MARIO ANDRETTI:
A DRIVING PASSION

By Gordon Kirby.
Published by David Bull Publishing.

The process of globalisation and technological innovation is creating what is sometimes referred to as a 'shrinking' world: journeys that once took several weeks, for example, can be covered - at relatively low cost - in a matter of hours, and people on one corner of the planet can communicate instantaneously with someone thousands of kilometers away by telephone, text message, or email. Distance is no longer a barrier, and in many respects the cultural barriers are also breaking down due to the effects of varying degrees of assimilation, domination, and infiltration.

Historically, there has been a divide in the racing cultures on either side of the Atlantic. It can be traced right back to the very origins of the sport, and the ramifications are still evident in the way the respective continents go about their racing today.

It's fair to wonder whether this is perhaps why Mario Andretti does not command the same degree of reverence in Europe as he does in the United States. It's a curious fact, but apparently a fact nonetheless. While Stirling Moss is justifiably lauded as a man who could jump into just about anything and find a way to make it go fast, it seems to be forgotten that in that respect, Andretti was not far behind him - and in an era when drivers were beginning to become less and less inclined (or permitted under contract) to make forays into other categories.

When one looks back over Andretti's achivements, it's hard not to be thoroughly awestruck. Six years after his first race, he had won the first of four USAC/CART championships, and for good measure he was also named Rookie of the Year at Indy the same year. He won the F1 World Championship in 1978, the Daytona 500 in 1967, won the Indy 500 in 1969 and took pole on three other occasions, won the Sebring 12 Hours three times, Pike's Peak in 1969, the USAC dirt-car series in 1974, and the IROC title in 1979.

"From day one, I never wanted to be categorised as a stock-car driver or a midget driver or a sprint-car driver," Andretti said. "I didn't want people to say that was my specialty. I wanted to be versatile, an all-rounder. I used to particularly follow Dan Gurney and Foyt, because they were both into everything. They were the ones I looked up to. Even in those days, there were not that many drivers who ran a lot of different types of cars. Dan was the guy I really admired because he raced everything: Formula One, sports cars, stock cars, Indy cars. He really inspired me." ('Mario Andretti - A Driving Passion', p.80).

The respect apparently works both ways, because Gurney wrote the forward to this book, which is a combination biography/coffee table-type affair. It was written with Mario's full co-operation by Gordon Kirby, a man perhaps more qualified for this sort of thing than any other journalist I can think of, with the possible exception of Robin Miller.

'Mario Andretti - A Driving Passion' offers a full account of Andretti's remarkable life and career, starting with his early childhood in Italy and his family's subsequent migration to the US in the wake of Nazi occupation. Images and text share equal weight in this book, with great results. Andretti provided many of the pictures from his own albums, so there is a fair bit of stuff here that you may not have seen before.

If you are a couple of generations removed from the person you are reading about, it is sometimes difficult to build a real picture of the full extent of his achievements, and how he went about reaching them. Kirby does a good job of communicating this sort of stuff, and helps himself further by frequently consulting Andretti for comments on a particular race, car, or team-member. Indeed, while the 'authorised biography' stamp is often something to be wary of due to the danger of shelling out for what amounts to a 350 page, full colour press release, Andretti is not one known for holding his tongue.

Those who get a kick out of hearing one racing driver sledge another will find a little bit here and there to make them happy, but some of Andretti's most interesting comments concern the cars that he drove. If this book is anything to go by, then the man has a spooky memory for detail, because he seems to be able to recall specifics about certain races that took place 35 years ago better than some driver can 20 minutes after they have taken their helmet off.

Then there are the other little gems that pop up unexpectedly, like his all-too-brief explanation on how he approached the process of setting up a car back in his formative years. Whatever angle of racing it may be that appeals to you, you're in with a good chance of finding something here of interest.

Flaws? I guess that the problem of trying to cover such a long and successful career in 250 image-filled pages means that detail is sometimes going to suffer, and there are certainly sections of the book that are a little less comprehensive than I might have liked.

I also found that while I developed a strong appreciation for Andretti the racing driver, I finished the book with a far less clear picture of Andretti as a person. The rather hurried epilogue fills the reader in on what Mario has been up to since he retired from driving, but other than that, it's up to the reader to build his own portrait of Andretti by reading between the lines. This is not usually such a bad thing, however in this case we are perhaps not given quite enough to work with.

Nevertheless, this is an extremely worthwhile read. It's well presented, enlightening, and more than engaging enough to make you want to keep turning the pages. If you're a Mario fan then you shouldn't be too disappointed. If you're not a Mario fan, well - you should be.

*   *   *

Grand Prix history fans, sit up and pay attention. Atlas F1's own Doug Nye has just put the finishing touches to a new publication, titled 'Dick and George ­ The Seaman Monkhouse Letters'. Ten years in the making, the 372-page volume brings together the letters that pre-war Mercedes driver Dick Seaman penned to his friend George Monkhouse.

The letters are reproduced in colour, complete with aging, folds, and tears, and are then reprinted in the main printed text to assist with readability. There is also an appendix containing further information on the various people, cars, places, and events to which Seaman refers in his correspondence.

It is supplemented with some of Monkhouse's famous images, and treated with the highest-quality reproduction. At £135 it represents a considerable investment, but the value of the material combined with the extremely limited print run (just 1,500 copies) suggests that you get an awful lot for your money.

The is published by Palawan Press of 11 Royal Crescent Mews, London W11 4SY, ISBN 0-9523009-9-0.