Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9308290233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
Now he needs it because his poor performances are casting huge doubts about his future in Formula One racing.
"From the outside looking in, it looks like it has been a disaster," the Pennsylvania native said of his rookie year on the circuit.
His glum mood as the season is drawing to a close is such that even the few hopeful reflections quickly spin out.
"All of a sudden you can go from a chump to a hero," he said on the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix. "Or the other way around."
This year has been one long experience of finding out about his descent from stardom.
He was the IndyCar champion in 1991, and had all the prospects to stay among the top drivers throughout the decade. Instead, he charted the largely un-American course by going to Formula One.
He paid dearly - reduced to a struggling also-ran, 14th in the driver standings, second on his team and driving a second-choice engine.
"I know that when I start getting results, things will change," he said.
Unfortunately, only four races remain after the Belgian Grand Prix.
While Andretti's fortunes and reputation have sagged in Europe, his former IndyCar team of Newman-Haas with replacement Nigel Mansell has been a sensation this season, winning or being consistently among the challengers.
In his McLaren-Ford, Andretti has not even been among the top three racers at any given time in any of the 11 races to date.
His Formula One inexperience and error-prone car pushed him into 18th position for distance covered going into the Belgian Grand Prix.
It's a far cry from being the most successful IndyCar racer during the 1990s.
"It's been that sort of year," he said. "My timing on everything has been wrong.
"It's frustrating. It's one thing I knew when I signed: this was the year for the Newman-Haas team, the year that they were going to win all the races because of the work we had put in the previous three years. I knew I was giving up on that."
And he didn't know what he was getting into.
When he signed with McLaren, Andretti thought his car would be powered by Renault, the dominant engine on the circuit. But that didn't work out.
What's more, Ford, the engine McLaren eventually settled on, is contractually bound to give the Benetton team the first choice of engines.
"When I signed with McLaren there were many things different at that time," Andretti said.
He was convinced he would be getting as much practice time as needed to feel out the car and the circuits. But rule changes precluded, limiting practice laps and qualifying sessions for financial reasons.
"Not being able to test any of the circuits has made life more difficult, and I think that has been the biggest problem I've had," he said.
Going into the season-opening South African Grand Prix, "I had about 1 1/2 days of testing in the car," he said.
He stalled on the starting grid and when he finally got going, crashed in the fourth lap. He did not even complete the first lap of his next two races, setting a pattern of failure that has been hard to break.
"A couple of thousands of miles of testing before the first race would have made a big difference," he said.
Inevitably, he is faced with comparisons between IndyCar racing and Formula One.
"Indy cars are a more forgiving car," Andretti said, while the flat-bottomed Formula One vehicles "are much more on the knife's edge," especially when the breaking time is cut in half.
"The transition going from an Indy car to a Formula One car is more difficult than going the other way," he said. "If I would have grown up around flat-bottomed cars, or if I had 10 years, I'd be light years ahead of where I am now."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB