FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 7th, 2019

“DRIVE LIKE ANDRETTI” PREMIERES THIS SATURDAY AT 2 P.M. ET ON NBC

Mario Andretti’s First-Person Account as Refugee, Immigrant, Cultural Icon and Racing Legend Ahead of 50th Anniversary of 1969 Indianapolis 500 Win

WATCH: Part 1 of Drive Like Andretti

Includes Celebrity Interviews with Ludacris, Ice-T, Jay Leno, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“His name is synonymous with all things fast.” – Ludacris

“When someone says Andretti, that means it’s because he’s the best.” – Ice-T

 Drive Like Andretti This Saturday on NBC Leads Into INDYCAR Grand Prix

STAMFORD, Conn. – May 7, 2019 – Drive Like AndrettiNBC Sports’ new film that celebrates the life of Mario Andretti and details his first-person account as a refugee, immigrant, cultural icon and racing legend – premieres this Saturday, May 11, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, leading into NTT IndyCar Series coverage of the INDYCAR Grand Prix at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

Drive Like Andretti follows Andretti – the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, and a Formula 1 World Championship – as he recounts his improbable journey, beginning as a war refugee in Italy and concluding as the most famous racecar driver on Earth.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 1 OF DRIVE LIKE ANDRETTI

Part 1 of Drive Like Andretti – “Deus ex Machina – God From Machine” – is live now on NBCSports.com and the Motorsports on NBC YouTube channel. Part 1 touches upon Andretti’s impact across racing and American culture, and includes interviews with Ludacris, Ice-T, Jay Leno, Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASA Apollo 10 astronaut Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, and journalist A.J. Baime.

Andretti: “The first time I heard the word Indianapolis was actually in Italy. The movie was To Please A Lady with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck about a driver going through the ranks who reached Indianapolis. That captured my imagination. That became my favorite movie of all time.”

Ice-T on Andretti: “We’re always going to reach for the extremes in hip-hop, so when someone says Andretti, that means it’s because he’s the best. If you’ve got to ‘Drive Like Andretti,’ you win. And you do it over and over and over again. And then when you’re done, you go win some more.”

Ludacris on Andretti: “The same way a lot of rappers would use Jordan or Muhammad Ali, they may say Andretti because his name is synonymous with all things fast.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Andretti: “He could get in anything and not only be fast, but win.”

Baime on summer of 1969: “People talk about the summer of 1969, and it was this pinnacle of man and machine because we landed man on the moon that summer…the biggest sporting event of that year was the 1969 Indianapolis 500.”

Gen. Stafford on race car drivers and astronauts: “We knew A.J. Foyt, but we didn’t know Mario Andretti – not yet. Race car driver and astronauts are very similar in a lot of ways. They are focused. They are driven. They feel in their own mind they are invincible. They know they can do the job and do it real well. That’s what’s called having the right stuff.”

Drive Like Andretti will be released digitally in six parts as NBC Sports celebrates the Month of May ahead of the Indianapolis 500. Drive Like Andretti includes interviews with Andretti in Montona, Croatia; Tuscany, Italy; Andretti’s home in Nazareth, Pa.; Andretti’s winery in Napa, Calif.; and Speedway, Ind., at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

-DRIVE LIKE ANDRETTI-