handle that. And, and I had to prove my way all the way. And I'll tell you what I had. Uh, and my first opportunity to do exactly that was at a track. I don't know, you probably will know [00:12:00] Langhorn.

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[00:12:29] And, and I raced there. That was my first dirt race, dirt track race in a champ car. And uh, and I was the first car to finish, uh, the race without a power steering. There's some cars, I had power steering and I finished seventh. But to me it was a victory in itself because I proved the point and actually. I was already had a ride with the Dean Van Lines, uh, team by the, the, uh, [00:13:00] Clint Broner, the chief mechanic lost, uh, Jimmy Bryant the year before was killed at Langhorn.

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[00:13:38] But I had the mindset that, you know, I can do this otherwise, you know, I wouldn't even, why, why would I be thinking about it? I know I can do it. And, and you just do it. I mean. My hands, you know, it was like hamburger. You know, they don't get blisters nowadays. We still get normally to get blisters, you know, after, qualify [00:14:00] after the race like that.

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[00:14:32] You know, you always have to obviously, uh, even sometime you're labeled this and that. Well prove it. Okay? So you go prove it. You know, it's like, uh, going back to the first opportunity that I had to drive a Formula One car was at the US Grand Pri and Watkins guy in 1968 and it's, oh, let's see, American guy, you know, this we doing, you know, with a lot.

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[00:15:23] So something like that, what it gives you, it, it makes you feel, you know what, I belong here. Think I belong here. And, and it gives you just the type of, again, you know, as you say, confidence that you need to be able to pursue and continue pursuing. These are the moments that have been so valuable in my life and my career, you know, to justify all of the effort that I was putting into it.

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[00:15:53] James Blasco: it is, it's so amazing the, the, the guys you raced against and the tracks and the cars. [00:16:00] Um, it, it's totally amazing. And one of the things that jumped out was, you know, there's a lot of people unfortunately, that whether it's, you know, they're racing or it's their career, they go through challenges and they have defeats and they have these struggles, and over time it just wears 'em down and they kind of quit.

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[00:16:25] Mario Andretti: Well, you just don't dwell on the failure that's all stood. You know, it, it's part of life, no question. But you just pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and go on. I mean, definitely. And you look at the, the positive side of failure is that you learn.

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[00:17:09] It's always gonna be, uh, a ripple on the road. And, uh, and the one thing that, uh, I realized early on that, uh, anything worthwhile accomplishing life is gonna take a lot of work, a lot of effort. And nothing will come easy, but that's what gives you the ultimate satisfaction if you finally achieve your must ambitious goal.

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[00:17:39] James Blasco: Yeah. I, I think he would be the poster child for the mindset. The champion mindset is one of the reasons, you know, I wanted to, to talk to you, uh, speaking of confidence, uh, EF F1, the new team, how confident are you going into that next year?

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[00:18:05] And, uh, we always keep our options open, uh, to see, uh, whether, you know, we can. Assume, you know, bring on somebody else. We keep that, again, that option always open because, uh, we know what's important. It's all about people at the end of the day. And, uh, and, you know, uh, we, uh, we have to be realistic. Uh, we're doing, uh, our level best the time.

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[00:19:07] James Blasco: Absolutely. I, I have a, this sneaky feeling that you're gonna be super successful, but we'll, we'll wait and see. Can't wait to watch. Yeah. Speaking of being successful, so the Lehigh Valley, we talked right before we jumped on, uh, the, we're both from up in the Lehigh Valley. I'm down here in Florida now in Daytona.

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[00:19:40] Mario Andretti: We don't just, uh, we don't wanna give it away. I don't wanna tell you the secret. If they could bottle it up,

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[00:20:14] Mario Andretti: Hey, you know that one? That's history. Yeah. Yeah. That's coming up too. Yeah. Um, yeah, I mean, let's face it. Uh. Every one of these events have their moment and it's, uh, it's almost impossible to qualify. Uh, okay, the Indy 500, that's one race. I'm looking at a championship. And, um, and quite honestly, James, um, I was 14 years old when the dream really, really began.

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[00:21:11] But since my teammate, uh, Ronnie Peterson was killed at the start of that race, uh, I didn't have the, you know, intermediate to, to follow. Follow through. But anyway, just to get back to what's important to your question, Monza winning the World Championship, that had to be the moment of my life because, uh, uh, can you imagine, how could I have known it then at age 14, that's what's gonna happen.

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[00:22:07] Ferrari. Um, again, I've so much to be thankful for, you know, and, uh, as you say, you know, these are the moments that, uh, I have thrived on in my whole life. And I, uh, and I feel I've been so blessed.

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[00:22:40] And thanks again for joining the podcast.

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[00:22:46] Narrator: Absolutely. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Charge Forward Coaching. Remember, the journey to greatness is built on mental toughness and consistent effort. So head on over to charge forward coaching.com and [00:23:00] book a free discovery call to take the next step in your journey.

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