Top 50 Mario Andretti Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”

— Mario Andretti

Featured in: Startup Quotes, Action Quotes, Competition Quotes, Sports Quotes

2. “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

— Mario Andretti

Featured in: Excellence Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Goal Setting Quotes, Career Development Quotes, Competition Quotes

3. “The only thing that happens if you wait, is that you get older.”

— Mario Andretti

4. “If you’re so afraid of failure, you will never succeed. You have to take chances.”

— Mario Andretti

5. “Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.”

— Mario Andretti

6. “If you don’t come walking back to the pits every once in a while holding a steering wheel in your hands, you’re not trying hard enough.”

— Mario Andretti

7. “Desire is the key to motivation.”

— Mario Andretti

8. “I count my blessings every day, quite honestly, because I take nothing for granted.”

— Mario Andretti

9. “It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.”

— Mario Andretti

10. “You do the best you can with what’s thrown at you, then you try again.”

— Mario Andretti

11. “Nobody is born with a steering wheel or a gear shift in his hand. It’s something you choose to do or you don’t.”

— Mario Andretti

12. “Speed is relative. You have to live it. You can’t just jump into it. You have to live it all the time.”

— Mario Andretti

13. “I had no problems staying motivated because things that were happening were things I looked forward to.”

— Mario Andretti

14. “Unfortunately, we don’t educate drivers enough to be respectful on the road.”

— Mario Andretti

15. “I don’t have many superstitions, just dumb things I don’t talk about. I will not sign an autograph with a green pen.”

— Mario Andretti

16. “Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.”

— Mario Andretti

17. “I look at myself as the luckiest man alive.”

— Mario Andretti

18. “What is golden is miles under your belt, miles, miles, miles.”

— Mario Andretti

19. “Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you’d better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day.”

— Mario Andretti

20. “Whenever you’re aggressive, you’re at the edge of mistakes.”

— Mario Andretti

21. “Motor racing is like one big family, ultimately, and when you come back to it, that’s really what it feels like.”

— Mario Andretti

22. “From the driver’s standpoint I had the same horrors, the same satisfactions, the same everything. The speed is relative. It’s faster and things are happening quicker, but you have the equipment to handle it.”

— Mario Andretti

23. “If you think life is in control, you’re not going fast enough.”

— Mario Andretti

24. “Sometimes you have to bring back only the steering wheel so the car owner will know that you’re giving it all you have.”

— Mario Andretti

25. “A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments.”

— Mario Andretti

26. “If a neighbor is killed in a car accident, do you sell your car and stop driving?”

— Mario Andretti

27. “I don’t have any feeling of accomplishment about anything unless there’s a lot of risk to it.”

— Mario Andretti

28. “The passport changes but the blood doesn’t.”

— Mario Andretti

29. “I never personally name anyone. I am not comfortable rating other drivers.”

— Mario Andretti

30. “You dream what you’re supposed to do.”

— Mario Andretti

31. “The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses.”

— Mario Andretti

32. “The man upstairs is pushing the buttons, and if your name happens to be on that button, well, thank you.”

— Mario Andretti

33. “Young drivers are supposed to be hard on equipment. That’s how you learn.”

— Mario Andretti

34. “When you are losing it can seem like there is a black cloud following you around, but like they say there is a silver lining in every cloud.”

— Mario Andretti

35. “In racing, there is no question who is best – the first one to cross the finish line wins first prize. But with wine, even if you make the best wine in the world, someone isn’t going to like it, because it isn’t their style. Judging wine is very subjective.”

— Mario Andretti

36. “Tom Carnegie will never be replaced.”

— Mario Andretti

37. “Speed takes a little bit of getting used to, but rules have to be followed. At any speed, the more you run, the more you get used to it.”

— Mario Andretti

38. “The first time I fired up a car, felt the engine shudder and the wheel come to life in my hands, I was hooked. It was a feeling I can’t describe. I still get it every time I get into a race car.”

— Mario Andretti

39. “There’s something special about racing in real streets. The ‘artificial’ circuits have a certain sameness to them. But every race conducted on real streets has a character of its own – Barcelona, Monaco, and now Long Beach.”

— Mario Andretti

40. “Anybody who can drive and doesn’t come out of it a rich man is a fool.”

— Mario Andretti

41. “I will always enter a race car from the left side. Always. Why? I have no idea.”

— Mario Andretti

42. “You can’t take a vacation from speed. I probably could have taken more time off and not driven in all the different disciplines, but I wanted to drive, drive and drive.”

— Mario Andretti

43. “It takes a lifetime to build tradition.”

— Mario Andretti

44. “You do a period of go-karting until you’re at the age of qualifying for a ride in a ‘school-kart,’ then you qualify for driving school. And several of the driving schools have a competition series for their own students.”

— Mario Andretti

45. “The experts or the cynics say, “Oh, those were the good old days, that’s when drivers were really drivers. They didn’t have all these aids.” You know what? What we had, we did the best with and when we got more we provided what was needed.”

— Mario Andretti

46. “Sebastian Vettel’s brilliant talent will ultimately come forth and he’ll continue to show what he’s capable of. I will never ever degrade Vettel’s ability. Sooner or later, he’ll prove anyone so wrong.”

— Mario Andretti

47. “My biggest concern during a race is getting bored. The biggest thing I have to combat is falling asleep while going around and around.”

— Mario Andretti

48. “The United States is the only country where a driver can have a successful career – either in stock cars or IndyCar – and he won’t need a passport.”

— Mario Andretti

49. “Every NASCAR driver watches Formula One in the morning; they are well informed.”

— Mario Andretti

50. “I think social media really is a great tool. It fascinates me when I tweet something and right away you get a response almost immediately.”

— Mario Andretti