(Their first port of call in North America, incidentally, was Halifax, N.S., where they were originally processed. Mario and Aldo, as just about everybody knows, went racing together in America upon arriving as immigrants in Nazareth, Pa. Then he fired up the car and followed after Peterson. Mario then glanced up at his brother and put his finger against his helmet, making a circular motion.
Mario slowly put his hand up to his helmet and saluted Peterson, who then put his car in gear and drove on into the pits. They were side-by-side and looking at each other. They both hit the brakes before colliding and came to a stop right in front of us. Suddenly, Ronnie Peterson in the Tyrrell, who obviously had missed the pit-lane entrance, came barreling off the track at Corner 10 and tried to squeeze (and when I saw squeeze, I mean squeeze) past Mario’s Lotus just before the pits. As we talked about racing in general, Mario - who was turning practice laps - drove through the narrow pit-lane entrance with his engine off, just coasting toweard the pits. Mario, of course, was driving for Team Lotus and Aldo was there spectating. We were so close to the pit lane that we could have reached out and touched the drivers on the tops of their helmets as they went by. We were standing together in what used to be the podium compound just outside the old Esso/Castrol Control Tower, watching the F1 cars either entering the pits or powering out of Corner 10 and onto the main straight. I remember having a great conversation with Aldo on the Saturday morning of the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park (now better known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park). Happy belated (four days late) birthday wishes to racing legend Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo, the father of John Andretti.
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