“I’m Not Telling Mario Andretti How to Drive” – NASCAR Pace Car Driver Kip Childress Recalls a Hilarious Story About the Former Daytona 500 Winner

In a recent interview, NASCAR Assistant Cup Series Director and pace car driver Kip Childress shared some great stories. Those stories were from his career as a pace car driver when he often took guests for a spin. One particular guest and story stood out in his mind and that was none other than Mario Andretti. The former F1 champion, Indy 500 and Daytona 500 winner is pretty much a motorsport legend in America.

He said, “One of the coolest rides, I was the passenger here, we had Mario Andretti as our honorary pace car driver at Charlotte. It was so funny, everyone kept asking me, ‘Are you going to tell Mario?’. Because we would always go through a driving session for an honorary driver. I was like, ‘Mario Andretti?!’. So we get in the car and he asked me, ‘What do I need to do?’. We were at the Roval. I said, ‘The only thing you had to worry about is 40 miles an hour. When we hit a long stretch of straightaway, we hit 40, turn the lights on and let the field know we’re at pit road speed. That’s the speed I need you to run’. Outside of that, I’m not telling Mario Andretti how to drive.”

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Mario Andretti enjoyed himself out on track

Childress admitted that Andretti was having the time of his life, swerving back and forth, looking in the mirror, and other things. When the time came for the green flag to wave, he seriously contemplated taking another lap. At that, Childress really did not know how to respond, because Richard Petty tried that stunt once.

IAdmittedly, it is very hard to refuse The King, so it was obvious that it would be difficult to deny Andretti. Eventually, the legendary American driver had mercy and decided that the fun was over. Before long, he drove back to the pits and the race kicked off as normal.

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